As a class we watched the first 10 minutes from the film Momento. From these 10 minutes the editing within the film was crucial to our understanding. The film begins using an extreme close up of a polariod photograph, which the camera focuses on this for a fairly long time before any action begins. Along side this non-diegetic sound is added and this is to connect with the audience, create emotion and to inform that this is a key element of the story. This immediately triggers the enigma code for the audience, due to the photo having an unknown explanation. The photo itself raises many questions as to what has taken place due to the gruesomeness displayed within. At this point the character who is holding the photograph influences the audience to think he was guilty of a murder related crime. As the editing continues throughout the film we learn in fact this is not the case.
The narrative of the film then moves onto our character continuously shaking the photo which gradually fades out. This was the first noticeable piece of editing within the clip, which also raises awareness of the enigma code once again as we question as to why this photo is fading away. The next scene actually is reverting back into the past. A quick snapshot of the scene is shown which then follows with everything returning to its starting position. For example, glasses returning off the floor back onto the victim, a bullet entering back into it's gun and the helpless yelp of the victim making its way back to it's throat. Beginning to slightly unravel the polariod photo we firstly had glance of, the help editing ables us to establish thoughts on what maybe has taken place. As the narrative moves into the next scene of our film we are immediately able to notice the sequence of monochrome shots taking place. This scene would be labelled as a sequence of shots due to the substantial amount of editing throughout. It begins with once again an extreme close up which is on the characters face and abruptly moves into another close up of the characters hand picking up keys. This occurs again with our characters face parallel to the camera in a mid shot. We then become the eyes of our character looking at objects based around the room he is in, which stands out as being unfamiliar to him. Along side the monochrome sequence is what appears to be a commentary from the character we have been shown, discussing the issue of his illness; amnesia. The editing which we are shown here allows us to take a step into his mind and the way in which he is thinking.
As the story continues the film moves away from the monochrome sequence of thoughts and moves back into what seems to be the story. An extreme close up of a poloriod photo, the same as in the previous scene, is being spoken about by our main character. We are then introduced to a new character walking into the scene which links to the polaroid he seemed to be investigating just a few seconds before. The shot is edited as many close ups are used on the new character which ables us to gain slight knowledge. As the two characters head towards what appears to be a previously planned destination, they engage in conversation. From what we hear, we assume our main character may be a police man or a detective due to his comments such have 'i got a lead on a place'. We also learn more about how little he can remember due to his condition. Action that takes place in the next scene ables the us to now pick up on what is happening in relation to the time and previous events. As our main character is holding what appears to be a pistol we then get a close up from the camera which implies and relates to the previous murder scene. The picture of 'Teddy' the character that he has just been sharing conversation and time with is in another one of his polariod photos with a caption that reveals many clues to us. It reads 'don't believe his lies, he is he one, kill him.' Once our character has viewed this a sequence of editing begins when a slight 'fight' arises. A series of what are called invisible cuts are put together during this action which results in each moment of editing piecing together smoothly and makes change very unnoticeable.
We are then shown the second monochrome sequence of editing in the film. This once again consists of a mixture of close up and extreme close ups helping up us to understand his frame of mind and lets us into a more detail of the actual plot itself. Within these small snippets or editing this allows the audience to gain vital information, that if this editing had not taken place, they could find it extremely challenging to grasp the film. The colour sequence once again takes place and begins with an extreme close up of the polaroid photo our character had just used to help him track down what seemed to be a suspect for something we are still unsure about. Just from the focus on these polaroid photos we are taught a lot about his mind set, due to his thoughts and memory being written down on these. The first editing sequence that we were shown is actually the result of the action taken place in the film so therefore we have a backwards narrative rather than forward.
Throughout the film we are constantly shown monochrome editing sequences which we discover are working backwards in time. Then from this we are able to spot the link that they are working forward from the previous one shown. The colour sequences appear as if they do not link, as a consequence of them working backwards in contrast to the monochrome scenes. The editing is used in a way which puts the sequence of the film into a broken up and non-chronological order. The editing allows us to understand what the character is trying to gain and what is thoughts are. Something that i have mentioned in the second paragraph was the fading away of the gruesome photo. After watching more of the film we could now make the connection of this with the characters mind. What i mean by this, is his condition only allows him to have a very short term memory which fades away and does not remember anything, and the fading action taking place appeared to be a clear reflection of his memory. The editing of the film may seem confusing and very mentally challenging to the audience, but actually it allows a deeper understand of the backwards sequence to be accessed. Overall the editing could be seen a form of enjoyment which helps the audience to grasp a deeper opinion of the film.
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