Thriller conventions and microelements of ‘Memento’

Thriller conventions

Plot: The plot consists of a man who has been in an unfortunate incident leading to the death of his wife and himself being inflicted with short term memory loss. This weakness means he cannot form new memories, causing him to tattoo and carry round notes that he needs to remember people and situations. This weakness is exploited heavily by other characters making him a protagonist and a victim, and even those who appear to be helpful, become antagonists. In moments of panic and danger, protagonist tries to remember and note down memories but does not always succeed.

Characters: There are only about 10 characters within the whole film and all but himself seem to exploit his weakness, encouraging the audience to empathise for the protagonist. The female characters in the film are not seem to be objectified bar a scene in which the protagonist’s wife is seen in little clothing to emphasise how much she meant to the main character.

Micro elements

Sound: The use of non-diegetic voice over which helps the audience understand what the protagonist is going through and allows them to step inside his shoes. Music was also used to increase tension in times where a new answer was revealed to the audience, helping viewers to piece together the mental conundrum the plot of the film has consisted of.

Camera angles: The camera angles convey to the audience that the character has been in this position before, producing themes of déjà vu and confusion, through the use of match on action and abiding the 180 degree rule. This however answers some of the audience’s question as the film progresses as the viewers can establish a rough picture of what is going on. Also plenty of extreme/close ups are used to display the emotions of characters and their reactions to the protagonists weakness.

Editing: The editing consists of smooth quick cuts to show the characters every move, essential to the viewer’s understanding of the film. In addition, some scenes are editing into greyscale instead of colour, to connote that the protagonist is interacting in another time period, increasing the confusion of the plot.

Mise en Scene: The mis en scene also helps the audience distinguish between time periods as the settings would be identical and lighting of different scenes help the audience in establishing what and where the characters are.