Film Techniques In Memento
Christopher Nolan
Many know Christopher Nolan for his directing skills. He has directed movies such as Interstellar, Inception, and the Dark Knight. While he is a talented director, he also is a talented screenwriter. He has been the screenplay writer for movies such as Memento, Insomnia, Inception, and many others. This will go into the writing process Nolan goes through and the steps he makes when writing a screenplay.
In 2010 a writer named Ed Brubaker asked Nolan a few questions about his screenwriting process following a screening of The Dark Knight. Brubaker had first asked “How far do you outline stuff before you actually start scripting?” Nolan had replied with, “I don’t really outline.” When Nolan was asked what he did instead …show more content…
Memento is a psychological thriller film written and directed by Nolan which released in fall of the year 2000. Touched on earlier, I talked about how writing in a non-linear fashion was hard for Nolan. So when writing Memento, he wrote it in a way that he wanted his audience to view it. Memento has a nonlinear narrative structure that focuses on the main character’s memory and has constant flashbacks. There are two timelines in the movie: one of them is in color and the other in black and white. The colored scenes are ordered in reverse. Chronologically, the black and white scenes are first while the color scenes come next. When writing it, Nolan has it all written out in the way the audience would view the movie so it became easier for him to understand what the viewer might be seeing and the certain direction the film is going …show more content…
He said he had a tough time getting exposition in the beginning of the movie because heist movies are the one genre where exposition in the beginning is a very key part of the entertainment that type of movie brings. He knew that heist films are usually unemotional and superficial, but Nolan wanted to focus this heist movies on dreams. Realizing which path he had taken required him to focus more on emotional narrative, something that represents the emotional side of someone’s mind. Choosing to go this path he was able to combine the exciting exposition in the beginning of the movie but also have a strong character development that evokes emotions in its audience. When writing Inception, a few things he learned from where movies like The Labyrinth and the Minotaur, and The Inferno. One thing he took from this was a character called Ariadne, who was named after a woman who helped guide Theseus through the labyrinth and defeat the Minotaur. Ariande also acted as a guide for Cobb in the movie in
Many know Christopher Nolan for his directing skills. He has directed movies such as Interstellar, Inception, and the Dark Knight. While he is a talented director, he also is a talented screenwriter. He has been the screenplay writer for movies such as Memento, Insomnia, Inception, and many others. This will go into the writing process Nolan goes through and the steps he makes when writing a screenplay.
In 2010 a writer named Ed Brubaker asked Nolan a few questions about his screenwriting process following a screening of The Dark Knight. Brubaker had first asked “How far do you outline stuff before you actually start scripting?” Nolan had replied with, “I don’t really outline.” When Nolan was asked what he did instead …show more content…
Memento is a psychological thriller film written and directed by Nolan which released in fall of the year 2000. Touched on earlier, I talked about how writing in a non-linear fashion was hard for Nolan. So when writing Memento, he wrote it in a way that he wanted his audience to view it. Memento has a nonlinear narrative structure that focuses on the main character’s memory and has constant flashbacks. There are two timelines in the movie: one of them is in color and the other in black and white. The colored scenes are ordered in reverse. Chronologically, the black and white scenes are first while the color scenes come next. When writing it, Nolan has it all written out in the way the audience would view the movie so it became easier for him to understand what the viewer might be seeing and the certain direction the film is going …show more content…
He said he had a tough time getting exposition in the beginning of the movie because heist movies are the one genre where exposition in the beginning is a very key part of the entertainment that type of movie brings. He knew that heist films are usually unemotional and superficial, but Nolan wanted to focus this heist movies on dreams. Realizing which path he had taken required him to focus more on emotional narrative, something that represents the emotional side of someone’s mind. Choosing to go this path he was able to combine the exciting exposition in the beginning of the movie but also have a strong character development that evokes emotions in its audience. When writing Inception, a few things he learned from where movies like The Labyrinth and the Minotaur, and The Inferno. One thing he took from this was a character called Ariadne, who was named after a woman who helped guide Theseus through the labyrinth and defeat the Minotaur. Ariande also acted as a guide for Cobb in the movie in