Blog Post #3- Donnie Darko



In Donnie Darko, the Life Line scene begins with Donnie entering the frame from off screen and joining his gym teacher Ms. Farmer, showing us a medium long shot of both characters within the frame at a neutral angle. As Donnie begins to read the exercise on the card, there is a close up shot of the card he is reading off of to show viewers what he is reading. We become Donnie's eyes as we read along with what he is reading out loud to the class. The next shots shows a medium shot of him and Ms. Farmer as they argue over their conflicting views, the direction of their eyes align as the shots alternate from both of the characters using the 180ยบ rule. The scene begins to shoot the class as they react to the argument occurring using a medium shot, but filming the students in the front row with greater more focus. The camera switches back to a medium long shot of Ms. Farmer and Donnie still standing in front of the chalk board. The next shot is another of the class but this time the back row using a medium shot again. The next few shots alternate between Ms. Farmer and Donnie as they have their discussion  however Donnie's next shot incorporates motivated movement as the camera follows Donnie as he walks towards Ms. Farmer a few paces to the other side of the chalk board using a medium shot. He and Ms. Farmer are now only a few inches apart so as Donnie walks, Ms. Farmer appears in the shot, showing us a side profile as she looks at Donnie. It is followed by a shot in which we see Ms. Farmer's face, but only the back of Donnie's head/side profile now, as his shoulder points towards us. The last shot of the scene which officially ends in the youtube video at 1:05 is Donnie's face clearly frustrated as we see him past Ms. Farmer's shoulder break eye contact and turn away only to take a deep breath and say something that cuts to another scene as we see Donnie in the principal's office with his parents. The scene shows continuity editing as each shot maintains a consistency in the story line and the progress of things.

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