MEMENTO TITLE SEQUENCE ANALYSIS

The title sequence for ‘Memento’ begins with the titles fading into the frame which can suggest sadness, calmness or depressiveness. The text used a serif font, capital letters and is in the colour blue, this continues the idea of emotion and sadness. The title is centralised and so this makes the title sequence appear dated. It could also link to the fact that the character’s memory in the narrative disappears and that the film is all about his past that he is not able to remember. An establishing shot of a close up of a man’s hand holding a Polaroid with a very disturbing picture on it begins to fade into the background.

This creates enigma codes as it makes the audience question what has happened, who did it and also why the photo is disappearing. The non-diegetic music is a slow orchestral piece and in the minor key which suggests sadness or loneliness. It doesn’t build much tension as the beat of the music is not faster than a heartbeat however it have been used to effectively create atmosphere. The photo disappearing signifies that a parts of his life begin to fade from his memory and so this gives the audience a slight insight into the narrative.

The Polaroid and the non-diegetic music link together as it makes the audience question if the character is emotionally affected by this image and so this makes the scene unnerving and creates suspense as they are left wondering what’s happened. A low angle has been used in order to create a sense of dominance of the shooter; a cut then means that we have a high angle of the dying man which suggests that he is vulnerable and insignificant. The shooter is also wearing a suit which asserts his authority and implies that he has more dominance over the dying man.

The diegetic sound of the gun shot signifies death and so this would create enigma codes as this would make the audience wonder whether the Polaroid and the shooting were related. The scene begins to run backwards and so this would create a fragmented narrative and so the audience may question what is happening. The lighting in the scene is interesting as half of the face is lit and the other half of the face is hidden in shadows. This suggests that he has a hidden side to his identity and so he would have a split personality and makes him appear emotionless.

This title sequence has been influential as we liked how the music was not faster than a heartbeat and so for our title sequence this is contrapuntal to the scene. We also liked the orchestral music as this can create different moods within a thriller and so both of these can help to build suspense and tension.