The movie starts off with a long shot showing Donnie lying on the ground. This makes the audience wonder why he is there because looking at the landscape and surroundings there doesn’t seem to be anything there. This could symbolise that Donnie feels isolated to the rest of the world and feels lonely. Which could be foreshadowing as later in the movie he says “I don’t want to die alone” and at the end of the movie he goes back to a place like this but he’s not alone as he’s got Gretchen with him and when the world’s about to end he’s laughing which could show that he’s not afraid of dying alone anymore because he wasn’t alone.

This scene seems fairly normal . It’s quite bright and lively. This makes the audience feel relaxed and peaceful as it is an ordinary place. However the car is very important as that car will show up later in the movie. The car is also red which had connotations with danger and blood, which could be foreshadowing Gretchen's death.

Here a close up shot is used to show Donnie’s expressions. The lighting is kind of dull which creates shadows on Donnie’s face. This scene makes the audience wonder about the pills Donnie is taking. Donnie was looking in the mirror and mirrors tend to be used quite a lot in thriller movies.

Characters are a key part in Donnie Darko.We are introduced to a number of characters in the first few scenes. You never really get to find out more about them.The students are wearing uniform so you don’t really get to see their personalities.

Characters

“Destruction is a form of creationThey just wanna see what happens when they tear the world apartAnd wanna change things”This quote that Donnie says could be foreshadowing. The book they are studying in the lesson gives us hints to what Donnie will be doing in the future, for example setting the house on fire and flooding the school. The Mise-en-scene consists of dull colours and the students are all wearing school clothes.

Grandma Death

Grandma Death is a very interesting character, we are introduced to her when we see her standing in the middle of the road about to almost get hit by a car. This is quite significant towards the end of the movie because we almost see her get hit by another car however it swerves and then kills Gretchen . When we first meet her she whispers to Donnie which makes the audience wonder what she said and also makes the audience think that she is quite strange and slightly creepy.

Donnie always calls her Grandma Death, so we don’t really take notice of her actual name. This close up of her looking in the mail box is important because it shows her name and her name then appears later in the story when Donnie is given a book that she wrote.

This shot can cause the audience to feel confused. This shot only lasts a few seconds so you don’t really get enough time to look at what it’s showing. It’s foreshadowing Donnie flooding the school. It’s a very interesting shot. It makes the audience think and wonder what it could also mean.It almost seems kind of peaceful and calm.

This scene makes the audience feel anxious and on the edge of their seats wondering what will happen. This is foreshadowing as this happens again towards the end of the movie however a bigger knife is used. There is not really much in shot, but the colours used are dull, kind of disgusting colours.

This scene uses shot/ reverse shot to show Donnie’s expression and also use the 180 degree rule. It uses an over the shoulder shot so that the audience feels like they are there and apart of the conversation.The slinky could show that Donnie is quite child-like. It also adds a bit of colour to the otherwise dull scene.

This scene gives it a light-hearted feeling and makes the audience laugh.This could be a red herring. The jogger is highlighted by directional lighting making him stand out and he is wearing a red track suit which might make the audience suspicious of him as we don’t know who he is .

This scene uses low key lighting and has a very creepy, eerie feel to it. This makes the audience feel quite nervous and they way it’s edited might make the audience’s eye feel funny as Donnie is trying to stab Frank’s eye so the audience kind of empathises for Frank. Donnie is wearing a dark t-shirt which adds to the creepy effect.

This scene is very significant and is foreshadowing what is going to happen.It uses low key lighting and is quite creepy. It makes the audience wonder who he is and what happened to his eye.Frank says “I’m so sorry”, which makes the audience wonder why he said that and what he’s apologizing for. We later find out that he killed Gretchen.Also there is multiple lines of action going on as Donnie is in the cinema, the school talent show is happening.

This scene starts off quite light hearted when Donnie says he wanted Hungry Hungry Hippos but then Donnie get’s upset and it makes the audience feel sad and sorry for him. You can kind of see the emotion on Donnie’s face and how upset he is.

This scene makes the audience feel scared when he suddenly shouts that he can see Frank.The prop of the dog teddy is kind of significant because Donnie said he use to have a dog.This scene makes the audience feel really sad and sympathise for Donnie.

This scene shows us that they are generally a fairly normal family.The lighting here is brighter than the previous scenes which gives it a light-hearted feeling.The mise-en-scene shows us a pumpkin that looks like a rabbit. This makes us wonder who made that pumpkin.They are wearing casual clothes. Donnie’s clothes are quite dark which kind of contrasts against the cream and white background.

We then meet Frank in person. Which makes the audience feel shocked and surprised.After Frank has run over Gretchen, Donnie then shoots Frank with the gun he found in his parent’s bedroom. This is what happened to Franks eye.It is close up to the Bunny mask but it is blurred so you focus more on frank.

This scene shows Donnie back in his room and makes the audience wonder why Donnie is laughing and why he doesn’t move.

This makes the audience very sad and wonder why he didn’t leave even though he knew it was going to happen.The shot to the right shows the engine falling through and all the dust and debris. However through all this you can still see the light which can symbolise truth and that Donnie finally found out the truth about what was going on.

This shot at the end shows Frank reaching for his eye which is the eye that Donnie shot. This makes the audience wonder if the other people knew what just happened or not.It uses low key lighting which gives it a very sad atmosphere.

This makes the audience feel empathy for Donnie’s family.The shots show the emotion of his family and makes the audience feel sad and sorry for them.