Donnie darko opening scene analysis

Donnie Darko is a sifi and fantisy film relased in 2002 , which is about a A troubled teenager plagued by visions of a large bunny rabbit that manipulates him to commit a series of crimes, after narrowly escaping a bizarre accident.

The opening scene however seems peaceful in comparison to the rest of the movie, the opening lasts 4 minutes 18 seconds and focuses primarily on him alone , although other characters are shown toward the end of the opening. 

The first shot shows an extreme long shot of a road surrounded by trees and the protagonist laying in the centre of the road. The shot is very framed around him and the road acts as a lead in line directing out eyes straight to him , it is also simple and doesn't include anything that could distract us from him.

 These two shots pan toward the protagonist but up until this point we have still not seen his face , this creates narrative enigma and builds up suspense. The angles are also quite high and we slightly look down on him , this creates a sense of power for the audience and makes him seem weak and targeted. 

 The camera pans around him showing the back of his head and also his bike , we then learn how we got to where he is, this shot also put us slightly in his perspective as we can see what he is looking at. 

We are then finally shown his face through a media long shot.

we are shown an extreme long shot of what the protagonist is looking which not only sets the scene but also helps us again understand and we what he is looking at this also buts the audience in him shoes and we see things from his perspective. 

  

After seeing the back of him against the view then see him turn towards the camera and for the second time we see his face. He smiled which is the first emotion we see from him , this may indicate that this is a place that he enjoys coming or that he likes. 

We then see the title " Donnie Darko " .

We see the protagonist cycling down a hill away rom the pace we perversely was shown. A mix of extreme close ups and long shots shown his journey down the hill.

The poster is shown as he cycles past it. This helps or the audience to denote the time of year and the setting he is surrounded by. It could show that there is a small and active community.

The two images above show the type of neighbourhood he lives in , the dress of the women jogging helps us to understand the time period and the time the film is set in , the houses in the background show that he lives in a wealthy , upper class house and family.

The camera then pans from the road onto a drive inn which Porsche is parked and a man is blowing the leave off of the grass , along with the car showing that the family have money it also shows that the family take pride the house and the grades and that they have respect for the areas they live in.

The protagonist then cycles onto the grass and dumps his bike on top of it. The contrasts between the care and attention the man was paying to the garden , it shows that the protagonist has little respect for the garden and it could also show he is in a rush for something. 

Through these three shots we see a girl which we can presume to be his little sister jumping on a trampoline , his mother sat on a sun lounger reading and then him walking psst the both over to the  fridge that has a sign saying " where is Donnie" . The fact that the mother is sat on the sun lounger when donnie is clearly missing could show that there is a lack of worry and panic towards him being missing alternatively it could show that it happens regally and that they don't need to worry because we will eventually come back.