Memento Opening scenes analysis

The beginning of the film opens with a high angle shot, looking down at a photograph of what appears to be a bloody crime scene of which a dead man is seen. The sound appears to be a violin which helps to exhibit the revulsion from that gruesome picture effectively, as it helps to create an eary and tense atmosphere.

Throughout this scene, the opening credits are displayed in the foreground with this same picture taking centre stage, this could suggest to the audience that this might be either a psychological thriller or a crime thriller as we're unaware of who's holding the picture and his connection with the deceased.



The next shot the audience see's is a reaction shot of the man who has been holding the picture this whole time. This shot shows him to be quite horrified and confused at what he has just seen suggesting that he isn't a police officer as they would be used to seeing images like this, thus suggesting he might have had a connection to the victim. This shot makes the audience sympathise with him as they can see that he looks truly confused by it, furthermore through the scar markings on his face the audience can infer that he too might have been in a accident or might have come close to getting killed himself as the marking looks fairly fresh, therefore it must have been recently.