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Memento Parallel Cut (Rough Cut Available)

INH5

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Title is a working title.

Earlier this year, I decided to edit a chronological version of Memento for myself just to see what it would be like. Watching the chronological cut, I was struck by many aspects of it, particularly watching Leonard wander into danger, but I realized that it didn't work very well as a movie, with the dramatic reveals happening in the middle instead of the end making that aspect of the movie a lot less compelling. Then I started thinking, what if there was a way to edit the movie so that it would have both the mystery of finding out the reason for the events shown in the movie, as in the theatrical cut, and the dramatic tension in wondering what's going to happen next, as seen in a chronological edit? This edit is an attempt to do that.

In my edit, both the black and white and color segments are presented in chronological order, though the color segments start with the second-to-last segment (as presented in the theatrical cut), with the final color segment changed to black and white. The movie cuts between these two sections, with the color segments following Leonard's search for John G while the black and white segments fill in the blanks and the backstory and eventually reveal how and why Leonard found himself in his current situation. Several of the segments have been stitched together to improve the flow.

I want this edit to stand on its own and work for a hypothetical first-time viewer (leaving aside the unlikelihood of a first time viewer actually watching it), so I've also trimmed some parts at what is now the beginning that I think in the new sequence would be too obvious hints towards the big reveals, as well as some of the exposition at what is now near the end of the movie. I've also created a slightly different ending using footage from the end of the theatrical cut, but now in a different context. The list of changes besides the general resequencing are as follows:

⦁    Used VFX to remove "6" from Leonard's note to "Tattoo: Fact 6," to fix plot hole where Leonard hadn't looked at his tattoos to see how many facts he had already tattooed on himself when he wrote that note.
⦁    Cut "Giving you a load of crap about John G being some local drug dealer, Jimmy Grantz." from Teddy in the tattoo parlor.
⦁    Cut Leonard meeting Natalie outside the bar and Natalie mistaking him for Jimmy.
⦁    Cut "Your pocket?" from Natalie in the bar.
⦁    Cut Leonard hanging up the phone and getting called back in B&W segments, to make it flow better.
⦁    Cut Leonard picking the wrong room and accidentally knocking someone out at Dodd's motel.
⦁    Cut "But they weren't even looking for John G. The stuff they found in the car just fit it with what they believed had happened, so they didn't chase any of it up." from Leonard in B&W segments, in order to better stitch two segments together.
⦁    Cut Natalie asking Leonard to tell her about his wife at the diner.
⦁    Trimmed exposition about Leonard's condition when he talks to Burt in the motel lobby.
⦁    Reversed backwards footage from the opening of the theatrical cut to show Leonard shooting Teddy and then taking a picture of the body.
⦁    After Leonard takes a picture of Teddy's body, the movie cuts to Leonard driving away from the derelict building, using footage from the ending of the theatrical cut. This is in color, so it takes place after Leonard shot Teddy. To preserve continuity, some shots are cropped so you can't see the intact driver's side window of the car. The part where Leonard stops in front of the tattoo parlor is removed, and instead it cuts to credits as Leonard is driving along and looks at something up ahead, with his narration saying, "Now, where was I?"

A rough cut is available for previewing. PM me if you want to preview it and give feedback.
 

That One Guy

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Oh, this sounds like an interesting way of reworking the chronology :)
 

It'sOnRandom

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If you don't mind could you post a few example clips so I can see what your aiming for with this edit?
 

INH5

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Here's the first 10 minutes:


Password is "awake".

I'm still not quite sure how I'll do the opening credits, so I decided to leave them for later. The "6 Hours Later" tag at 1:57 is a placeholder. Once all the editing is done, I'll try to figure out to the best of my ability how much time transpired during the gap in between and update the tag accordingly.
 

It'sOnRandom

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INH5 said:
Here's the first 10 minutes:


Password is "awake".

I'm still not quite sure how I'll do the opening credits, so I decided to leave them for later. The "6 Hours Later" tag at 1:57 is a placeholder. Once all the editing is done, I'll try to figure out to the best of my ability how much time transpired during the gap in between and update the tag accordingly.

I took a look at the clip and I quite like it i couldn't realise anything too dodgy looking, or in other words it looks pretty much perfect.

However maybe a little tip I feel the opening comes really sudden. Maybe add some heartbeat sfx before it and than fade into the opening. This is more of a nitpick so don't feel the need to have to do it.

And if I'm being really really picky the opening audio sounds a little quiet, as I turned my phone up to max volume and still struggled to hear it at parts.
Although that might just be my phone fucking up.
I'll take another look when I get home to my proper setup.

EDIT: I looked at the clip again and it is clearer however it is still a tiny bit quiet. However this is a major nitpick.

Also while watching again I did see something else. At 1:54 it is a nice cut but the audio is a little messy as the car driving comes in a bit too late. I would try and make the sound come in earlier if thats possible.
 

It'sOnRandom

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Momento - Parallel Cut Cover 1
KqmHZfy.jpg


Momento - Parallel Cut Cover 2
2UGqdpy.jpg
 

ArtisDead

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Have you considered taking a look at The Chronological version by Remixed by Jorge for some ideas? Its quite good. Our go to version of the film.
 

INH5

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ArtisDead said:
Have you considered taking a look at The Chronological version by Remixed by Jorge for some ideas? Its quite good. Our go to version of the film.

The DLC file isn't working anymore last I checked. Feel free to PM me if you have a copy.

@ It'sOnRandom

Thanks a lot for the posters.

With the opening, I think I'm going to have a good chunk of the opening credits start before the footage, on a plain back background, similar to the theatrical cut. I'll figure out the opening when I get to that.

I'll take another look at the cut on 1:54. I might be able to use some footage and/or audio from the theatrical ending to help make the transition smoother.
 

Heavisyde

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This looks like a great idea. Just one question, why did you cut "Your pocket?" from Natalie in the bar?
 

INH5

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This looks like a great idea. Just one question, why did you cut "Your pocket?" from Natalie in the bar?

The context is that Leonard just showed Natalie a note from her that he found in the pocket of the jacket that he was wearing (you can see this starting around 6:20 in the first 10 minutes preview that I posted above). We later find out that this is because Leonard killed Jimmy, put on his clothes, then forgot about this.

In the theatrical cut, this happened around 1:25, 25 minutes before the end credits and ~14 minutes before we're shown Leonard killing Jimmy. This serves as part of an escalating series of hints that Leonard had killed Jimmy.

But in my edit, this would happen 6 minutes in, ~83 minutes before we're shown Leonard killing Jimmy, so I felt that it would be too strong of a hint to give this early on (keeping in mind a hypothetical first time viewer, as I mentioned in my initial post), so I cut it. I left in Natalie's line to Leonard about how he "can't come in here dressed like that," so there's still a subtle hint that there's something unusual about what Leonard is wearing.
 

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Just finished watching this. This is a really excellent edit, maybe even superior to the original. The intercutting of the b&w and colour scenes was done superbly, especially during the final sequence. The one critique I'd have is that at 28:48, it cuts the "Sammy touching electrified objects" scene in half, which I thought shouldn't have been split.

Overall, all this needs is a few more audio fades and it's done. Great AV quality as well.
 

INH5

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I added a new opening title sequence, and also updated the "6 hours later" title card (now "5 hours later"). Here's the first 5 minutes of the latest version:


Password is "everything fades".

My logic for the 5 hour time gap is as follows: 30 minutes to get the equipment set up, 90 minutes for the tattoo (according to what I've read online, getting a tattoo like that from a professional artist with a tattoo gun would only take a few minutes at most, but this is a self-performed "stick and poke tattoo", so it should take quite a bit longer), 60 minutes of Leonard refusing to take Teddy's call, 30 minutes for the last phone conversation, and finally 90 minutes to drive to the abandoned building, do the thing, and drive back, adds up to roughly 5 hours.
 

INH5

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The edit's been released now. It should be up on fanedit.info soon, but in the meantime PM me if you want the DLC links.

You can find the cover art here: https://forums.fanedit.org/media/albums/memento-parallel-cut-cover-art.20/ Thanks to It'sOnRandom for creating the base for the front cover. If anyone knows how to add cover art to my edit's IFDB listing, please let me know.
 
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