Donnie Darko (Sci-fi - Mystery Drama) - Jonathan

Donnie Darko is a movie about a teenager plagued with Schizophrenia, his second name Darko is a pun as it refers to the dark and eerie atmosphere presented by the film. Similar to Sleepy Hollow it is a Sci-fi movie with deep supernatural and psycho- social and mental influences, but it also has quite strong connections with the horror thriller genre at certain points throughout the movie, in these moments it appears to slightly deviate from the codes and conventions of the Sci-fi genre and become more sinister in these moments. Yet the film does not challenge these conventions it simply at certain points has stronger ties with other genres, as a result the method of delivery and use of the manic hallucinated creature "Frank" (below) only give the movie a more supernatural and eerie nature.

The mise en scene and set design use a dark colour scheme fairly continuously throughout. Unlike other Sci-fi movies, Donnie Darko is set in modern times but also has a sinister supernatural element as well, typical of the Sci-fi genre. The use of the monster "Frank" and the references to time travel and hallucinations and such also continue to adhere to the codes and conventions of the Sci-fi genre. We wish to use a similar scene to the mirror scene with frank later, in our movie.



As shown in the above clip, the title is presented by a contrasting bright font text against a dark background, the font used is also quite unique as it appears to correlate well with the genre and the light flair from the sun has an aesthetically pleasing effect on the introduction of the title. we wish to use a similar technique for our movie as well, this is a common technique used in the Sci-fi genre. Numerous other common techniques are used such as panning shots to give a visible representation of the set to the audience, cuts, tracking shots which may be used to communicate disorientation and so on. The film opens with an (extreme) long shot of the scenery, this is to give a greater representation of the set and surroundings to the audience, typical to the Sci-fi genre.

It is distributed by Pandora Cinema and Newmarket films, two fairly minor distributing companies in relation to the more renowned distributors, this is also very common with Sci-fi movies, they may decided to use smaller companies or multiple to reach its audience. The post production advertising campaign also gained a greater audience as did word of mouth and critics reviews.

The targeted audience for this movie is teens, aged 15 and up, the use of famous actors such as Jake Gyllenhaal is also a method typical to the Sci-fi genre for attracting an audience. The use of time travel, monsters, complex ideas, drugs, schizophrenia and so on, are all very unique and also commonly used in the Sci-fi genre as they correlate with the genres codes and conventions.

The audience expects a complex but interesting plot with heavy influences from mental and social psychology and the resulting effects on the main character, and also the inclusion of supernatural and dark elements such as the hallucinations of "Frank" and the ability to apparently see into the future. This is evident in the numerous trailers for the movie.