Memento
Title Sequence Design
Role
Storyboarding
Concepting
CG building
Concept:
“To be able to forget means sanity.”― Jack London
An urban myth claims that goldfish only have seven seconds of memory. In our sequence, we use betta fish as a narrative device, suggesting that Lenny suffers from lost short-span memories. Our sequence will start by closely investigating the betta fish, gradually revealing the fish and Polaroid pictures floating in the water. Typography as tattoos will slowly appear on the betta fish, foreshadowing traumatizing events that Lenny will encounter in the film. In a later part of the sequence, the betta fish in the Polaroid will have a slightly advanced timeline compared to the fish in the water, echoing the dual-timeline storytelling structure. Eventually, the two timelines converge at the end of the sequence.
Programs
Cinema 4D
OctaneRender
Photoshop
Lightroom Classic
After Effects
Instructor
Ming Tai
Camera
Polaroid SX-70
Collaborator
Jeffery Su
Patricia Hu
Polaroids as a different timeline
We used a Polaroid SX-70, the same camera that Lenny used in the film, to capture the renders of the faster timeline we created in Cinema 4D. We then scanned these Polaroids and imported them back into Cinema 4D, using them as textures for the Polaroids throughout the sequence. Mirrored the dual timeline approach used in the film.
Process
Early explorations.
Testing gobo lighting to create an underwater environment.
Initial Sketch
© 2025 michael wang
