Opening Title Sequence Analysis

Georgia De
Souza

Editing
At the beginning of the clip we seethe title fade in from a black screen to the rst
shot which isthe protagonist holding the picture.
This is achieved through editing and it conveys to theaudience that the picture is the main
object to focus onas this is where the title of the movieis introduced.

We realise that the whole sequence is a reverse.

This shows us the events that havehappened right after the murder and it allows the audience
to lookclosely at what the assassinator is doing and why he is doing so.

This reverse might also be signicant in the waythat the protagonist is feeling some sort of
regret or is looking back at it for unknown reasons.

This makes theaudience ask questions such aswhat is hedoing and why.
Slow paced editing highlights how calm and controlled the protagonist is, allowing the audience
also to follow his slow and precise moments tohelp them understand what is going on

Camera
The close-up of a bullet conveysthe
fact that the murderer perhaps only
uses a gun as his weapon. It creates
irony as
the close-up suggests
the bullet is small
however the mess of blood suggests
that the result was big.

The POV shot of the victim hides his identity, as

the only thing we know is that heis a man that
wears glasses.
The extreme close up of the blood dripping
highlights howfresh the murder is and connotes
the violence and dramatic consequences of the
victim. suggest that an
The close-up of the glasses
innocent person has been killed. Glasses
stereotypically suggest intelligence
Throughout the opening title, a lot of closeidea that the
ups and extreme close ups are used to show therefore the
person killed
thespecic details about each object which
was vulnerable
are signicant to what happens in
andweak.
Memento.

Mis-en-scene
The key prop used is thepolaroid picture as well as the polaroid camera.
The picture relates to thetitle memento as pictures usually seem to capture certain moments in life.
This makes the audience feel quite uncomfortable and makes them ask questions such as

why is he taking a picture

what is he taking the picture of?

The protagonist is wearing a suit which contrasts with the murder that he has committed.
The audience wonder if this is his job and if heis a professional at what he does.
The protagonist has scratches on his face suggesting he is a victim trying to protect himself.
These scratches make him seem vulnerable.
Blue and grey tones have been used creating a cold atmosphere following the typical thriller
colour scheme.
The dominating bright red colour of the blood contrasts to this blue lighting which helps the murder look
even more dramatic as the red is the rstthing the audience notice.
This conveys the idea of violence throughout the movie

Sound
The non-diegetic soundtrack that is being played inthe background
during the opening title sequence builds up throughout the sequence.
It is quiet and slow, that varies from a high pitch to a lowpitch.
Legato violin chords are played building up tension from the audience
This ultimately allows the audience to feel sorrow andgrief as they are
unaware of the storyline so far.

Violin is usually associated with peaceful moments, however this is

strongly contrasts with the gun shot at theend of the sequence.
The soundtrack becomes a higherpitch close to the end to showthat
the sequence has reached a climax and something will happen.

Typography
Institutional Information and Main cast names are shown at the beginning of the sequence.
The typography is blue and layered in The
fronttypography
of a plain black
background.
is blue
and layered in front of a plain black background.
A
serif
font
is
used
allowing
the lm to seem modern and professional.
A serif font is used allowing the lm to seem modern and professional.
The
font
is then
infront
of the rst
shot which is a close-up of a
The font is then shown infront of the rst
shot
which
is a shown
close-up
of a polaroid
picture.
polaroid picture.

The title of the lm is then put on screen before the rest of the names are layered on top of the main
action.
Although the typography is layered
in frontthe
of shots,
it is consistent
blue
Although
typography
is layeredtointhe
front
of serif
shots,font.
it is consistent to the blue
Blue can come across as acold colour, which in this case canhighlight that the killer is a cold heartedserif
antagonist.
font.
Blue can come across as acold colour, which in this case canhighlight that the
killer is a cold hearted antagonist.

The blue coloured font highlights a cold atmosphere suggesting that the antagonist is cold-hearted.
The typography fades in and out rhythmically to the music this creates a calm tone for the killer
even if the audience is unaware of what he has done.