Donnie Darko Blogging Task

 

DONNIE DARKO

Locations and Mese-en-scene

Locations:

• School bus
• School mall
• Lockers
• Bench outside school
• Classroom

Mese-en-scene:

There are many mess-en-scene techniques used in the clip from Donnie Darko to create the world of the school such as at the beginning where we can see a yellow bus which gives us the stereotypical impression that it is a school bus in addition to that we can clearly see the text above the bus which states "school bus" We also see people getting off the bus dressed in smart uniform and holding either a bad or books which creates the impression that they are students.

A classroom is the main background detail which tells the audience the clip is located in a school. Throughout the clip we can see a few people older looking than most people in the clip which tells the audience that they are teachers.

EDITING AND CAMERA 

• Right at the very beginning of the film sequence the camera starts upside down then rotates 360degrees clockwise and then starts to at mid pace zoom out. In addition, this is eye catching for the audience, the rotation of the camera could suggest the representation of the world turning around when they begin to attend school in teen dramas. This is affective because usually when a person starts intuition their lives change vastly in a short period of time. The camera then pans across the screen to follow the main character into school itself. This effect could be seen as isolating the main character identifying who will be the main focus of the duration of the film.
• When the friends of the main character and the main character enter the school, the camera technique used is panning. The camera follows them in a swing motion. The camera sort of flips and does a 360degree rotation to show a new character being introduced.
• The camera also pans through the hallways which eventually slows down and speeds up when introducing the different characters. This is shown to represent how teen characters are usually portrayed and stereotyped in different ways whether it being a good or bad aspect.
• Towards the end of the clip, the scene begins to speed up when the teacher walks through the door, as he exits the sunlight shines through making it too bright to look at almost blinding, this effect is used to dissolve the transition into another scene, linking them together.

Characters

There are several characters introduced in the opening of Donnie Darko and each of them are presented in a different way to give the audience a vague idea of each one of their personalities.

It starts off showing 3 boys walking together showing that they could be the normal group in the school as they do not stand out in any kind of way. It is then followed on by introducing one boy pulling faces at another student in the school. Immediately we can see that the boy is a trouble maker at school as he is also noticed by the teachers in the school. One of the teachers in the clip scowls at the boy showing her annoyance towards him. Her facial expression indicates that she must be one of the important teachers in the school such as a deputy head as she is dressed in smart clothing and looks intimidating.
It is then followed on by showing a girl looking in the mirror. She then walks around the bad boy and looks at him which could suggest that she could be an ex girlfriend of his hoping for his attention.

The scene then follows on outside the school where it starts off by introducing a big girl reading a book. As she is alone, it indicates that she may be a quiet girl in school and also get bullied because of her size and therefore has no friends.
As the scene follows on, we can see that a new teacher has come to the school as we see the female deputy or head teacher introducing him to other teachers and we know this as he is shaking hands with them. Because of his friendly appearance, it suggests he will be a nice teacher in the school.
After the teacher has been introduced, we see the other two teachers walk on pulling faces showing their sneaky two faced personality. Finally, we are introduced to a bunch of girls dancing outside which suggests that they could be good friends and be part of some sort of dance club in the school. They also hug in the end showing their happiness to be reunited with eachother after the holidays.