An Experience in Editing Memento and The Hurt Locker

Alfredo Zavala April 16, 2013
Editing: Memento & The Hurt Locker Memento is a film in which editing is part of the narrative while The Hurt Locker is a film in which the narrative uses editing. These two great films are very different when examining the editing. For example Memento has a very difficult story to understand due to the editing of the narrative and the story that Leonard Shelby is trying to tell. For the film, The Hurt Locker, the editing in the film is used to create dramatic emotion and create high suspenseful scenes in which the audience is grabbing onto their seats. Editing is a very powerful tool in the making of films. For example, editing has the power to change a serious and suspenseful movie into a comedy, with the techniques of changing the sounds, order of scenes and shots, and even the color of the shot in the movie. Editing is used in every film out there to create better films and shots. One very important editing technique in Memento was changing the color of the shot. For example when it would flashback to Leonard on the phone, it represented Leonard in a past memory. This editing technique impacted the film greatly. Whenever I saw the black and white scene, I opened up my eyes and paid a lot more attention. The gray scenes were important things to watch and thin about. It was also a great editing technique to use because the major idea of the story is about a man named Leonard who suffers from short term memory loss. The gray scenes were not only giving a higher meaning to the scene but also a flashback to what Leonard had done in the past. This editing was a mix of changing the color and changing the story line in the film. Memento was filled with flashbacks while The Hurt locker was mostly in order until the end of the film where it flashed back to James and how his life was before he joined the army and left to disarm bombs in Iraq. In The Hurt locker, editing was a film in which the narrative uses editing. For example the main character is James and throughout the movie the camera is following him and his struggle of disarming bombs in a country filled with them. A major type of editing in the film is the rhythm of the movie. For example in the movie the tempo and duration of scenes were very quick and abrupt. The shots in the scene are very fast and it keeps the audience focused and tied to their seat wondering what will happen next; Will the bomb go off? Will James or his partners get shot? Will he get kidnapped? The rhythm creates suspense in which we are fearful to for the characters of the film. One common technique that these films had was that they both had music that created drama and suspense. For example in Memento, Leonard was faced daily with complicated puzzling questions, and when this occurred in the film, there was music with a rhythm that was heard throughout the movie. Another way to describe it was that Memento had a theme song that was played in important suspenseful themes throughout the movie. In The Hurt Locker, there was also a similar song that was played throughout the movie, for example when James was struggling to defuse bombs and when shooting scenes happened. These two films shared this similar editing technique that added emotion and created audience attention.
The editing techniques in the narrative of Memento and The Hurt Locker are very similar to each and each has a different purpose. The editing in Memento creates a mysterious and puzzling film, while the editing in The Hurt Locker creates an action packed suspenseful thriller. Editing is a powerful tool used in films. It has the power to change the entirety idea of the movie and add a lot more emotion and drama.