Memento - Introduction Review

Practice makes perfect, and on that note, reviewing the beginnings of Thriller films will enable me to understand how a director, like Christopher Nolan, attracts the audience by using certain effects that make the story a little bit more interesting.

In Christopher Nolan's film, Memento, the opening sequence includes a close up (cu) of a photo, and this photo seems to gradually fade until we see the man, take a out gun, and shoot another man, who seems to be a threat or an enemy towards the main character. Until then, we did not know that the sequence was in rewind mode. This visual effect really drags the audience into the story, and creates mystery and suspense.

Christopher Nolan incorporated great attention seeking effects like monochrome (aka B&W) to create a "flashback" shot. He also makes good use cinematography, sound effects (SFX), lighting, mise-en-scène.

Thriller conventions

1. fast paced frames,
2. "agitated" soundtracks, 
3. blurred framing (creates confusion/diverted or altered point of view - of the victim), dark setting (pathetic fallacy?), 
4. cob-webs (old, ancient, derelict building, not used for a long time - falling apart? - greater danger)

Opening Sequence of Memento - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z87iY8rPJF8

My group have chosen this genre because we believe we can create a heart-beating, mind-striking Thriller.

Media: The beginning.

Hello, and welcome to my riveting blog.

In this blog, I will be telling you about my progress in Media Studies. 

My first lesson in this class was very interesting, we learnt about all the the key terms [jargen]. 

A second went by and we learnt a bit more about the cinematography and "mise-en-scene". 

Here we go :]