Donnie Darko (mise-en-scene - Character introduction)

In this certain sequence, the director Richard Kelly uses mise-en-scene to introduce his characters in a very clever way. Donnie Darko was a very successful film at the time of its release in 2001, the film was directed by Richard Kelly and has several genres such as Sci-fi and superhero, what predominant genre it is could be up for debate. Kelly attempted to film this whole sequence without any cuts; however, it was too hard to track forward without any so in the end this section featured four cuts. In the opening section of this sequence a bell chimes on a clock with could link in with what the film is about, time-travel. The first character we are introduced to is Donnie as he is first to get out of the school bus which implies his importance as he is the first character we see. There is a tilted low angle shot as Donnie and his friends get out of the bus; this shows us their importance. The camera pans left to face the school and it looks like a very posh, upmarket, private school but we as an audience do not ever find out.

The first cut that occurs is as Donnie and his friends walk through the school doors and the camera is tracking backwards as they walk through the corridor. Donnie and his friends are walking in a triangle like formation with Donnie at the front which may suggest that he is the leader of his friendship group; that reinforces his importance. There is then a whip pan that starts at Donnie and pans round to the right to face Seth, when they look at each other Seth pulls an aggressive face which implies that Seth maybe a bully or a bad influencing character in the film. Possibly Richard Kelly (The director) showed Donnie with his friends when he met Seth to represent that Donnie is liked and Seth isn’t which may change our opinions of the characters. When Seth notices Ms Farmer he pulls another face at her. This could show that he has no respect for anybody and the fact she is a teacher makes it worse. As Seth walks off Ms Farmer follows him possibly to stop contact between him and Jim Cunningham as she may not want to give out a bad impression of the school. As Ms Farmer goes in pursuit of Seth it starts with her standing there and then suddenly it speeds up which may suggest that she is in a hurry.

As we see Ms farmer walk off the camera pans right to face Gretchen from this we know that she is quite innocent as she looks at herself in the mirror to check her hair before going to wherever she is supposed to be just like a normal girl would. On the other hand, you could say the director has used a stereotype of a teenage girl and used it so the audience can quickly gain an opinion of that specific character. In this shot of Seth, we can see that he is sniffing something, possibly drugs which would reinforce the point about him being a bad character that we, as an audience aren’t supposed to like. As Seth starts to sniff the drugs the camera zooms in on him and his friend, the director could have done this to emphasize what Seth is doing so we can clearly pick up on it. On the inside of his locker there is a sticker that says, “what would Satan do?” This shows that he possibly looks up to and wants to act in a certain villainous way which nobody would benefit from; suggesting he is rebellious. The way Seth is dressed is very scruffy and very informal, this is because his shirt is hanging out and his top buttons are undone showing a disregard for school rules. In this shot, the principle catches Seth sniffing the drugs but choses to ignore it, suggesting the school is not setting a good example to the students. The fact the principle was going to tell him but decided to ignore it shows Seth has power within the school over others; underlining his aggressive nature. Also as the principal walks out the door there is a student that holds it open for him and he taps him on the back which may imply he is a ‘teacher’s pet’. We then fade to white and transition into the next shot.

The mongrel being shown to the audience is quite significant because of events that are yet to come. The camera pedestal’s down so we can see Churita sitting down reading her book, because she is on her own, it may insinuate that she isn’t very popular or just likes to keep herself to herself and possibly that she is a reserved character that intrigues us with an enigma. That could be backed up by the fact there are other pupils sitting away from her laughing and others comparing work with each other. The camera then follows a pupil’s movement until Ms Farmer, Principal Cole and Jim Cunningham are in shot. Before the principal comes into shot we can clearly see that Mr Cunningham looks bored because of his body language; his arms are folded and his looks unhappy. Ms Farmer’s facial expression shows that she is very keen for them both to meet and Ms Farmer pats her heart which may suggest she’s excited and her hearts beating fast as a consequence. This shows that she wants Mr Cunningham’s standards introduced to the school. This is ironic given what happens later in the film. When Mr Cole comes in shot Mr Cunningham’s face lights up as if he is excited to see and talk to someone other than Ms Farmer. The camera follows the three of them through what looks like the school playing area until they bump into Ms Pomeroy and Dr Monnitoff which at that moment Ms Farmer looks uneasy, awkward and disappointed when Jim meets them, it’s almost as if she knows they both would disagree with what she wants to do and enforce with Mr Cunningham and knows they will try and persuade her otherwise. Dr Monnitoff also shakes his head as he walks away from Ms Farmer showing his disagreement. Dr Monnitoff walks away leaving Ms Pomeroy staring across the playground at Sparkle Motion, there is a whip pan to face Sparkle Motion, she is not impressed with how she sees sparkle motion dancing because it turns into quite a sexual dance which ironically is led by Ms farmer who is friends with Jim Cunningham.

When the girls finish their routine, they look happy which could be reinforced by them hugging and high fiving which also shows their innocence but when they went to high-five each other they miss which could either be on purpose possibly so show how excited they are (They wasn’t concentrating) but on the other hand it could be a mistake from the director that was never edited. There is then a cut from Sparkle Motion back to Ms Pomeroy walking up the stairs where the camera is backtracking. Ms Pomeroy was looking annoyed and stressed, her facial expression gives this away and because she throws her drink into the bin with temper about Ms Farmer trying to bring Jim Cunningham to the school. She takes a deep breath before walking into her class; suggesting she is trying to calm down or that she is preparing for a troublesome class. The final cut in the sequence is as Ms Pomeroy walks through her classroom door the camera zooms in on the misted class where it then jumps into her start to teach and the sequence the finishes by the song ending in the background and the music fading out saying “time flies” which also links in with time travel – a key element to the film.