Genre
'Momento' belongs to the thriller genre, and of the sub genre psychological thriller.
The audiences expectations of this film in regard to it's genre are fulfilled through the opening sequence due to the conventions that are typically found in psychological thrillers. Conventions such as no dialogue and minor-key music are used to create a sense of mystery for the audience, to keep them on the edge of their seat. Also, although colours are prevalent in the clip, they seem to be muted, to give more of an eerie feel to the film. The way the titles fade in and out of the screen is something that is commonly found among thrillers.
This opening sequences conforms to the characteristics of the genre very much so, through the use of the expected conventions that can be seen. The fact that the first scene is done in reverse is not something that is commonly seen in films, however, with it being a flashback, and put in with several conventions of a psychological thriller, it is a technique that stands out as different but as something that works for this particular genre.
Institutional Context
There are no big name stars in 'Memento'. This is most likely because the film was too low budget to afford a high profile Hollywood name. The absence of a major star could be significant in the sense that it made it harder to draw a wider audience to the cinema. However, Brad Pitt was set to play the protagonist before he had to pull out due to scheduling conflicts.
The film was produced by Newmarket Films and is an independent film.
To market the film, Jonathan Nolan (brother of Christopher Nolan) designed an official website in which he used The Blair Witch Project's website as inspiration. After a short introduction on the website, the viewer is shown a newspaper clipping with details of the murder. More information can be found when the viewer clicks on the highlighted words in this article, such as the protagonist's notes and photographs. The filmmakers also employed the idea of sending out polaroid pictures to random people of a bloody and shirtless protagonist pointing at an unmarked spot on his chest. Nolan also edited the trailers himself before selling them to inexpensive TV channels such as bravo as well as major websites like Yahoo and MSN. It was these trailers that were the key for the widespread awareness of the film.
AMERICAN PSYCHO (Harron, 2000)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uF9rP1w2sCE (embedding has been disabled)
Narrative:
The narrative is structured in the sense that it is set in one location for the entire sequence, and the cutting rate is the same throughout. The sequence follows a man through his daily morning routine emphasising the structured narrative. There is a voice over of the protagonist throughout the opening sequence, where he is giving a commentary on his routine and why.
It is easy for the audience to gain an understanding of what is happening in the sequence as the audience are meant to be onlookers, watching the protagonist lead his routine. It gives the audience a chance to learn more about him, by watching his actions and listening to the voice over.
There is only one character introduced in the sequence and this is implied as being the protagonist, especially at the end when he introduces himself. Due to there only being the one character, it is difficult for the audience to feel much for the character as they can't compare to the lives of others. However, the dialogue and the use of close ups to show him staring at himself in the mirror or showing his beauty products suggests that the man is confident making the audience less likely to sympathise with him.
There are not many major themes obvious in the text due to the simplicity of it. However, it is obvious that the character is healthy and likes to look good, and the fact the entire sequence focus' on this suggests it may play a part later in the film.
Tension isn't really created in the sequence until the very end when the protagonist mentions a 'cold gaze' and talks of flesh and finishes with 'i am simply not there' which causes the audience to maybe rethink what they initially thought about the character as the outcome was not expected.
SE7EN (Fincher, 1995)
Film Language:
Mise-en-Scene conveys meaning in this opening sequence through the dull colours throughout, giving the impression the theme of the movie is very serious. The thick black marker pen used suggests death due to the connotation of a darkness that is read by audiences. The flashes of red seen connotes violence, leading to blood and death. The scratchy typography flashes in and out giving a disjointed feel to the film.
Camera conveys meaning in this sequence through the use of extreme close ups and close ups (that work like a montage) of weapons and drawings to emphasise to the audience that the film is about a murderer who plans his victims (suggested through the the first close up of the book and then the close up of the picture of someone being stuck in the book). The use of close ups is used to intrigue the audience through detail as they are not given a clear view of the character. The use of angles is minimal, although there is a slight high angle shot to show the book which is being marked which places the audience there, as if they are the murderer looking down at the book.
The sound anchors the images as the top layer of sound is selective sound that give that connotes that the character is getting ready to go out and murder, for example: the character is playing with metal which could be interpreted as weapons to be used during a kill, or zipping up a bag which carries the same connotations. The soundtrack sounds quite disjointed which anchors the images as the close ups switch from one item to another to show what the character is doing. It also reflects the disturbing tone of the film.
We don't learn much about the characters through dialogue and non-verbal language as no characters are seen. However, the lack of dialogue and through seeing these disjointed images, the audience are led to believe he is a mysterious character.
The director uses a lot of shadowing and dissolving transitions to both emphasise what it happening in the scene and to move from one shot to another quickly and abruptly which could symbolise the cold nature of the killer, as well as giving a feel of disjointedness which fits with the sound used.
Media Audiences
The target audience of the film is males between 18 and 45 however, it is shown that just as many females as males went to watch the film.
It is hard to gage what the audience readings are due to the lack of information given about the characters, however many viewers will automatically have a negative view of the character who is seen crossing peoples faces out etc as it is implied he is a murderer. However, some audiences may be impartial and not read much from the text as it doesn't give a large amount of information.
As a British teenager, I evaluate the text as one that is designed to ignite a sense of mystery to intrigue the audience to continue watching the film.
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