The beginning of the film opens with a hight angle shot, looking down at a small, square, fully developed picture (Picture 1). Looking closer at the pictures content, we see it portraying a gruesome scene, with blood splatters surrounding lifeless man lying on the floor in his blood. Dramatic violin music plays to reflect the horror and violence seen in the picture. The non-diegetic music is soon accompanied by the diegetic sound of the photo being shaken. At this point we know very little about why and how this scene has occurred, or even anything about the person holding it other than their white ethnicity. Throughout this scene, the opening credits are displayed in the foreground.
The opening continues in its uneventful manor, as we continue to view the very same photograph. These types of photographs usually become clearer and more vivid as time passes. In this scene, we notice that as time passes, the picture becomes more faded and difficult to see (Picture 2). The person holding the photograph shakes it, only for it to become even more difficult to see, as we watch the image slowly fade away.
As more time passes, the camera is still yet to move and the dramatic, violin music still plays. The continuation of the photographs fading now shows a completely blank space where it used to be (Picture 3). From this the viewer can soon realize that time is in fact reversing. It gives the sense that the memory of the scene is slowly fading away, which strongly relates to the films entire story of memory loss. From 0:00 to 1:10, just one camera angle is used and no editing excluding the opening credits. This creates many questions from the viewers point of view, but is yet to answer any. Up to this point have not seen anything except a fading photograph and a hand.
From 1:10 onwards, we start to get answers to some of these questions. The story line begins to develop as we see the now blank picture, going into the camera that has just taken it (Picture 4), followed by a flash of light to signify the picture being taken accompanied with the diegetic shutter sound. We follow the persons hand as feeds the photograph back into the camera, whilst still not revealing their face. The violin soundtrack finishes in replacement for a more subtle yet aery, high pitched tune.
The camera then pans upward to finally reveal the persons face (Picture 5). From the short close-up of their face, we can tell that he is a man, and notice his battle-scarred face. His cheeks and eye area are ridden with scars, presumably caused by being involved in a fight. From this presumption we can link the conflict caused scars with the bloody scene from the picture. The dark lighting positioned on his face creates a mysterious image to the character, in which we know little of.
We then cut to a shot of a stream of blood, climbing up the wall (Picture 6). despite not giving much away, we instantly link this shot with the blood seen on the picture. From the different close-up shots shown in series, we gather and build up a good idea of the scene, which we saw through a kind of, 'establishing shot' from the photo the man took. We then get a birds eye view of the body, lying in its own pool of blood (Picture 7). Its clear to see the man lying face down to the ground has suffered a fatal blow, but we do not yet know who is the culprit for his death.
After another collage of scene setting shots, cutting from one to another, the camera focusses on a shell of a bullet (Picture 8). As the viewer distinguishes what the object is, the shell starts to circle and eventually lifts. Bullet shells are produced after a gun shot has been fired, hence we then realize how the man was killed. As the opening is played in reverse, the viewer is also given just enough time to gather we are about to witness the shooting. The non-diegetic sound quickly become increasingly loud, building the anticipation for the gunshot and drama which is about to unfold.
The final notable shot of the opening 2 minutes is of the scarred man shooting the gun into the neck area of the mustached man. Though we do not know why he has shot him, we get a good understanding of how the scene would be played not in reverse. The gun produces a flash, just after we saw the bullet shell previously on the floor, enter the weapon. The swift, and quick cuts in the editing builds up the tension for finale to the opening. The scene ends with the groan of agony made by the later dead man as he is shot dead.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Extract - 0:00 to 2:00
No comments:
Post a Comment