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.