Analysing the Opening Sequence of Momento

The film 'Momento' is directed by Christopher Nolan. It was released in 2002 and stars Guy Pearce.



Titles

The film begins with an opening title sequence. During the sequence, the text fade in and out of shot slowly on a black background, with a few words at a time. Also throughout this piece, eerie music is playing in the background that seems to cresendo.

The colour blue is chosen for this beginning section. This is because the colour is very prominent against the simple dull black background. As well as this, the blue text initially emits a cold, sinister feeling - which becomes more powerful as the titles continue. This is very relevant to the film, due to Momento being also 'quite cold'; and its a great early hint to what the film is like and how the film may unravel. As the words fade into the background each time, the shade of blue becomes a darker blue to just add even more to the mysterious vibe.

The text is displayed in the centre of the screen in a regular bold font style. This makes it very hard not to miss the vibrant colour. The style can suggest that what will happen in the film could happen in normal everyday life, making it even more spooky for the audience.



Shots/Movement

After the titling sequence the first shot we are exposed to is an extreme close up. This extreme close up is of an ambiguous picture. Due to the audience not knowing what the picture is, it immediately creates suspision. This suspision is increased even more when we are sat staring at the photo for quite a while, as we start to believe that the picture must be pretty important if we have been looking at it for a while.

After this scene there is a piece shot in black and white. This black and white effect helped in this case to imply we was watching a flash back. We instinctively relate black and white shots to the past or old things that have occurred so it was an effective way of emphasising this point. This scene is shot looking down on to a character in a hotel room, by using a high angle shot. This shot helps to show his close environment, because the room looks even smaller from this technique, his vulnerablilty and confusion. As well as this, it conveys the feeling that the character is watched at all times, even in the comfort of his personal rooms(i.e. hotel room. as he lays on his bed) because it acts like a cctv camera keeping an eye on him atall times, or a better example being watched like they do in the big brother house.

To end the opening sequence a long shot is produced. This long shot helps to give the reader a rough idea of where this action is taking place. Also the audience can create a pre-judged feeling of the area, which is a bit of a hint to the film's story.



Generic Themes

From the beginning sequence we can conclude that this film may include sub-genres. It is clear that action will play a role in this film from the start, due to the sequence containing a murder and the use of a gun. It is an unusual beginning because of the piece being played backwards and it puts the audience straight into the action with them near enough witnessing a murder they know nothing about. Already the audience are trying to firgure out the relationship between the two people.



Sound

The scene includes some narration which instantly grabs the audience into the film, because it seems like the character is talking ditectly to them. Especially as the narration is the first bit of real verbal information we get. Additionally, the sequence contains many diegetic and non-diegetic sounds throughout.

The diegetic sounds consist of the camera snap and also where the character was flapping the photo. These sounds create a very sinister feeling. Keys are also heard in the opening sequence. All of these sounds help the audience to connect with the character more, in the sense of that we are hearing what he is hearing - so it is as if its like we are there, in the situation.

The non-diegetic sounds included are the background music that seems to be played on the violin. This music consisted in the beginning sequence creates a strange tense feeling which seems almost old fashioned like.



Mise-en-scene

The clothes which are worn by the man who we witnessed being murdered, is wearing a worn suit. The fact that this man is wearing formal clothes, gives the audience the impression that this character is an important person, making the audience believe the incident they have witnessed is one of a lot of importance.

Other mise-en-scene aspects of the opening sequence include the black and white scene in the hotel room, I discussed earlier in the shots section; which could portray a memory of the character. Also the black and white technique helps to emphasize the fact that the character seems to move about alot as he is in a hotel room.

As well as this the unclear photo (I also have discussed in the shots section) produced at the beginning of the film makes the audience think; mainly due to the footage being played backwards.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMTnXpL61N8