Research task by daisy hook

Memento

The first shot in memento is of a Polaroid photo of a man who has been shot in the head. This shot is of at the length of an extreme close up. This shot is paired with a non-diegetic soundtrack. As the man who is holding the photo shakes it to develop it it seems, we star t to realise that the photo is un-developing back into whiteness so we can now see that the opening of the film is in reverse. As the photo is a Polaroid and it is developing we can understand that the photo has just been taken.

   

Camerawork

-       ECU of Polaroid whilst the credits run

-       Close up of man taking photo, different shot of man putting camera away still at a close up

-       ECU of blood running, bullet shell, blood splattered glasses and back of the dead man

-       Medium shot of man getting gun

-       ECU of shell flying back into the gun, glasses returning to the dead man’s face all in slow motion until the gun if fired and the speed returns to normal but still in reverse.

Sound

-       Non diegetic soundtrack parallel to the scene.

-       Diegetic sounds that we see on screen e.g. gun firing, noise of a man taking a photo, bullet shell hitting the floor, fraction of a man’s scream as he’s being shot (all these sounds are reversed because the whole of the opening is reversed.

Lighting

-       The room is well lit with a window to the side of the man and from doing the lighting exercises there is also a most probably a fill light to the other side so that we can see his whole face and some of the room around him.