Analysis of opening sequence of donnie darko

mise en scene:
The name of the producer and director appear
first against a black background, followed by
a dull and dark opening scene which i can connate
is the morning time becuase of the sound of birds and the sun rising.There is very little sound other then a build up of slow music to suit the slow pace of the surroundings.


we can see a very natural setting with trees and fields.
Camera constantly in one anlge of paning across the scene, firstly creating an establishing shot of the surroundings and slowly moving toward one part of teh scene where the main character lays on the road.
music chimes in quite suddenly at the site of the main character, this could signify our surprise as the character appears to have fallen off of his bike and is simply attempting to get up. we see the main character from the back to begin with as the camera pans around to give an angle of his face and the scene sticking to the 360 degree rule. the camera then gives you another establishing shot of the surroundings of the countryside. I can connote from the scene that it signifies the characters feelings of seclusion and that he is very far away from society, literally and metaphorically.
The use of a dark setting,lack of music of use of slow pace creates the theme of a psychological thriller based around one person.
There is no dialogue to introduce the main character, Donnie, just music to set the eerie tone of the film. we would like to avoid dialogue in our opening sequence using the mise en scene and music to give the audience a clear idea of the persons character.