The scene overview and short introduction of the movie

<Memento> is a really special cutting and editing film directed by Christopher Nolan in 2000. The story is about a man called Leonard who was attacked by two guys few years age in his home and his wife was killed in that event by the criminal. From that event he got a strange condition that he can only have a temporary memory. But he can remember the things before that event very clearly and exactly. So his memory stopped at the night that his wife was killed. And he is always looking for the murder who killed his wife, he used some special ways as us to help himself remember things happened like by getting tattoo or taking photo. There is a cop named Teddy clamed that he knows everying about Leonard and he can help him to find the murder by giving him the information. And another character called Natalie also do the same thing as teddy. But both of them are lie to Leonard and using him. Leonard lives in a world full of lie and painful. He is also looking for the truth.

As Nolan’s some other movies, that one is also very wonderful and clever at it’s editing. Nolan is really good at cutting the story into lots of pieces and break the time line, he makes the film editing likes a puzzle and rebuild the story line. Then he puts the pieces of story into the new time line and use some of them to be a junction to attach the whole movie and story. Then the movie will be so different and wonderful. For that movie, The story was broke into two main parts, B/W part and the color one. The B/W part is in a original and normal order followed the time line to telling us the story. The color part is in a back order of time line and Nolan put them interspersed into the B/W line like flashback. So when people first time to see that film they will full of doubts and with the development of drama, they will get the answer step by step.

The scene that I choose is the very beginning part of that movie from 00:00:45 to 00:02:33, it is more likes a introduction and generalization. It is from the color part so it must in the back order of time line. Nolan used a long take of a man’s hand holding a photo full of blood and he shakes the photo about every 10 scenes. And every time he shakes the pohot, the color of photo becomes more and more  light, at last it becomes blank. And next scene is the photo comes from the camera. And all of this process is about how the things be printed on a photo. So Nolan used that way to telling us the color part is in a back order. Then it cutted to another scene that Leonard appear into the screen. Lots of details show us that he killed a man just now. Actually the beginning of this movie is also the endding of the story.

The Shot Analysis 1

Shot type:  Long take and close-up

Nolan used a long take for the beginning because he wants to show us the change of the photo color. Close-up can make it more clearly.

Sound and Music: soothing and divine background music. Sound effedct of shaking the photos.

The background music is soothing because it may show the Leonard is gently and clam after killing the man who always using him and he get the truth. And the music’s divine can tell us what he did is divine.

Color: Color

It is in a back order of time line and we can easily find that by the change of the photo’s color. Actually it is the process of how picture be printed on the photo.

Mise-en-scene:  Leonard holding a photo and shake it about every 10 scenes.

Dialogue: no dialogue.

Character: Leonard ( Only the hand, we can know it’s Leonard’s cause there is a tattoo on the hand.)

Lighting: The original nature sun light .

Time: 75 seconds.

Transitions: No Transitions

Camera angle: Use the Leonard’s eyes’angle looking down the photo.

Camera movements: No Camera movement.

Depth of field: The focus is on the photo and leonard’s hand. Environment around is fuzzy.

The Shot Analysis 2

Shot type:  close-up

Nolan used close-up shot to let us put our focus on the action that he put the photo into the camera because in that shot, the action is the point.

Sound and Music:  Also the soothing and divine background music. And the sound effect of taking photo by camera.

Color:  Color

That shot is also in the color part so it must be in back order of time line too.

Mise-en-scene:  Leonard puts a photo into the camera and takes a photo. In fact, it is the process that he removes the photo from camera because in that movie the color parts are in back order of time.

Dialogue: no dialogue.

Character: Leonard and his camera.

Lighting: The original nature sun light. And the lighting of camera’s flash lamp.

Time: 8 seconds.

Transitions: The scene jump-cut into his face.

Camera angle: Eye-Level angle to his camera.

Camera movements: No Camera movement.

Depth of field: Only his hand and the camera is in the clearly focus. And his body is out the clearly focus.

 

The Shot Analysis 3

 

I put these few short shot together cause their roles and types are the same in that part and we can treat them as one big scene.

Shot type:  close-up and extreme close-up

The blood in first picture is extreme close-up and other two are close-up,

Nolan use these two types of shot here to show us the details which can let us know someone was killed by a gun just now.

Sound and Music: The background music became strange and a little nervous to coordiante the scene. No sound effect.

Color:  Color

Mise-en-scene: Just show us some details. Cutted very fast. The first shot the blood flowing backwards because it is in color part, everything’s in back order.

Dialogue: Stilll no dialogue.

Character: Blood flowing on the ground, A bullet, and a glasses with blood on it.

Lighting:  Also the original nature sun light.

Time: First shot 3 seconds, Second shot 2 seconds, last shot 2 seconds.

Transitions: Use jump-cut from one shot to another.

Camera angle: First one is using the man’s eye angle who is lying on the ground to see the blood. Second one is high angle and last one is eye-level angle.

Camera movements: No Camera movement.

Depth of field: In each of these shots the focus is always on the object that director showed us. And the environment around are all Vaguely.