The document provides analysis of several key scenes in the movie Donnie Darko. It summarizes the mood, symbolism, and plot foreshadowing conveyed through lighting, camera work, settings and costumes in various scenes. Key events summarized include Donnie lying alone in a field at the beginning, his interactions with the strange character of Grandma Death, the flooding at school he causes, his stabbing of Frank and shooting of his eye, and Donnie's death laughing as the plane engine falls through his bedroom ceiling.

2. The movie starts off with a long shot showing Donnie lying on the ground. This makes the
audience wonder why he is there because looking at the landscape and surroundings there
doesn’t seem to be anything there. This could symbolise that Donnie feels isolated to the
rest of the world and feels lonely. Which could be foreshadowing as later in the movie he
says “I don’t want to die alone” and at the end of the movie he goes back to a place like this
but he’s not alone as he’s got Gretchen with him and when the world’s about to end he’s
laughing which could show that he’s not afraid of dying alone anymore because he wasn’t
alone.

3. This scene seems fairly normal . It’s quite bright and lively. This makes the audience feel
relaxed and peaceful as it is an ordinary place. However the car is very important as that
car will show up later in the movie. The car is also red which had connotations with
danger and blood, which could be foreshadowing Gretchen's death.

4. Here a close up shot is used to show Donnie’s expressions. The lighting is kind of dull
which creates shadows on Donnie’s face. This scene makes the audience wonder
about the pills Donnie is taking. Donnie was looking in the mirror and mirrors tend to
be used quite a lot in thriller movies.

5. Characters are a key part in Donnie Darko.
We are introduced to a number of
characters in the first few scenes. You never
really get to find out more about them.
The students are wearing uniform so you
don’t really get to see their personalities.
Characters

6. “Destruction is a form of creation
They just wanna see what happens when they tear the world apart
And wanna change things”
This quote that Donnie says could be foreshadowing. The book they are studying in the
lesson gives us hints to what Donnie will be doing in the future, for example setting the
house on fire and flooding the school. The Mise-en-scene consists of dull colours and the
students are all wearing school clothes.

7. Grandma Death
Grandma Death is a very interesting
character, we are introduced to her when
we see her standing in the middle of the
road about to almost get hit by a car. This is
quite significant towards the end of the
movie because we almost see her get hit by
another car however it swerves and then
kills Gretchen . When we first meet her she
whispers to Donnie which makes the
audience wonder what she said and also
makes the audience think that she is quite
strange and slightly creepy.
Donnie always calls her
Grandma Death, so we don’t
really take notice of her actual
name. This close up of her
looking in the mail box is
important because it shows her
name and her name then
appears later in the story when
Donnie is given a book that she
wrote.

8. This shot can cause the audience to feel confused. This shot only lasts a few seconds so
you don’t really get enough time to look at what it’s showing. It’s foreshadowing Donnie
flooding the school. It’s a very interesting shot. It makes the audience think and wonder
what it could also mean.
It almost seems kind of peaceful and calm.

9. This scene makes the audience feel anxious and on the edge of their seats wondering
what will happen. This is foreshadowing as this happens again towards the end of the
movie however a bigger knife is used. There is not really much in shot, but the colours
used are dull, kind of disgusting colours.

10. This scene uses shot/ reverse shot to show Donnie’s expression and also use the 180
degree rule. It uses an over the shoulder shot so that the audience feels like they are
there and apart of the conversation.
The slinky could show that Donnie is quite child-like. It also adds a bit of colour to the
otherwise dull scene.

11. This scene gives it a light-hearted feeling and makes the audience laugh.
This could be a red herring. The jogger is highlighted by directional lighting making him
stand out and he is wearing a red track suit which might make the audience suspicious
of him as we don’t know who he is .

12. This scene uses low key lighting and has a very creepy, eerie feel to it. This makes the
audience feel quite nervous and they way it’s edited might make the audience’s eye
feel funny as Donnie is trying to stab Frank’s eye so the audience kind of empathises
for Frank.
Donnie is wearing a dark t-shirt which adds to the creepy effect.

13. This scene is very significant and is foreshadowing what is going to happen.
It uses low key lighting and is quite creepy. It makes the audience wonder who he is and
what happened to his eye.
Frank says “I’m so sorry”, which makes the audience wonder why he said that and what
he’s apologizing for.
We later find out that he killed Gretchen.
Also there is multiple lines of action going on as Donnie is in the cinema, the school talent
show is happening.

14. This scene starts off quite light hearted when Donnie says he wanted Hungry Hungry
Hippos but then Donnie get’s upset and it makes the audience feel sad and sorry for him.
You can kind of see the emotion on Donnie’s face and how upset he is.

15. This scene makes the audience feel scared when he suddenly shouts that he can see
Frank.
The prop of the dog teddy is kind of significant because Donnie said he use to have a dog.
This scene makes the audience feel really sad and sympathise for Donnie.

16. This scene shows us that they are generally a fairly normal family.
The lighting here is brighter than the previous scenes which gives it a light-hearted
feeling.
The mise-en-scene shows us a pumpkin that looks like a rabbit. This makes us wonder
who made that pumpkin.
They are wearing casual clothes. Donnie’s clothes are quite dark which kind of
contrasts against the cream and white background.

17. We then meet Frank in person. Which makes the audience feel shocked and surprised.
After Frank has run over Gretchen, Donnie then shoots Frank with the gun he found in
his parent’s bedroom.
This is what happened to Franks eye.
It is close up to the Bunny mask but it is blurred so you focus more on frank.

18. This scene shows Donnie back in his
room and makes the audience wonder
why Donnie is laughing and why he
doesn’t move.
This makes the audience
very sad and wonder why
he didn’t leave even
though he knew it was
going to happen.
The shot to the right
shows the engine falling
through and all the dust
and debris. However
through all this you can
still see the light which
can symbolise truth and
that Donnie finally found
out the truth about what
was going on.

19. This shot at the end shows Frank reaching for his eye which is the eye that Donnie
shot. This makes the audience wonder if the other people knew what just happened
or not.
It uses low key lighting which gives it a very sad atmosphere.

20. This makes the audience
feel empathy for
Donnie’s family.
The shots show the
emotion of his family and
makes the audience feel
sad and sorry for them.