Film opening and title analysis

By Aksaah Ul-Haq

Donnie DarkoIn the opening scene we do not hear any dialogue. The ambiguity of the scene is what would draw the audience in, to think for themselves as to what the plot may be. The scene starts at a twilight time of day, where it is neither dark nor bright, therefore, the director using a transitional time of day is an effective technique. At the start, the protagonist is by himself at the top of what seems to be a hill. He seems to have been out all night, alone. By looking at his face, we are able to sense that he seems to be feeling a bit lost and in a daze. This could be represented by the twilight as it is a time of day where nothing is clear. Donnie (the protagonist) seems to have been out in his pyjamas all night which seems a little odd, so the audience may think that he may have, perhaps, been sleepwalking. The film title appears at 1:14 and fades out with the sun flashing. The font of the title is styled in an old-like text and the style of it can also show ambiguity, and we do not see the cast list at the start as a lot of other films do. After we see the sun flashing it out, we see Donnie riding his bike. By the looks of things, the neighbourhood he lives in and the people around him could conotate that he is from a middle-class family. Although his family seem rather laid-back and engrossed in whatever they are doing, the audience are presented with a sign on the fridge asking “Where’s Donnie?” which could imply that his family are worried about his whereabouts and where he could be spending his nights.

Donnie Darko

The InvisibleDuring the opening we see 2 distributers, Spyglass entertainment being rather popular. At first we see an aerial view of the sea and it cuts to the woods and then the city. The forest could connotate that something sinister may happen and it could be used as a foreboding tool. The title of the film appears at the shot of the woods and the title being placed on the trees could reinforce the idea that there may be something there or that something of significance had taken place there and may come back to haunt. In the 4 th picture, we see that this kind of property belongs to a middle/upper class family and we see that the majority of people at this function are white. This could be seen as stereotypical as most people would think of white people to be upper/middle class. In the 5 th picture we see the protagonist walking off, as though he is unhappy with the situation he is in. Also, his mother seems to be the controlling type who already has her son’s future planned out for him. In picture 6, the type of camera shot used here is a low angle shot which is rather effective as it is as though we are looking up at him. This could show that he has authority over his own actions and what he does, hence his mother not telling him to come back, as she carries on talking to her guests. Also, we can sense that there is no fatherly figure in this family otherwise he may have been in this scene, as most other films representing this type of family class would show a father too, therefore, the audience may think that he has either passed away or left the family due to conflict.In the 7th picture, the protagonist is cutting the eyes off of his own cake and this could represent that he is unhappy with who he is and his identity. This could be described as identity conflict, as, perhaps he has problems with the way his life is turning out. In the last picture, we see that there are guns in his room. They are pointing toward him which could forebode that something may happen to him during the film. The establishing shot of him walking to his bed with his back against the camera can reinforce the sense that he feels hopeless and doesn’t feel as much as he may have used to.