Title analysis: Memento

"A man, suffering from short-term memory loss, uses notes and tattoos to hunt for the man he thinks killed his wife." - IMDB

This is the first shot seen by the audience. The initial impression made is of a gory storyline with the blood scattered around tiles. With this shot, the person holding the picture is not made clear. The soundtrack used in this is made up of violins and flutes. The notes used together create the essence of a creepy and eerie atmosphere. The music combined with the visual aid show the tension behind the scene and the storyline. For the audience, the question arises of how this picture has come in the possession of this person but also how they are connected to victim. The main bulk of the questions arise from wondering what has happened prior to this scene.

Throughout this part, the visual aid stays the same, so does the music. The only change seen is the titles. As time is almost stood still with the same visual aid and music, it suggests the person is still holding on to a memory or in a confused state about what is going on. Due to this the audience would question why there has not been a change in movement. The visual stays the same the same for all of the credited actors.

The visual changes when the credits change to the costume director. This is so the change in roles can be seen clearly. The colours go from red on the blood to a more auburn colour  with the crisp details of the blood outline being blurred to a more rounder edge with less distinction of blood. For the audience this raises the question of whether the the person is just loosing focus of what is in their hands or if they are forgetting and becoming confused with the changes in colour.

As the name of the Executive Director appears the image becomes even more blurred with the colour becoming more of a lighter shade of auburn, the thumb in the corner has also faded away more and is barely visible. This creates enigma for the audience as we start to wonder why the image is becoming blurred and why it is losing colour and vibrancy.

As the titles change to the producers, the image becomes  more blurred with the blood barely recognisable from what it was before. The colour has faded and spread more alike paint or ink spreading across water becoming thinner and dispersing. This could be to represent the persons thought track due to their memories fading like they're mixing with water. The impact on the audience is the same it has as the character - confusion.

As the final credit is shown for the director the image has almost faded to white with not much to see at all. This could represent the memory of this event being completely washed away with no recollection of what the character was just observing.

The next visual to appear is a close up of the person who was looking at the picture which was fading away. This person appears to confused and worried about what they are looking at, there are also scars his face with what seems to be fresh blood and fresh scabs. This raised the question of what has happened to this character to cause him to be injured in such a way.

This is what is seen next, this shot shows blood around an area, the blood seems to be free flowing and   moving without any clear direction. This further raises the question of what has happened but also of where the character is and why they are there.