FMP project research

Tone;

Inspiration, memento;

A backwards sequence is shown. It starts with the polaroid photograph of a dead man. As the sequence plays backwards the photo reverts to its undeveloped state, entering the camera before the man is shot in the head. This is followed by interspersed black-and-white and colour sequences, with the black-and-white sequences taking place chronologically before the colour sequences.

The black-and-white sequences begin with Leonard Shelby in a motel room speaking to an unnamed telephone caller who is not shown on-screen. Leonard has anterograde amnesia and is unable to store recent memories, the result of an attack by two men. Leonard explains that he killed the attacker who raped and strangled his wife, but a second clubbed him and escaped. The police did not accept there was a second attacker, but Leonard believes he is called John with a last name starting with G. Leonard conducts his own investigation using a system of notes, Polaroid photos, and tattoos. As an insurance investigator, Leonard recalls one Sammy Jankis, also diagnosed with the same condition. Sammy's diabetic wife, who wasn't sure if his condition was genuine repeatedly requested insulin injections to try to get him to break his act. He did not and as a result she fell into a coma and died.

The colour sequences are shown in reverse chronological order. Leonard gets a tattoo, based on instructions to himself, of the registration plate of John G. Finding a note in his clothes, he meets Natalie, a bartender who resents Leonard as he wears the clothes and drives the car of her boyfriend, Jimmy. After understanding his condition, she uses it to get Leonard to drive a man named Dodd out of town and offers to run the license plate to help his investigation. Meanwhile, Leonard meets with a contact, Teddy. Teddy helps with Dodd, but warns him about Natalie; however, Leonard has written on a photo of Teddy to not trust him. Natalie provides Leonard the driver's license, which shows a John Edward Gammell, Teddy's full name. Confirming Leonard's information on "John G" and his warnings, Leonard meets Teddy and drives him to an abandoned building, killing him as shown in the opening.
In the final black-and-white sequence, prompted by the caller, Leonard meets Teddy in the motel lobby. Teddy is an undercover officer and has found Leonard's "John G", Natalie’s boyfriend Jimmy Grantz, and directs Leonard to the same abandoned building outside of town. When Jimmy arrives, Leonard strangles him and takes a photo of the body. As it develops the black-and-white transitions to colour, thus beginning the colour sequences. Leonard swaps clothes with Jimmy, hearing Jimmy whisper "Sammy". As Leonard has only told the story of Sammy to those he has met, he doubts Jimmy is the attacker. Teddy arrives and asserts that Jimmy was John G but when Leonard is not convinced, Teddy reveals that together they had already found and Leonard had killed the real attacker over a year ago. Teddy claims that Leonard confused elements of his life with that of Sammy, who was a conman with no wife. Leonard's wife was diabetic, had survived the attack and was the one who died in the insulin overdose. Teddy accuses Leonard of creating an unsolvable puzzle to give himself purpose and since "John G" is a common name, he will continually forget, beginning his search again and that even Teddy himself has a "John G" name. After hearing Teddy's exposition, Leonard consciously burns the photograph of Jimmy's body, drives off in Jimmy's car and has Teddy's license plate number tattooed on himself as the one of the second attacker, which will lead to the events of Teddy's death.

 

The techniques used in the movie Memento mirror what I want to attempt in my short film, in that I'll use differing colours and gradients in order to emphasise the sections of the narrative wherein the main character is constructing memories to suit what he knows and also to represent a difference in time frame, where we jump back in order to gain more insight into events. I also like the idea of using a non-linear narrative in order to parallel the internal mental struggle of the main character, throughout the film we are experiencing these revelations at the same pace as the main character, sharing his confusion and trying to piece together the overall story using what we've learnt so far, this makes the final revelation of what is really going on much more poignant and effective. I find the concept of twisting viewer interpretation very interesting which is why I decided to use this technique for my film, first making viewers sympathise for the character then turning everything on it's head in the final act, this is also why I opted for a dark and ambiguous ending (see script).

Inspiration, Black Mirror, episode 'White Bear';

This episode of Black Mirror also served to help me develop my concept further, it concerns a lone female who finds herself abruptly thrust into a world of mystery and danger, wherein she is hounded mercilessly by the general public who persistently film her every action and chase her down relentlessly. At first we fear for this character and are as clueless and confused as she is, however we later learn that she is an unwitting participant in a sadistic reality TV show, which aims to taunt and torture convicted criminals in full view of the general public using an elaborate setup of characters and fixed events.

Primarily this episode is a commentary on the voyeurism that inevitably comes with reality TV shows, as well as being reflective of the underlying twisted nature of todays society and the potential inherent dangers of the widespread proliferation of viewer controlled content on TV. However this episode also perfectly illustrates the tone I want to convey in my short film, as is apparent by my choice of main character.