Preliminary Task

LP: Donnie Darko opening sequence

Genre:

The sub-genre of Donnie Darko is psychological horror, which tends to follow a pattern of relying on a character’s emotions and fears throughout the film, and shows something or someone controlling their feelings and getting inside the person’s mind. In Donnie Darko, the character Donnie is controlled by a big rabbit called Frank who makes him complete tasks, for example burning down a house that confuse and anger his neighbourhood. The opening sequence immediately places the audience with the sub-genre of psychological horror with the humming music. The music creates a sense of tension, and helps to cause the audience to start asking questions, for instance why is this boy in the middle of the road? And why is he in his pyjamas? These un-answered questions help the audiences to be engaged and start to make the audience feel vulnerable themselves.

Form and Style of opening:

The credits are shown in the opening sequence, the font is curly and conventionally spooky which again could imply to the audience that it’s a psychological movie. “Donnie Darko” explodes on the screen in white letters, after showing him introducing him as the main character of the film, and answering the question of who is the strange boy lying in the middle of the road. The name in itself is mysterious, including the word ‘dark’ portraying his family or his life as dark and unhappy. The film title is the main characters name, which also suggests the film, is focused on him. Another stereotypical aspect within the first 2 minutes of the film it shows the audience that the film is set in the month of Halloween; this is very conventional to horror because it’s the time of year when people can be most scared, especially in America, where they make a massive deal of Halloween.

Film language- telling the story:

Mise-en-scene: Costume illustrates the ideas that he has been sleeping there all night as he is in his pyjamas, straight away this gives a sense of apprehension and introduces the genre of a psycho boy.

Sound: Before it shows the first shot of the film, the sound of thunder can be heard in the distance; this places the audience with the stereotypes of horror and creates tension, which then contrasts to the first shot where no storm is actually evident, implying there is a time shift throughout this film. In addition, non-diegetic sound anchors the action. For example in the sequence when Donnie is cycling down to his home, the soundtrack is ‘the killing moon’ by Echo and the Bunny men. The lyrics connote the darkness of the film, and also the use of the 80s music signifies the date the film is set in creating verisimilitude.

Camera: The establishing shot shows the remote location of the countryside in which this film is set, the hills go on for miles and they give a sense of mystery with their extreme beauty. The camera tracks towards a boy lying in the middle of the road, which seems extremely unusual. The close-up shot in this sequence shows the character Donnie, with a very sad expression on his face but then he slowly starts laughing, this implies he is a bit mixed up and doesn’t really understand what is going on, again portraying a psychopathic genre.

Editing: There is a slight slow motion effect which creates a sense of foreboding for the rest of the film, which then repeats again later in the film when the plane engine falls on their house.

Narrative:

Representation & Ideology:

The opening sequence shows a white middle class American neighbourhood, Donnie cycles through it past large front lawns and old ladies out jogging proving him to live in a very affluent society. However, the pyjamas Donnie is wearing and the way he has previously acted immediately contrasts the ‘normal’ way of life he is cycling past. His family and location are all very stereotypical, showing large house and his mother father and two sisters. This opening sequence reinforces the residual ideology that mentally ill people can’t function in society, for example Donnie is shown lying in the street in his pyjamas, which could highlight madness and isn’t seen as a normal thing to do. It challenges the residual ideology that males are strong because Donnie's characters is so weak and is easily controlled by this rabbit Frank.

Media Audiences:

The rating for Donnie Darko is a 15 because it is a very psychological film and therefore younger children may be affected by it. Overall, it is aimed at teenagers who may feel they can elate to the character of Donnie. It is full of inspiring quotes that will appeal to the teenage market.

What ideas can we take from this opening sequence?

When creating our own opening sequence of horror, I like the idea of something or someone controlling a persons mind like in Donnie Darko, but partially in this opening sequence my favourite aspect is the lighting because not only is he obviously in a beautiful location but the lighting connotes the darkness of the film, because it’s a very dim light which then tracks towards Donnie in the road. The close-up shots also allow the audience to realize that he isn’t a happy boy, and is very mixed up because they clearly show his emotion. The time of year the film is set in is Halloween, which is very effective because people can relate to being scared at this time of year. We need to think of conventions that will make our opening sequence relatable and frightening to the audience.

  

D.B: Opening Sequence Analysis - Shutter Island (Scorsese, 2010)

Genre:

·      Shutter Island (Martin Scorses, 2010) is part of the sub-genre psychological-horror.

·      The montage shows various images of a mental asylum, a conventional location in this genre. The use of low-key lighting is common in this form of genre, which is kept up with in this clip. Few people are shown; the asylum is made up of barbed wired brick walls guarded by police officers on a remote island far away from civilization. The audience expects the protagonist to have little or no help from other characters because it is more frightful from the perspective of the main character.

·      A gun is show in the clip, which is the only unconventional use of techniques in the opening. Physical weapons are uncommon because the idea is to torment and cause pain through the use of the mind.

Form and Style of opening:

·      The style of the clip is a montage of multiple clips to present the audience with a broader understanding of the story before the narrative begins.

·      Few people are shown in the scene to give a sense of hopelessness and no escape, instilling the idea of terror from the very beginning of the film. Parts of scenes from the film are used in the opening scene to foreshadow the confusion that will follow.

·      The titles flicker and blur to match the music and atmosphere the film is trying to create. The undecided formality of the words connotes the definitive narrative of the film.

·      The Directors, Producer, the author of the book that the film is based on, the main actors, the Editor and the Musician are credited in the titles.

Film Language – telling the story:

·      Mise-en-scene:

-     Low-key lighting is used to connote the sincerity and gloominess atmosphere.

-     The dripping water and rain creates the feeling of coldness and uncomfortable situtaions.

·      Sound:

-     There is humming created by a string instrument and drums to keep the audience tense with the uneasy nature of the clip.

-     The music often gains volume, building up to a climax and then stays quiet again. This keeps the tension sustainably throughout the clip.

·      Editing:

-     Drips of water are put as an effect over the clips of the mental asylum to create a sense of disrepair and neglect.

-     There are lines of white that faintly flash onto the screen over the images to distort them. They strengthen the confusion and distrust.

·      Camera:

-     The camera rotates, imitating the importance of the spiral staircase and creating a dizziness and distortion of what is being shown.

-     The close up of the hand prying up the floorboard prevents the audience gaining a broad understanding. It keeps the mystery of the film and creates ambiguity and unpredictability.

Narrative:

·      The fact that the narrative has no structure and the audience is given multiple seemingly unrelated clips is in fact the essence of the film. The style begins to give the sense that not everything is as it seems or appears at first sight. The audience is expected to know very little about the narrative so that they can discover for themselves the action and be in greater confusion and unease if something abnormal occurs.

·      The character is greatly alienated because the audience has only a string of dark images to link with the protagonist. There is a difficulty for the audience to immediately relate to the protagonist from the very beginning, ultimately unsure who is the person they should be putting their trust into. This is a major theme throughout the clip and the continuity of darkness instills the idea that there is no one to trust.

·      The music is vital in creating tension. There are multiple builds of tension and climaxes that keep the audience at unease. The lack of clarity also help to maintain the tension because they leave the audience with many questions they are unable to ask and become intrigued to find out.

Representation and Ideology:

·      The main ideological representation that is evident in the clip is that of mental illness. The clip is ideologically loaded with techniques that reinforce the residual ideology that the people with disabilities are portrayed as criminals or monsters that need to be locked away for the safety of the general population and cannot function without supervision in a 'normal' society.

·      A residual ideological discourse is portrayed by the lack of ethnic minorities. The only ethnicity shown in the clip is a white American. This does not fully represent the population and gives the impression that only a white American has a story or narrative that is important to tell, or that any other race is unimportant and unnecessary.

·      Incredibly stereotypical of this genre is that there are no women present in the entire clip. The clip demonstrates the dominant ideology that women are immaterial or inconsequential and that they are not necessary for the progression of a story.

Media Audiences:

·      The target audience is stereotypical of the horror genre – 15-29 year old male.

·      The preferred reading of the text would be that everything is bleak and uncertain. The eerie music contributes tension and disturbing associations with the montage.

·      The oppositional reading would be that the protagonist isn’t someone visiting the asylum, but the person living inside it. The antagonist or sinister being would be the visitor.

Institutional content:

·      The film contains many a-lister stars such as: Ben Kingsley, Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Buffalo.

·      The film is an industrial film, with a large budget of $80 million. Paramount Pictures produced the film.

The film had to postpone release in October 2009 due the DiCaprio’s unavailability meaning he would not be able to promote the film internationally. Instead it premiered in February 2010 at the Berlin International Film Festival. A website was created dedicated to the film so that audiencs to find out more information about the film, find trailers and download wallpapers. http://www.shutterisland.com/#/home