PRELIMINARY STUDY

PREZI - EXAMPLES OF SYNERGY IN THE LION KING FRANCHISE

FIRST TASK - THE PACKAGE

This is the first piece we have done in class, I was in a group with 3 other people. We were given the title 'The Package' and could do anything with it. We decided we wanted a storyline that was dark(ish); a box full of fingers gets mixed up with a unassuming boy's present to his girlfriend. We used a song created by my brother on logic as well as some non copyright songs on the final cut application. I found this task really fun and exciting, arranging the shots was interesting and altering the lighting like in the "mafia boss" scene was too. However, the overall product had some mistakes and things we could have executed better, like out of focus shots, bad pans and blurry scenes when we were just getting used to how to use autofocus. I think if we were to do it again it would be much better because we'd have learned from our mistakes, and know how to create a more inspiring frame and therefore achieve a better outcome because of the prior experience.

MEMENTO OPENING ANALYSIS

The opening to the film Memento by Christopher Nolan is very simple yet extremely effective. The credits begin on a black screen, and as the title MEMENTO comes up the black fades away to reveal a close-up of a hand holding a polaroid photograph of a dead man, with blood covering the walls and floor. This immediately sets the tone for the whole film and establishes the narrative structure the film takes, because as the hand shakes the photograph it fades instead of developing (representing how the film begins at the close of the story and returns to the beginning). This opening shot also creates an immediate sense of mystery, and as the shot lingers on for almost a minute, the viewer is left asking questions – Who is the man holding the photograph? Why has he killed someone? Who has he killed? It also creates a sense of unease simply due to the length of the shot, which gives the film an immediate eerie atmosphere.

The fade from the black, with the residual MEMENTO opening credit works in many ways, not only is it a striking piece of graphic design with well spaced letter and a widescreen composition which is extremely bold, but it immediately draws your eye to the vibrant red of the blood in the polaroid, in the otherwise muted/cooler colour scheme. In the intensely long take, the viewer will realise there is a hand holding the polaroid and therefore someone staring into it at the same level that we are watching the screen from, which puts us in the possible killer’s position – which again heightens the sense of unease.

The significance of the photograph fading also links to the main character (Guy Pearce)’s mental state. Like the polaroid, his memory fades due to his short term memory loss caused by a brawl with an intruder who raped and then murdered his wife. The photography itself also shows one of the ways Pearce tries to keep track of his findings, along with his tattoos.

There is no explanation for why the film is ‘undeveloping’ which further creates the sense of mystery, until the very end of the scene where the camera pans up quickly, the polaroid shoots back into the camera, there is a dramatic flash and we finally see the killer (Pearce’s) face. He is lit with chiaroscuro lighting, with most of his face in darkness, again creating eeriness and unease.

There are then extreme close-ups which are in quick succession; of the blood dripping ‘up’ the walls and the victim’s glasses lying on the floor. The music at this point builds up and becomes overbearing as we see Pearce’s face staring down at the dead man. He then bends down and his gun flies back into his hand, we hear the gunshot and then screech as we see the man just before he is killed. This scene is then quickly cut off as we cut to the beginning of the storyline.

In conclusion this opening is extremely effective mainly because of the questions it leaves the viewer asking, and in the way that it links to the actual end of the story line and therefore makes the film satisfyingly cyclical.