Analysing Memento

The film 'Memento' is a psychological thriller. Many conventions are used in a number of ways to create this.

At the start of the film there are good uses of non digetic sounds including strings which build as the opening begins. The music reflects on the main character as he is pensive and confused. Also used is black writing on a blue background. This is unconventional as it is usually black on white, so it reflects more as a statement. As the scene begins more non digetic sounds appear which causes unsettlement. The background music includes drones and rumbling which includes more unsettlement, which also adds to the tension.

The mise-en-scene of the first scene consists of being very dark and pensive, just like the music. This suggests mystery vibes which is a convention to a psychological thriller. 

The very first scene shows the character holding up a picture of a dead body which could relate him to be a villain. Dialogue of his thoughts are added that you wouldn't hear if you were in the same room as him.  The picture is a close up so the audience can't see anything else in the scene which creates a sense of mystery. It also is a point of view shot as we see what the character is looking at. The denotations used are blood and a gun, this would connote to death. As the film unfolds the audience can see the scenes rewinding which gives an impression that their going to see how the shooting took place and how it gets to the beginning of the film. A film with a layout like this is called non- linear as the story is told backwards, which could be a test to the audience. Also, the scenes flicks back in time which would show the character's memories and how each scene links to the next. This could confuse the audience but is a very clever way of covering the film. The film slowly uncovers the story of Lenny the main character, and how he has short term memory loss and how his wife died, which relates to the scenes flicking back in time. 

The way the film has been made as a non-linear view the audience don't find out the whole story until the end which keeps them on edge. The representations of the characters are not very stereotypical. Teddy in the film comes across as being Lenny's best friend as he helps him get his wife's killer. He's not a stereotypical of a killer as he's a cop, but as he comes across as being quite twisted so you never know. You could stereotype him as being a geek as of his appearance. The audience don't know if he is good or bad and never find out. Lenny's condition doesn't help him as he doesn't remember meeting him and has to keep notes to remember. This creates drama and an unsettled storyline for the character. The audience see Lenny in a positive way and feel sorry for him because of what happened to his wife. He is not very stereotypical of a disabled person as of the way he deals with things. On the other hand, they could see him as quite violent so there's two opinions on him. He comes across as not being the nicest of people and creates a sense of dealing with things in his own way, which connotes him to being very independent.