Hadley Stones

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJ7Fz3m485

s&safe=active

The film I will be doing is Donnie Darko which

is a film starring Jake Gyllenhaal which shows

trouble child Donnie having to be faced with

the task of saving the world but having to put

his life at risk at the same time. For this task

however we are only using the introduction.

This film was made in 2001 and won 11 awards

and was nominated for a further 12.

Donnie waking up on the side of a hill which

is really strange.

He wakes up laughing because of where he is

which adds to the enigma.

When we notice how far he is from home in

his pyjamas on a bike.

When he arrives home and checks his fridge

on the front of it on the whiteboard there's

the question where's Donnie ?

Film title is clearly displayed after we are introduced to

this character of Donnie Darko (2 minutes 21 seconds in)

The title here is shown in a different font to how it

was originally set up to be , at first it was a more

Arabic type but as this film was released in 2001

they changed it due to religious reasons and so they

don’t offend those affected by 9/11

Both film company logos of

both Pandora and Newmarket

films are shown to give the

viewer a sense of who made

the film and if they have seen

any of those companies films

before

This film opening does not show the main

cast in the 4 minutes of opening scene which

is quite strange and gets us to guess who the

actors are for ourselves.

We find out quite early however that the film

is directed by Richard Kelly as shown below

which shows that he is more dominant and

takes a bigger piece in this film that the

actors.

This film opening is full of mystery and

enigma which is the reason I believe it’s a

really good piece to use.

The questions asked and raised in this 4 minute

clip are:

Where is he and how did he get there?

Why is he in his pyjamas

Why does he not seem wierded out by the

fact that he woke up there?

Is it a regular occurrence?

The editing used in this intro is mainly cuts

but there are not many used because most of

the shots are revolving around camera work

where minimal editing is needed which

makes this opening very unique.

The fact that there is minimal editing shows

that they want the film to run smoothly and

be more natural

There are many slow motion scenes used to

make it more effective towards us as well as

the use of long takes and slow cuts

The conventions met of this

drama/mystery/sci-fi film are that he is

already perceived as quite a strange

character who has that certain something

about him but we don’t know quite what it is

and makes us want to know.

The sci-fi elements and the drama elements

have not been quite met yet but they do

appear later in the film.

There are a lot of tracking shots used in the

opening to this film mostly because they

follow Donnie biking home.

It also has an establishing shot at the start to

show the main character Donnie.

The camera shots are zooming in and

following quite slow and patiently at the

start because it at mystery/enigma.

Medium shot of Donnie gives us

an idea of what he looks like

first off

The costume used is Donnie in his pyjamas

which adds the enigma to this scene because

it makes us wonder why he is in his pyjamas

even though it is the morning however he Is

in the middle of a road.

The first shot we see of Donnie is him on a dusky

hill side overlooking a scene which is showing

light however is still quite aery. Although as we

transition into the rest of the scene we notice it

get brighter and a lot more natural light is used

because its early morning time which makes us

wonder why he is out at night ?

Also the first real shot we see of Donnie its quite

dark surroundings but Donnie is highlighted by

very weak low lighting but it still makes Donnie

the centre piece and noticeable.

The low key lighting is used in the shot but

focuses slight high key on Donnie making him

the centre piece and the focus of it

The actors used in this film are quite young

and the actor who plays Donnie is not a big

and confident character so he suits the role

very well.

The first facial expressions we see of Donnie

is him laughing and smiling quite sadistically

which shows he is quite troubled and isn't all

there which we go on on to find later in the

film

The way in which the scene is set out is that

Donnie is always the vocal point and main

focus of the shot even when others are in it.

This makes us know right from the off that

he is the main character.

The is only one really important and

noticeable prop in this scene which is the

bike which Donnie rides home.

This adds back to the mystery I brought up

earlier of how did Donnie get there with the

bike , did he sleep ride ?

The setting used in this clip starts of on a hill side at dusk which is a road which not many seem to use because there are no cars on it at this time.

The setting as the scene goes on brings him back into his town which signifies hi coming back into normality from waking up in such a beautiful but some yet morbid surrounding.

The sound used for this piece is all non

diegetic there is no music coming from the

scene the song ‘never tear us apart’ by INXS

plays throughout until Donnie goes to open

the fridge which signifies the end of the

scene.

Also the sound never tear us apart is sort of

ironic because it shows that no matter what

Donnie does he will always keep his family

whole even when there is a slight chance he

is missing.

There were two versions of this film made

the original and the directors cut which was

20 minutes longer and has different things

compared to the original opening.

Also the directors cut opening is shot slower

than the original taking its time with the

shots and also both films have separate non

diegetic soundtracks to them when Donnie is

riding the bike.

The conventions met of the drama/sci-

fi/mystery genre are:

The use of enigma which makes us ask

questions.

The factors of this enigma which are :

Costume

Setting

Props

Camera

lighting

I like this film opening and film in general

because its very enigmatic and made me

want to watch more of the film.

However I would prefer to lean more about

Donnie's character as a whole but that may

ruin the mystery.