Thursday 8 October 2015

Opening sequence Analysis/summary (Donnie Darko)


Donnie Darko

 

Camerawork is a very important aspect in the extract. Different types of camera work are used to connote the actions that are taking place in the movie. The extract starts with a long shot of the scenery making the audience familiarise with the settings, and then the camera moves towards the Actor who we see lying down in the middle of road. However, we see this because of a medium long shot which then cuts to the over the shoulder shot again allowing the audience to see what the character is looking at. For e.g.: there is a bicycle at the edge of the mountain and the character looks at the mountains. Later on the shot changes to a medium long shot where now just the character is visible and behind him the mountains. There is a black out which directly takes us to the character riding a bicycle with a close up shot which denotes that the rider is tired as he rubs his eye. A point of view shot is used to show the audience what the character is looking at. Throughout the opening scene the male character is in focus.

Editing is also utilised in different manners to create effects which help the audience to understand what's going on in the extract. For example, editing is very slow-paced at first to create a tense atmosphere which again hints at an upcoming convergence. The beginning is very peaceful, showing the main character as the camera comes around him the audience sees something is weird. The editing after the introduction of the movie speeds up after a jump cut to the character riding the bicycle. This helps create a mood and bring the attention of the audience to the scene and the things happening start to match with the soundtrack.

At the start of the extract the music is quiet and low and as it proceeds forward the music starts to speed up creating a happy yet exciting environment. The powerful, non-diegetic music is synchronised with the introduction of the character that we see lying in the middle of the road. The music is climactic and tender as the male character makes his way throught the city changing the mood of the audience and building the suspense helping the audience understand that something is going to happen next in order to break the equilibrium.

In the beginning, we see natural imagery and the camera follows up to the character that’s seen lying in the middle of the road. The scene is taking place in a very peaceful and calm environment which suggests to the audience that there is going to be something bad happening. It is an outside setting. It looks like its evening but later on after the introduction of the movie the scene cuts to a city life in the morning as the audience can see people jogging and running around. There is a bicycle ridded by the main character which follows throughout.

The opening sequence doesn’t consist of much action or any type of dialogues however, it does have some suspense from the starting to the end as the audience doesn’t know what has happened because the scene directly cuts to the male riding bicycle in to the city.

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