The film introduction establishes the main character Donnie Darko as mysterious and troubled. It begins with him waking up alone on a hillside in his pajamas, laughing in a disturbing way. As he bikes home, questions arise about how he got there and his strange behavior. Minimal dialogue and editing, with slow camerawork and lighting, heighten the film's enigmatic atmosphere and intrigue about Donnie and what will happen next.

1. Hadley Stones

3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJ7Fz3m485
s&safe=active

4. 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.

5.  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 ?

6. 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

7. 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

8.  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.

9.  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?

10.  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

11.  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.

12.  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.

13. Medium shot of Donnie gives us
an idea of what he looks like
first off

14.  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.

15.  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.

16. 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

17.  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

18.  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.

19.  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 ?

20.  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.

21.  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.

22.  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.

23.  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

24.  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.