In this first shot we are introduced to the title of the film "Memento". Whilst this is being shown we hear slow, depressive and a moving piece of music being played. This sets up a concerned atmosphere as the audience are wanting to see why such a deep piece is being played.
In the next shot we see an image fade in where we just see a hand holding a very worrying picture of what the audience can make out as being a dead person due to the large amount of blood surrounding the body. The effect of only being able to see the hand makes the audience ask: "Who is the person holding this photo?","Who's in the photo?" and "Why and when was the photo taken?"
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In these four images they are the same shot but as you can see through the progression of the images the photo disappears clearly illustrating that we're going back in time, stating that it is possible a non-linear narrative.The slow music continues to be played and the titles appearing show whom was involved in making the film.
In this extreme close up we still aren't revealed to the characters identity, still making the audience wonder
whom this person actually is. But due to this shot we can make out its a male due to the hands and the
clothes that are being worn by the character. We can see a wedding ring on the finger so it makes us question "Is he married?"
After the previous shot the camera pans left and titles up to show this image. This big close up lets us see more of the characters identity but it is still partly hidden due to the camera positioned in front continuing the mysterious atmosphere. This image makes the audience ask why are they taking a photo. The music starts to go quite and an eerie sound starts to play, effectively building up the atmosphere as we are starting to be shown what is going on. In this shot we are finally revealed to the characters identity, we're confirmed that the person is a male by the big close up. When looking at the man's face only half of it is light illustrating that he could potentially be hiding something and on the other half we see scratches and blood on his cheek, making us question where they came from.
This extreme close up is off dripping blood being reversed to carry on the going back in time. The use of the blood lets the audience ponder about why it is there and who's blood it is, creating and adding to the serious and mysterious atmosphere.
This extreme close up is of a shell of a bullet. When was this bullet used? Why was it used? Who shot the bullet? These will be frequent questions asked by the audience when watching this. We are now slowly being revealed clue by clue of what we could you use to set the scene in our imagination which is cleverly done by the director.
In this close up we see a pair of glasses covered in blood. This makes the audience start to ask more questions like who's glasses are these? The glasses are positioned more to the left so that we can also see the blood splattered on the wall next to them. By the amount of blood that we have been shown we can start to picture just what may have happened.
In this big close up of the back of a head of someone we are introduced to a second character in which we can clearly identify as being the person whom was shot due to the large amount of blood that surrounds him. The audience tries to connect the two people together by thinking about how they know each other and what has happened to him. The one connection we can make is that this is the person who was in the photo at the start.
In this low angled mid shot we are revealed that this character is more dominant and has more power due to the face that he is standing up and staring at the body. This makes the audience think whether he shot the man on the floor or not. Also in the shot we are given an insight into where they are as you can see a covered window suggesting maybe they're in an abandoned warehouse or somewhere similar.
After this we then see a gun fly into the males hand still representing going back in time. The camera follows the man as he crouches and goes into a mid close up shot pushing the audience to believe that this person is the murderer and criminal continuing the serious and tense atmosphere.
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In these next two shots we see extreme close ups of the shell roll backwards and the glasses raise up out of the frame. The sound of the bullet rolling across the floor goes with the sound of the glasses picking up link with the quick shot as it give you exactly what you need to be shown and heard to build up to a quick climax.
In this quick shot we return back to the previous shot of the dead man but this time with the gun in the frame. This confirms that the other man shot this dead person but we still don't know why. Hyperbolic sounds are used to the building of the climax.
In this very quick shot of the bullet shell reversing back into the gun we can get the sense that it is coming to its climax as the pace has greatly increased over the shots. The bullet is framed right in the middle of the frame so the audience's attention is on the bullet only.
Once again we return back to the mid close up of the male that shows him pulling the trigger and firing the gun. We can really see his facial expressions as the gun is fired. We can see more of the surroundings that is around the male, really reinforcing that this is somewhere that no one goes. The audience still want to know the answer of why he has killed the man.
This last shot is over the shoulder and reveals to the audience the appearance of the dead male. We see the rewind of what happened and the male on the floor shout but we can't make out what exactly it is that he is saying, this really helps to communicate that this is the climax. After this it cuts to a plain black screen which allows the audience to really reflect on the opening and also want to watch on to see how and why this ended up happening.