Opening sequence- Donnie Darko

Thriller opening- Donnie Darko

Donnie Darko is about a troubled teenager is plagues by visions of a large bunny rabbit that manipulates him to commit a series of crimes, after narrowly escaping a bizarre accident. This film is based on a scientific concept of tangent universe. The introduction focuses on our central protagonist, as in most films, with only slight indications of other key characters or events.

Code and conventions

The use of pathetic fallacy is used to strengthen the gloomy and ominous atmosphere of the opening sequence. For example, when Donnie was looking at the sky and the sky was very dark; which could foreshadow what will happen next and also more importantly how the story is like.

Usually in psychological thrillers, the most significant code and conventions portrayed continuously is the protagonist's reality, perception, mind, existence, identity and death. So far, we can see Donnie Darko's perception as he's looking around his surroundings like he's trying to search for something.

Sound

The opening sequence was mainly effective due to the extensive intense sound used. The sinister, orchestral music clearly emphasises the story plot. This non diegetic sound enables the audience to realise how isolated the protagonist is and the way he is acting is conveying his vulnerability extremely well. This is also conveyed through the addition use of a new setting showing where Donnie's occupation is and he is surrounded by lots of people; the use of rock, depressing song emphasises Donnie's mood.

Transition/editing

There are multiple fast and jerky edits used in this thriller opening and are often placed in non chronologically; which emphasises the protagonist's mentality. But, there are some slow edits used especially when Donnie is looking at the scenery; which could show that Donnie is astonished by the scenery the same way a child is thus showing how severe his mental state is; this creates enigma. This can often confuse the audience whilst simultaneously keeping them in suspense as they want to know more about the character thoroughly. There is a clear transition when the light is used to change the setting

Camera angles/shots and movements
In most thriller psychological opening sequences , they want us to have  a brief understanding of the main protagonist, which worked effectively through its camera angles and movements. The camera movements used thoroughly in this opening sequence is Pan(horizontal movement, left and right), which conveyed Donnie Darko's emotions and feelings. For example, the camera goes towards the tree and then we can see a helpless person laying down on the ground, which makes the audience question whether or not the person is dead, so already 20 seconds of the opening sequence has created tension. The other camera movement used is Follow(the camera physically follows the subject at a more or less constant distance). For example, the camera goes towards Donnie(very fast paced to low paced), which makes the audience wonder why he's on the floor thus automatically creating suspense and tension. After this, it goes around to convey his feeling. The shots that are used firstly is very blurry then becomes more visible. The long shot becomes closer to Donnie Darko. The over the shoulder shot is to show the audience what Donnie is looking at then automatically goes to a close up to convey his emotions and feelings about the scenery. There are some POV shot to give the audience a view on how Donnie is feeling
Mise en scene
Tension has been built mostly using the mise en scene. I will display different ways mise en scene has been conveyed to grip the audience's attention and undoubtedly leave them in a cliff hanger.

This appears to be in the middle of nowhere as there are no cars, houses or people nearby the person laying down the floor. This is the starting of the initial location of the film. This shot automatically creates tension because the audience are probably wondering why there is someone laying down on the floor in the middle of nowhere.

This shows Donnie is wearing his pyjamas and his bike is laying down the ground thus showing he wanted to get away from his surroundings. The sky shows that it is early in the morning(sunrise) therefore Donnie must have been away all night, which captivates the audience's attention into what drove Donnie to get away.

Donnie is familiar with his surroundings that is why he is smiling so secretly as his memory to this certain place is coming back to him, which makes the audience wonder how Donnie is like as this particular moment only gives a small portion on how Donnie is like. The scenery also gives some sinister feeling as the colour of the sky is purple; and purple usually represents evilness, which could in a way make us wonder if Donnie is the antagonist in the film. But it could be argued the reason why Donnie is smiling is because he possibly thinks that it is normal to be there- if this was a normal person, they would be wondering how they got there and this would be shown in their facial expression therefore the effect Donnie's expression gives to the audience is it makes them want to know more about Donnie so their worries about him is answered. 

This place is familiar to Donnie Darko because he is riding fast in these surroundings . This scene could be used as a wake-up call to Donnie's reality as the other scene was him relaxing whilst this is a very homey, busy place where routines are always the same.

Evaluation- what I learnt

I learnt the importance of shots, transitions, sound, mise en scene which help reinforce the code and conventions of the genre(in this aspect it is 'Thriller'), the atmosphere and could perhaps foreshadow what will happen further on the film. This analysis of the opening sequence of the film 'Donnie Darko' helps me understand what is needed in an opening sequence as well as giving me a rough idea of whether or not I would like to help explain the narrative of the film(or make it ambiguous- make the audience figure out what the narrative of the story is). Therefore, every single thing shown or heard in the opening sequence has to have a significance as with the Donnie Darko opening sequence.