Monday, April 25, 2011

Memento


The movie Memento premiered in 2000 as a psychological thriller.  It is praised for its story telling method that leaves the audience often confused and on the edge of their seats until the last scene (or first) when the story finally comes together to make any sort of sense.  Leonard Shelby, played by Guy Pearce, suffers from anterograde amnesia.  This disease allows him to remember everything that happened before the accident where he and his wife were attacked, but after this accident his brain can only store information for very brief periods of time.  This disease lays the ground work for how the story is told, because direct Christopher Nolan takes an interesting set of sequence to play the story to the audience.  He has black-and-white scenes that take place chronologically before the colored scenes.  The black-and-white scenes also run in chronological order (i.e. scene 1>scene 2>scene 3), while the colored scenes are the clips of information that Leonard cannot remember after they happen, and they take place in reverse chronological order with the last scene playing first and working backwards to scene one (i.e. scene 3>scene 2>scene 1).  The two sequences meet at the end of the story to make coherence.  What makes the story more interesting is that Leonard also tattoos his body to try to remember the parts of his life after his accident so that he can remember the most important things that he must.  A particularly intense moment comes in the scene below:

This movie is a one of a kind, because to my knowledge no other movie has had the sequence of events played in reverse order, and to have it work it in such a perfect fashion, makes this movie a must watch for the movie-goer that enjoys movies that make you think.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Portraits

Tight
Photo of: Brother
Camera: Powershot sx130 IS
Shutter: 1/40
Aperture: F3.4
Exposure Setting: Manual
ISO: 400
Strobe Flash: None
Lens Focal Length: 12mm
White Balance: N/A
 

Candid
Photo of: Chris at the Poker Table
Camera: Powershot sx130 IS
Shutter: 1/20
Aperture: F3.5
Exposure Setting: Manual
ISO: 200
Strobe Flash: None
Lens Focal Length: 12mm
White Balance: N/A
 

Planned
Photo of: Nephew Jacob
Camera: Powershot sx130 IS
Shutter: 1/60
Aperture: F4.5
Exposure Setting: Manual
ISO: 800
Strobe Flash: None
Lens Focal Length: 12mm
White Balance: N/A

Self


Photo of: Me
Camera: Powershot sx130 IS
Shutter: 1/13
Aperture: F3.4
Exposure Setting: Manual
ISO: 800
Strobe Flash: None
Lens Focal Length: 12mm
White Balance: N/A

Food Shots


Photo of: Cheez-Its
Camera: Powershot sx130 IS
Shutter: 1/15
Aperture: f/4.5
Exposure Setting: Manual
ISO: 800
Strobe Flash: None
Lens Focal Length: 12mm
White Balance: N/A


Photo of: Tomato Juice
Camera: Powershot sx130 IS
Shutter: 1/8
Aperture: F5.0
Exposure Setting: Manual
ISO: 800
Strobe Flash: None
Lens Focal Length: 12mm
White Balance: N/A
Photo of: Apples
Camera: Powershot sx130 IS
Shutter: 1/25
Aperture: F4.5
Exposure Setting: Manual
ISO: 800
Strobe Flash: None
Lens Focal Length: 12mm
White Balance: N/A

Photo of: Ice Cream
Camera: Powershot sx130 IS
Shutter: 1/25
Aperture: F/4.5
Exposure Setting: Manual
ISO: 800
Strobe Flash: None
Lens Focal Length: 12mm
White Balance: N/A

Friday, February 11, 2011

Foggy

Photo of: Neighbor's Tree
Camera: Powershot sx130 IS
Shutter: 1/160
Aperture: f/5.0
Exposure Setting: Manual
ISO: 80
Strobe Flash: None
Lens Focal Length: 12mm
White Balance: N/A

Shadows

Photo of: Gas Tanks
Camera: Powershot sx130 IS
Shutter: 1”
Aperture: f/4.5
Exposure Setting: Manual
ISO: 1600
Strobe Flash: None
Lens Focal Length: 12mm
White Balance: N/A