Donnie Darko - Meeting Frank

Mise en Scene

In this scene, the setting being based in a suburban neighbourhood accentuates Donnie's abnormal thoughts and how he stands out significantly. Donnie's profane diegesis highlights how Donnie is not like any other teenage boy. 

The colour of Donnie's T-shirt being Blue signifies how he evidently is meant to be a pure, young boy. However, his image appearing to be a conventional teenager, fools the audience into believing he is more "normal" than he actually is. Furthermore the view of Donnie appearing to be a typical teenage boy, is juxtaposed by his hallucinations and abnormal thoughts. 

Lastly, Frank the bunny being placed into a suburban neighbourhood, connotes the abnormality of the film and how it is open for interpretations. This may also suggest that the audience of the movie begin to view things in such a way Donnie does. 


Camera Shots

In the clip above, it begins with a long shot of Donnie Darko walking away from the camera. The long shot being set in low key lighting, sets the scene with an abstract tone. The long shot conveys how (regardless of Donnie's supposedly Schizophrenia) is part of such a normal town. This also represents how Donnie's mind is hidden and nobody is actually aware of this in his neighbourhood etc;. 

Additionally, the medium close up displays the emotions of Donnie and how he views his hallucinations. From then we gather what kind of character he is and how he will then on act accordingly to situations. This is a successful way of portraying a character to the audience and subtly showing their inner emotions (which in this case, only the audience can view). Lastly, the medium close up still showing some proportion of the darkness behind of Donnie, conveys how he is still outside - whilst his delusional mind is overtaking the scene. This could imply his vulnerability to Frank and potentially to society. 

Lastly, in the scene of meeting Frank, we view an establishing shot which displays the surroundings and how Frank is now actually in this scene. This shot conveys the abnormality of the film. This a successful use of an establishing shot as it displays both the subject within the shot and the surroundings. Ironically, Frank and the neighbourhood are binary opposites with each other. This is because the traditional American middle class family who live in a suburban street, most likely find abstract bunny's comical and highly insane to hallucinate.


Sound

Diegetic Sound - from 0:03 - 0:09 there is a subtle sound of crickets chirping behind of Donnie's internal diegetic voice over. This accentuates Donnie's dark thoughts and how he is only aware of his only imagination and nothing else around him. Furthermore, the short presence of crickets chirping suggest that Donnie's voice in his head thinks he is in a parallel universe; this is juxtaposed by Donnie still being in a normal  neighbourhood whilst all his delusional thoughts are being displayed. 

Internal Diegetic Voice Over - Donnie's voice in his head is displayed throughout the entire clip. This keeps the abnormality of the film present as it has a constant reminder to the reader that Donnie views on reality is distorted completely. Additionally, the use of a Internal Diegetic Voice Over highlights the secrecy of Donald's life and how the dialogue is not expressed to other people; but the audience. 

Non Diegetic Sound/Music - From 0:15 - end of clip there is a subtle sound of deep hollow bass music which gives the scene automatic tension and darkness. This also highlights the hallucinations Donnie has and how they make him feel delusional. Lastly, the non-degetic music increases in volume and depth when it cuts to Frank. This emphasises Frank's character and even tells the audience how dangerous this character could be to Donnie (potentially a threat to his perception of reality).

Editing

Cross Dissolve - The cross dissolve in the clip is displayed at 0:21 and 0:42. This use of cross dissolve could connote how Frank and Donnie could be potentially more similar than what people interpret. Instead of a normal cut, the cross dissolve may be highlighting the binary opposition of Donnie's character and Frank. However, I believe it was done to accentuate the similarity between the two characters. 

Reaction Shot - In the clip the reaction shot at 0:42 of Donnie looking at Frank in the street (done through the cross dissolve) displays how Donnie does not fear this abstract character but is fasinated by his presence. This reaction shot clearly states how Donnie does not feel threatened but at peace when he sees Frank. - Challenging hegemonic convention of a scary character in a costume/no identity; as the protagonist usually is threatened by the villainous opponent like character.