My Thriller Opening Research- "Memento"

There is a continuous use of extreme close ups forcing the audience to almost be overwhelmed with the actor’s emotion and almost “step inside his shoes”. For example, the film begins with a close up (which almost appears to be and over the shoulder shot) of a man shaking a Polaroid (Guy Pearce), causing it to gradually fade away. We are immediately seeing things from the man’s point of view, the fading picture creating a sense of enigma as it may represent going back in time. The Polaroid is also a subtle hint at the plot. Due to the “point of view” effect of the close up over the shoulder shot our group considered replicating the shot in when creating our opening as we want to ensure the audience are made to feel as part of the action as possible, in order to make sure our thriller opening attains their attention. Within the film there is non diagetic orchestral sound. The music is quite sad/draining, with the audience being drained also due to be confronted with raw emotion in close ups.

Sound is a key part of film openings. Therefore we plan to use a soundtrack within our opening to create a tense atmosphere and create a sense of being cut off from reality. Music also helps to heighten emotion as the instruments can create a mood fitting the action on screen. This is something we hope to achieve when selecting music for our opening.

Memento contains several close using slow pace editing to provide us with a sense of place as well as shock and slightly scare the audience as we are initially shown a close up of blood dripping down the wall, connoting death. We then see a bullet, shot in the same way and intriguing the audience as we do not know what has happened. There are several short shots of objects around the room, shot in the same way. As a group we have considered the possibility of slow pace editing to build suspense and create a tense atmosphere. Close ups allow the audience to see details of selected mise-en-scene, which we will select as a group to add to the realism of our desired shot when constructing our opening.

A voice-over, is used to introduce a source of reality, breaking the diageses of the film. As the man are about to drive away the camera cuts to a wide shot of the area, providing a sense of place. Using a voice over within our opening will allow us to add a sense of reality as well as almost introduce a possible character to our thriller. It may also be used to suggests someone is looking back on events or almost narrating the action on screen. This will allow our group to portray transitions in time.

Whilst the two men are in the car, a shot reverse shot is used throughout their conversation to create a sense of “back and forth”. At the same time, the shot pleases the audience as it is something they “expect to see” as it is an aspect of “everyday life” that always appears in T.V Dramas and films. Therefore to maintain a sense of reality within the action we will include conversation shots, satisfying the audience’s expectations.