Memento (Nolan, 2000, US)

Within the first few frames of Memento, the music played is very orchestral creating an eerie feel which seems to be quite dramatic for the first two to five seconds, and by this point the music has already created an atmosphere  of suspense and mystery. The music also has a  sadness to it as the orchestral sound is fairly slow and depressing. We notice the titles at the start fade in and out of the frame, which then creates and naturalistic flow for the audience. The colour used for the titles are blue, which commonly connotes to sadness, this then relates back to the music being played in the background. Stereotypically the colour blue resembles the male gender, which then hints to the audience that the main character is a man.

The frame then goes into an extreme close up of this horrific image showing the audience an image of a man dead,  lying of the floor. Already this has the audience asking questions, such as, Who is that man? Is he defiantly dead? If he is dead, then how was he killed and why? you notice the image is held by a male character and which then generates a new question, Is he the main character? You also notice a small tattoo on the man's wrist which could suggest he has had many experiences in his life. He then shakes this image and you watch this picture slowly becoming distorted. As the image is quite shocking and violent, by the man shaking the picture to get rid of the image suggests to the audience he either wants to get rid of the photographic evidence of wishes to forget. The only information you know about this person is that he's male and because you can not see his face yet, it forms the question, Why does he not want to show his face? or Is he hiding something?

The man places the blank picture back into his camera. Just from this information alone you figure out that this whole scene is shot in reverse and the camera being used is a polaroid camera. It takes 2 minutes and 3 seconds until you see the mans face properly, this is long build up suggests this man really wanted to remain anonymous. An extreme close up of the polaroid camera, has been used to still cover his face, you now start to wonder,  is he an investigator? The camera then tracks upwards to his face (still an extreme close up) and you then discover more about his character. You discover blood and sweat on his face. For the audience, their response would be half shock (discovering that he is not an investigator) and half a reassurance )this man could indeed be the murderer).

After this point the shots begin to speed up, building the suspense for a new discovery. the camera shots cut from a close up of  blood flowing back into the body, and then to a bullet. As the shots are moving from one to the other at a fast pace, this suggests to the audience that this murder was quick and easy. As the shots are in reverse, the further into the clip you watch, the more that is reveled. The shot continues to an extreme close up of blood stained glasses, this then confirms to the audience that the person on the floor is dead. The music at this point has stopped as the gun reverses and is then used to re-shoot. From there, the screen goes white, hiding the reason to why he was shot. Because of continuity editing, it gives the audience lot's of little clues which then prompts the audience to fill in the blanks.