"Memento" is renowned for its unconventional narrative structure, which subverts the typical linear storytelling we're accustomed to. The film follows Leonard Shelby, a man suffering from short-term memory loss, as he attempts to unravel the mystery behind his wife's murder. What sets "Memento" apart is its reverse chronological order – the scenes are presented in reverse, with the final scene actually being the first chronologically. This deliberate disruption of the timeline forces the audience to piece together the puzzle alongside Leonard, creating a sense of empathy and immersion in his fractured world. By breaking the linear narrative rule, "Memento" not only demands active engagement but also mirrors Leonard's own struggle to reconstruct his past.
Unique Film Elements:
- Non-linear Editing: "Memento" employs a non-linear editing technique, enhancing the sense of confusion and urgency. Black-and-white scenes move backward in time, while color scenes move forward. This stylistic choice helps distinguish between the two timelines and provides visual cues for viewers.
- Polaroid Photographs: Leonard's Polaroid photographs become a narrative device, offering clues and anchoring the story. These snapshots serve as physical manifestations of his fleeting memories and play a pivotal role in the storytelling.
- Sound Design: The film's sound design immerses the audience in Leonard's perspective. Echoing whispers, disjointed conversations, and disorienting ambient sounds mirror his cognitive challenges, creating an unsettling atmosphere.
Discussion Questions:
- How does the non-linear narrative structure of "Memento" impact our understanding of the story and our connection to the protagonist? How does it contribute to the film's suspense and tension?
- Explore the significance of the Polaroid photographs in "Memento." How do they serve as both narrative tools and symbols for Leonard's state of mind? Provide specific examples from the film to support your analysis.
- Analyze the role of sound design in "Memento." How does the use of sound contribute to the film's overall atmosphere and thematic exploration of memory and identity? Give examples of scenes where sound design plays a crucial role.
- Finally, Did you like the film? Why/Why Not?
1. The non-linear narrative structure of “Memento” impacts our understanding of the story and its connection to the protagonist. It contributes to the film’s suspense and tension because it purposely withholds and releases certain pieces of information to the audience. The audience may think they understand Leonard and his motives until the very end when they come to realize that they have misunderstood him all along. Leonard leads the life he does by choice, which is a vital piece of information withheld from the audience until the end that completely alters the way they perceive the protagonist and their understanding of the story. The audience is left in suspense and tension throughout it all because they only see bits and pieces of information and have to make sense of it all mostly on their own.
ReplyDelete2. The Polaroid photographs serve as both narrative tools and symbols for Leonard’s state of mind because they are what help Leonard remember things that he otherwise would not have due to his short-term memory loss. They are used to introduce important places or characters along with their motives. The picture of Teddy is used as both a narrative tool and a symbol for Leonard’s state of mind because it is how Teddy is introduced and developed throughout the film. Leonard writes Teddy as someone not to be trusted so he goes through the film not believing anything Teddy tells him even though it turns out that he has been telling the truth the entire time. Leonard wrote on the Polaroids without thinking because he was afraid he would forget, he had complete trust in what he had previously written, even if he had done it impulsively in a chaotic state of mind.
3. The use of sound contributes to the film’s overall atmosphere and thematic exploration of memory and identity. Around 1:16:55 Leonard is in Natalie’s house after they had an argument and is attempting to find a pen so he can write down everything she just told him. As he does this the music is tense because he is rushing to do it before he forgets and it abruptly stops when Natalie slams the car door from outside. Then around 1:17:20 when it switches to a flashback of him in the hotel room the music intensifies and increases in pace, it sounds like an alarm going off and shows his panicked state of mind because he cannot remember a single thing leading up to that point in time.
4. I liked the film because the non-linear narrative structure was very engaging and fascinating.
1.In the film memento the non linear structure helps put the audience in the shoes of the main protagonist Leonard who suffers from short term memory loss which is why the director Christopher Nolan chose for the film to jump back and forth between different time periods. By doing this sort of effect it helps us connect to Leonard and have a sort of understanding on what he is going through by putting the peaces together with him and helps us experience the frustration that Leonard experiences throughout the film. This type of non linear structure creates even more suspense and tension in the film because we are constantly trying to understand what is going on and what is going to happen next causing us to be on the edge waiting for it to be explained.
ReplyDelete2.The Polaroid photographs in Memento play a crucial role in the narrative and serve as powerful symbols of Leonards state of mind. The polaroids help him with his memory by helping him remember important details to help piece together who the killer of his wife really is. An example of this is at time stamp 1:47:30 in this scene it starts with a shoulder shot of Leonard then cuts to an insert close up shot to a Polaroid picture of teddy while he writes down “Don’t believe his lies”. This scene demonstrates how exactly Leonard uses polaroids to help him remember things and important things about people.
3. Sound is one of the most important pieces to create a good film and also is important to show memory sequences. An example of this is when Leonard is searching for his wifes killer throughout the film and when he would take a polaroid of anything important to the narrative and the click of the camera which intensifies the suspense.
4.I enjoyed the film it was just a bit confusing for me and honestly a little boring but other than that I enjoyed it
You never know what is going on in this film, and that’s the point. The film requires you to use your memory to try to remember what happened in the previous scene,and as Leonard said, memory is unreliable. Nolan purposely changes significant objects to play with your memory, like the picture of Jimmy that changes twice through the film. This movie is more of an interactive experience; you have to think and try to remember, just like Leonard. You have the same information as Leonard; if he wakes up in a random room and he doesn’t know how he got there, he is questioning everything. The audience also questions everything because they don't even know how he got there. This is not only engaging because the audience is constantly thinking, but also because you are eagerly waiting for the next scene for the next puzzle piece that will make the previous scene make sense. Because of this, it is easy to connect to the protagonist and feel bad for him. Nolan puts the audience in the same position, causing suspense, and the audience routinely wants him to get revenge.
ReplyDeleteThe word memento means an object kept as a reminder or souvenir of a person or event; it also means "to remember." Those souvenirs—those mementos—are what Leonard uses to remember important events. The Polaroid serves as his memory; he uses it to remember important people and places that he trusts. The words in the Polaroid pictures help the audience understand what scenes go first and what scenes happen later by looking at the words written on them. Leonard explains in the film that you can’t tear a Polaroid picture. the same way you can’t tear up and forget memories. At the end of the film, the final twist of the movie is revealed. Teddy made Leonard into a vigilante of sorts, killing people to benefit him. He uses Leonard, like a lot of people in this film, to get what he wants. To escape this, Leonard decides to burn the picture of Jimmy and the picture that was taken after he killed the real John. He burns through his memories to give himself meaning, and to give himself closure, he gives himself clues to kill Teddy to kill the final John G. The one that he will believe is the one that killed his wife. Leonard used to play along; when the truth was revealed, he realized that without his wife’s murderer, he had no objective and no place to go. Like he said in the beginning, "I have a reason to,” but the Leonard that burned the pictures wanted to be free of that cycle of revenge. This is a story about exploitation,revenge,and purpose, all told with pictures and letters tattooed on Leonard Body, all coming together at the end with a picture of John G on the floor, dead. But this is not the end of the story; it's just the beginning.
1. The non-linear structure of Memento helps the audience understand the story and connect to the main protagonist by actually putting the audience in the story. The film commands the audience to use their own memory to try and remember the important pieces of the story. Due to its non-linear structure, viewers end up feeling like the main protagonist Leonard, trying their best to recall what just happened. As Leonard is discovering pieces of his wife’s murder, so is the audience. This sense of connection to the main protagonist amplifies the tension and suspense due to the fact that the audience is being withheld information and also does not know what is going to happen next.
ReplyDelete2. The Polaroid photos serve as both narrative tools and a symbol of Leonard’s state of mind. Used as a device to help Leonard remember, the Polaroids keep track of some of the important events that are crucial to the investigation of Leonard’s wife's murder. For example, every time Leonard’s memory fades, the pictures serve as a guide to keep him on track. With the Polaroids, he can remember Teddy, which is someone who should not be trusted. Later in the film, he can note on the Polaroid that Teddy is “the one” and should be killed. Whenever Leonard feels the need to remember something he pulls out the pack of Polaroids to find the one that is important at the time. This gives insight into how his mind works. Because of his short-term memory loss, his memory is unorganized. All the notes on the assorted set of Polaroids show the dismembered parts of his memory.
3. The sound design in Memento is extremely important due to its contribution to the anxious atmosphere of the film, along with the exploration of memory and identity. Throughout the film, voice over is used to show Leonard's internal thoughts. In the scene where Leonard and Natalie have a verbal argument, Leonard rushes in search of a pen to write down that Natalie was manipulating him. As Leonard hurriedly searches through a desk to look for a pen, his voice over is panicked, rushed, and repetitive. This contributes to the anxiety that both Leonard and the audience have. The rushed feeling in this scene shows how quick Leonard's memory is, allowing the audience to connect themselves to Leonard.
4. I really enjoyed watching Memento. I love that this movie requires the audience to use their own memories to piece together the film. With that being said, I have a terrible memory so I had to rewind so many parts of the movie so I could be fully caught up. I think movies that are told in a non-linear way are extremely fun and interactive so I thought the movie was entertaining. I definitely want to watch it again in full so I can catch all the details.
1. Memento's non-linear format helps the audience understand the story and identify with the main protagonist by immersing us in the plot. It causes you to reflect on what is going on and what has occurred, therefore it is up to you to stay up. The film invites viewers to recollect key plot points by using their own views. As a result, viewers end up feeling like the main character Leonard, trying to remember what just happened. So Leonard is as hands-on and invested in solving his wife's murders as the audience is. This is the main source of tension and suspense in the picture. The puzzle of what will happen is yet incomplete.
ReplyDelete2. The Polaroid photographs serve as both narrative tools and symbols for Leonard’s state of mind because they help Leonard remember things that he wouldn’t because of his memory loss. These photos are what he feels would help him have a better sense of what happened to his wife as an example when Leonard doesn’t Remember something he uses the pictures as a reference. Due to this he remembers someone named teddy “someone who can’t be trusted” .
3. The usage of sound design in this film contributes to the overall tone of the film. Thematic explorations of memory and identity give the film a new tone, making it more intense. For example, at 1:49:26, the film's music track conveys the sensation of taking a deep breath after holding it. The soundtrack at this scene gave me the impression that the conflict was ended.
4. I truly enjoyed this movie's approach, which included a nonlinear story. I enjoyed it since it was challenging for me. I really enjoyed this movie.
1. The narrative structure allows the audience to feel like they were in Leonard's shoes during the events. Some flashbacks reveal information to both Leonard and the viewers because the viewer has to follow the story to understand it, just like Leonard has to as well. Overall, the use of this non-linear narrative structure allows for more suspense and mystery.
ReplyDelete2. They allow Leonard to use visual aids by himself to remember or imagine a situation or person of interest. The pictures are normally made with a message as well to show him even more details. These photos reveal how bad his short-term memory loss is.
3. The use of normal dialogue and voiceovers gives much detail and information about events that are happening or have happened. There are also times in the ambiance when everything is quiet, showing that Leonard Shelby is thinking or remembering. Overall, the use of sound conveys a bigger message through the revealing of small but important details.
4. I did like the film, the idea of a man doing detective work while having no short-term memory is interesting. The film was well-made, written, and shot. Every detail made sense, and they all added up to a bigger picture.
1. The non-linear story structure of “Memento” makes the audience have a different understanding of the story and main character than you would with a normal film. The reason behind this is because we learn the story that he lived, except we aren't watching it as it happens to him. We are watching it in a flash forward but also in reverse. So as we watch the film, we have ideas formed about a character before we actually know them because of the way that Leonard has portrayed them in his photos and notes. But in every case, including the case of Leonard himself, we have our preconceived notions completely broken. We assume things like that Teddy is a liar and a killer, or that Natalie wants to help Leonard, but both of those are eventually false assumptions. Natalie uses him and doesn't feel bad about it at all and Teddy tells him the truth about Natalie, and if we are to assume the ending (or beginning or whatever that heck it is) is true, then he also wanted to help Leonard to continue feeling satisfied after his revenge, even if he would forget again later. Also if we want to believe him, Sammie Jankins is not as real as we were led to believe throughout the film. But that all might be a big lie because Teddy does lie to Leonard about minor things throughout the movie. Leonard also isn’t someone we can trust our assumptions about because his memories are flawed/slightly altered sometimes, and based on the ending, he is reacting based on emotion to go on the most elaborate goose chase and kill someone just because of what they said and did to him. This type of story where we learn it chunk by chunk backwards based on a flawed narrator definitely builds suspense and tension. There are many times throughout the film where we hear something or see something right before it cuts to the black and white scene at the hotel. So then we have to wonder if what we heard is true or not and how he even got into this situation in the first place. An example of this is from 40:15-45:03. We see flashes of his wife's murder, then we cut to him in a random motel room. We (the audience and Leonard) are confused why he is there. We learn that there is a man in the closet, then Teddy shows up. We then learn that Leonard is the reason that Dodd is in the closet, but we don’t know what led to him being put there. They leave, take Dodd and let him go. But before we learn why Dodd was stuffed in the closet by our protagonist, it goes to the black and white. This leaves the audience in suspense and wonder waiting to go back to the future to learn the past.
ReplyDelete2. The polaroid pictures serve as Leonard’s memory throughout the film and to show us where we are in the story. They’re also sometimes used to build biases in our minds early on that are later destroyed. They also help to show his state of mind throughout the film. They can show who he trusts, what he thinks of character, and notes on why a character is the way that they are. But also, they can serve as false memories or ways of removing things from his record of the past so he doesn't ever know that these events even happened. 2 examples of the ways polaroids are used are: 1. when we literally see the photo fade away at the beginning of the film, and 2. when he burns the photos and writes a false statement on the back of Teddy’s photo at the end of the film. The first example shows his mental state and condition, but also foreshadows how the movie is going to go. The picture is complete and shows the end state, the final result waiting for development. But then the photo starts fading backwards, showing the development and how we got the final product. In the same way, the movie shows us the end result of a movie full of development, but then we begin to learn what led to the final product backwards throughout the film.
2 Continued. The second example I brought up is an example that shows how he will burn polaroids that show him something he deems inconvenient or an unwanted memory to him at that moment. It also shows that he is willing to put false memories in his collection to make himself change the way he perceives a person when his memories restart.
Delete3. The audio Memento is important to show many things throughout the film, and represent the disorienting nature of what is happening. An example of the sound showing the disorienting nature that is all over the place, the sound will abruptly cut at times when switching between the flashback and the flashforward. This makes the audience feel uneasy yet engaged at times because they may not have been expecting the music and ambient noise to just stop at times. There are even times where it isn’t switching between the colored shots and the black and white ones where the audio will just cut to silence to show gaps in his memory. The music will play more intense when he is in an intense situation or really straining to figure something out, and it will play less intense when less intense moments are going on. This builds tension in the audience's mind because they can not only visually see the intensity, but also audibly hear the intensity. But also, the audio will change depending on how Leonard feels about someone at the time, or what his physical memory says about them.
4. Yes, I liked the film. After watching the film, I watched a video where they cut out anything that wasn’t major and then put the film in order which did help me to see some little details I missed watching it the first time. But while actually watching the film, I enjoyed it because it was confusing and made me question what was actually going on. I liked that I actually had to think and make connections plus had room to theorize while the movie was rolling. There are also many little things that I’m sure if I rewatch the movie and watch some film analysis videos, I will catch and make me appreciate the movie even more.
1.
ReplyDeleteThe non-linear structure of Memento puts us in the shoes of Lenny. We don’t understand what is happening around us, who the major players are in the story, what they are doing, their motivations or backgrounds; nothing. Character motivations don’t make any sense when played in the order they are, like in the case of Natalie. From our perspective, the earlier scenes with her paint her as someone who is hurt and against Teddy; but the later ones display her manipulative nature, and more importantly the very real motivations behind her choices. Her lover just got killed in a dangerous business and somebody is after her, she needs to protect herself. Her getting the license plate wasn’t even because of Teddy, she only knew that Lenny was looking for a “John G.” This adaptability in her mind is also seen during the “introduction” to her character in the chronological order. When Lenny “meets” Natalie properly in the bar, she can see he has Jimmy’s stuff. She has everyone in the bar spit in his drink before later serving it to test his memory, and when she realizes he truly is lost, she takes pity. Another character who is hard to understand with the current format is Teddy. His identity seems to be different to Lenny’s subjective perspective in each new scene; sometimes he’s a cop, sometimes he’s a random guy who Lenny has the number of, sometimes he’s THE John G., it really just depends. But looking at the story objectively, we see Teddy as a manipulative cop who uses Lenny for his own gains, trying to get Lenny under his control again. The struggle regarding Teddy’s fight for control is an integral part of the story that is well understood in chronological order. But by taking us out of the objective and into the subjective, we don’t notice things like Teddy always trying to get a hold of the car because Lenny threw his keys yesterday. The non-linear structure is further deepened with one of the sequences of the movie, the noir phone call (and by extent the Sammy story) being told in order of how it happened, spliced in-between different scenes of the backwards movie. The phone call itself is happening right before Lenny kills jimmy, but by splicing the scenes in this way, the mystery is deepened for the audience. It’s likely many viewers became more confused than Lenny for portions of the runtime.
2.
Polaroid photos were chosen as the specific way Lenny keeps memories (along with the tattoos) for multiple, crucial reasons. The first is that the photos have convenient ways to have little notes written, which makes the screenwriting a lot easier. The second, is that the notes can be written in different ways so that Lenny can assign different meanings to all of them. Lenny writes in all caps, but when he writes something down from the “mystery” guy in his car in the middle of the movie, he uses a fancier handwriting. This allows him to discern what was his words and what was someone else’s words a moment later, when Teddy leaves. The handwriting is also important because it enforces Lenny as an unreliable narrator, even to himself. When he writes down Teddy’s license plate at the end (start) of the movie, he writes the 1 in such a way that a quick read would make it look like an I. Both interpretations would be correct to somebody seeing the written license plate for the first time (future Lenny), further deepening the puzzle he created for himself. Another piece of symbolism involved with the polaroids is that they can’t be ripped. Just like he tells Natalie, they have to be burned. This is symbolic for the phrase “burning memories”, which is when memories go away and rot; but the wording of the phrase also allows for intentional destruction to be an interpretation.
3. Sound design is a crucial component of any film, and Memento is no different. A prominent example of the soundtrack is in the scene where Natalie is being a little bit rude to Lenny. Her insults introduce a faint, haunting echo sound that increases in presence as Lenny searches for a pen. The echo raises the tension and can be seen as the memories burning away, as when the echoes are cut off with the slam of the car door, the old is lost.
Delete4.
I loved this movie, it reminded me of pulp fiction with the time displacement; but the way Nolan went about it was more of the focus of the movie (in my opinion). The movie constantly had me guessing who was who and what was going on, and that was a magical feeling to get from the movie. Especially because the reasons I was lost were intentional, and not due to any plot holes or laziness in the world building. I also love how intimate the movie felt, Lenny only talks to a dozen or less people total in the movie. He really doesn’t remember what’s going on around him, he can’t retain anybody. The most interesting things I thought regarding the movie were the plot twist at the end, where Lenny had been going on this chase, and Sammy being a projection of himself. Sammy’s story being reinterpreted through the lens of being Lenny’s projection about his own past really discredits him as a narrator. I feel like the interpretation that Lenny is Sammy is the “correct” way to look at things, because of many reasons. They flick needles the same, they know how to use needles to begin with, Lenny ALWAYS tells the same story to people about it bar for bar, their names have the same sort of sound to them; but the most damning reason I have is the shot where Sammy is seen at a mental institute, and for just a moment after a random person walks in front of him, Lenny is the one sitting in the chair. Obviously, Sammy could’ve been real to an extent, but not in the way Lenny remembers. I also enjoy wondering over if Lenny was faking his condition/backstory or not. There are many unexplained little details that question Lenny. These include, Lenny somehow remembering that his calls are supposed to be held, Lenny’s memories of his marriage only being negative, Lenny remembering how to get back to Natalie’s before she gives him her address, Lenny being able to drive to begin with, Lenny not questioning why his tattoo and the license he got from Natalie having the “1” “I” difference (despite verbally speaking it correctly), Lenny not having to reread the police file every morning, he never questions what town he is in despite “his” car not having a Cali/San Francisco license plate, and Lenny’s real life skills/attributes not at all matching what he says and remembers from his insurance investigator days. He can’t make out the sharks around him.
1. The non-linear narrative structure allowed the audience to follow the plot in a similar way to the protagonist Leonard Shelby; we got the plot piece by piece and, because it was backwards, we couldn’t truly understand the direction that the story was going until it had already concluded. Likewise, the protagonist was constantly in a state of confusion and had to rely on the clues that he himself created in the past to help himself in the future. The strange structure of the film made it very difficult to follow, but that only helped to both contextualize the main character’s struggles as well as build suspense as the audience delved deeper and deeper into the existential and morbid plotline. As the audience is progressively given more and more pieces to this puzzle of a film, it both adds suspense when a question is created to be solved and it then when the puzzle is finished, the answers the audience is begging to receive answers to are satisfyingly given, but the answers aren’t satisfying themselves, ending the movie on a note that makes the audience question who Leonard really is and if everything he’s struggled deeply to accomplish was all for naught.
ReplyDelete2. As Leonard discovers more ‘clues’ in his investigation, he logs them with photographs (and some other forms of note-taking). It also helps to represent his state of mind at the time the photograph or note below was made, which helps exemplify his wide range of emotional and logical capability at any given moment. As the film progresses, we delve deeper back in time to understand the reasoning as to why he suspects Teddy. As he comes to realize the reality of his situation towards the end, or should I say beginning of the film, he falls to denial, desiring some form of reconciliation. Whether or not he ended up believing it to be true is irrelevant, as he made the decision to manipulate himself by making a note claiming that Teddy was the true John.
3. A lot of the time when there’s confusion and lack of memory, there’s often an ominous, eerie ambience stirring in the background while Leonard is hit with information he either doesn’t want to hear or doesn’t remember. This is generally towards the more climactic moments, especially the end of the film, around here: 1:40:50. As he becomes reintroduced to John he realizes his connection to the man. Over the course of a long and heated conversation, John gives him a taste of the information that he would rather forget: his wife was the diabetic woman and they had already killed the original John G. He was at fault for her death (technically, though you can’t really blame him) and he decided to take revenge out of a desire for purpose, though it just eventually became a string of murders that were undeserved. This flashbang of terrible information causes him to mentally collapse and decide to make John the cop his next target. As he understood he wouldn’t remember the moment, he decided to manipulate his future self into killing John to dispose of any sense of truth to feed his state of denial so he could keep living with some form of purpose and cleansing himself of the guilt. While this climactic moment is playing out, the ambience and audible representation of his “mental fog” subtly creeps into the attention of the audience to help them feel the moment; the guilt, shame, denial, confusion, and lack of purpose felt by Leonard.
4. I loved the film. I thought it was masterfully written and organized. It was incredibly confusing but interesting to watch as it also tied into my previous year when I was taking Psychology for Mrs. Moesbergen. We had studied a man named Clive Wearing who had the exact same condition (which is why, though I never saw Christopher nor his brother explicitly state it, I strongly believe that it was heavily inspired by this man). Many interesting aspects of the character are tied to genuine aspects of the actual disease, and in the film, their “Clive Wearing” was Sammy Jankis, who Leonard constantly kept referring to to understand his condition and his situation. The story starts in a way that makes Leonard seem like an upright, respectful, and brave man as he leads a solo investigation to pursue the man who raped and murdered his wife as well as injured him so severely which left him in the condition he is in throughout the film. As the story progresses, we start to progressively notice inconsistencies in his investigation as it gets interfered with by external forces until we get to the end of the film and realize that he himself willingly, understanding that he would soon forget that he had done it in the first place, put false information in a state of denial to get rid of any potential doubt in the future that what he is doing is wrong or misguided, which in turn only highlighted his true character - that he was a person willing to potentially do the wrong thing so he can continue to live thinking that what he is doing is right. This terribly awful but equally amazing ending to this film was absolutely perfect in every way and I’m thinking about watching it again very soon to ensure that I interpret the story in its chronological order so as to not miss any information.
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ReplyDelete1. film's use non-linear narratives to present us two different sequences of scenes interspersed during a film witch can be done in a series in black-and-white that is shown chronologically, and a series of color sequences or flashbacks and flash-forwards simulating to the audience the mental state of the character. Witch Christopher Nolan dose very well in Memento he uses non-linear structure to accurately show us, Leonard's though process throw-out the movie . This is Nolan way of hooking the audience and throwing them into the experience of Leonard. In a sense, you become the Leonard.
ReplyDelete2. The opening color polaroid is a metaphor for his short-term memory loss. Leonard's memory fading is caused by an intruder who raped and murdered his wife in a home break. The color Picture that Leonard takes of the dead Jimmy G is as a means of connection the two story segments the fading of the picture establishes the mental state of the main character.
3. the music also helps the audience distinguish where they are on the confusing timeline of Leonard's mind. In James Mottram's The Making of Memento, Julyan describes the sound of colored, regressing scenes as "broody and classical" while the black and white progressing scenes are "oppressive and rumbly."
4.I liked the film. I thought it was very well written It was bit confusing but interesting to watch and my mom loved watching it with me.
"Memento Music Score - David Julyan" (for question 3)
1.The non-linear narrative structure in Memento contributes to the suspense and tension because the audience is left without pieces of information and scene by scene the audience gets to know more and more information about Leonard’s motives for the murder he commits in the beginning of the film. The nonlinear structure also reflects Leonard’s mental state, as he suffers from memory loss. This helps connect the protagonist and the audience because like Leonard, the audience is trying to put the pieces together and figure out what happened.
ReplyDelete2. The Polaroid photographs not only serve as a narrative tool but also a symbol of Leonard's state of mind. The Polaroids keep track of important events that Leonard uses in trying to figure out whos his wifes killer and also are also used as a tool for him to remember fleeting memories
3. The sound design in the movie adds to the panic and thrill of the movie. For example, throughout the film when Leonard took a picture using the Polaroid camera the loud ‘click’ sound of the camera being taken is notably loud and intensifies.
4. I enjoyed the non-linear narrative structure. It kept me engaged and it made the movie more enjoyable.