Meaning behind Donnie Darko (2001)

PU = Primary Universe (The Universe we exist in now)
TU = Tangent Universe (The parallel Universe that most of the film is set in)

Time is usually a stable construct but every now and then the fourth dimension gets corrupted. When this happens it creates a TU which is highly unstable and will only last a few weeks before it collapses and destroys itself and the PU. This is what happens, there is a corruption in time and a jet engine falls through it. This has created a TU and the next 28 days is set in this alternate reality.

Artifacts are evidence that a TU has been created and are made from metal. In this case the Artifact is a giant jet engine. When the Artifact appears it unbalances the Universe. There was one of everything but now the TU has a duplicate jet engine. The only way to save the Universe is to guide the Artifact back into the PU through a time portal. By removing the extra jet engine from the TU it balances out the Universe. This will close the TU safely without destroying the PU at the same time.

Donnie is chosen as the Living Receiver. It’s the Living Receiver’s role to guide the Artifact back to the PU. The Living Receiver is usually blessed with some supernatural powers during their time in the TU including increased strength, the ability to conjure fire and water and telekinesis.
He uses strength to bury the axe into the school water pipe and solid bronze mascot.
He uses fire to burn Jim Cunningham’s house down
He floods the school and constructs a time portal from water.
He uses telekinesis to rip the jet engine off the plane to send it through the time portal.

Anyone connected to the Living Receiver who dies in the TU becomes Manipulated Dead. These people are very powerful and have the ability to move through time and talk to the Living Receiver through a Fourth Dimensional Construct. Frank is killed in the TU and therefore becomes one of the Manipulated Dead. He travels back in time and helps Donnie with his quest to return the Artifact. The first thing he must do is save Donnie by waking him up before he gets squashed by the jet engine. He is like a reverse ghost who appears before he was killed.

All the people connected to the Living Receiver are the Manipulated Living and these people will subconsciously help guide the Living receiver. They will behave in the exact perfect way necessary to push Donnie toward his eventual destiny. Nearly every event in the film has a specific purpose designed to aid Donnie to save the Universe. The driving force behind there behaviour is God; It’s actually a very religious film, the idea that you follow God’s channel to decide your own fate. God is moving all the characters around like pieces on a chessboard, making a sequence of events that will lead to Donnie’s success.

At the end of the film a timestorm starts to form as Donnie drives up the mountain, it’s the beginning of the TU collapse and is centred over Donnie’s house which is where the TU began. Donnie constructs a time portal from water and guides the engine through it. This restores the PU back to October 2nd, the birth of the TU. The last 28 days never happened and Donnie wakes up in his bed laughing. The jet engine Donnie sent through the time portal then falls into his bedroom killing him.

Even though the last 28 days never actually happened some of the Manipulated will be haunted in there dreams by there experiences within the TU. Frank touching his eye at the end is evidence of this.

Warner Bros.

Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. (though the name was occasionally given in full form as Warner Brothers during the company's early years) is an American producer of film and television entertainment.

One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank, California and New York, New York. Warner Bros. has several subsidiary companies, including Warner Bros. Studios, Warner Bros. Pictures, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Warner Bros. Television, Warner Bros. Animation, Warner Home Video, New Line Cinema, TheWB.com, and DC Comics. Warner owns half of The CW Television Network.

British Board of film classification (BBFC)

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), originally British Board of Film Censors, is a non-governmental organisation, funded by the film industry and responsible for the national classification of films within the United Kingdom. It has a statutory requirement to classify videos, DVDs and some video games under the Video Recordings Act 2010.

The BBFC rates theatrically released films, and rated videos and video games that forfeited exemption from the Video Recordings Act 1984, which was discovered in August 2009 to be unenforceable until the act was re-enacted by the Video Recordings Act 2010. Legally, local authorities have the power to decide under what circumstances films are shown in cinemas, but they nearly always choose to follow the advice of the BBFC.

The Video Recordings Act requires that video releases not exempt (music, documentary, non-fiction, video games, etc.) under the Act had to be classified, making it illegal to supply any recording that had not been certified. Certificates could restrict release to any age of 18 or under, or to only licensed sex-shops. The government currently designate the BBFC as the authority for certifying video releases. As the law requires the certificate to be displayed on the packaging and media labels of the video recording, in practice only UK releases can be legally sold or hired in the UK, even if a foreign release had identical content.

Video games with specific themes or content (such as the Grand Theft Auto series) must also be submitted to the BBFC to receive a legally binding rating (contrast with the advisoryPEGI ratings) in the same way as videos, however, under the Digital Economy Act 2010, responsibility for rating games that include violence or encourage criminal activity will pass from the BBFC to the Video Standards Council. Other video games may be submitted at the publisher's discretion.

All films and video games rated by the BBFC receive a certificate, along with "consumer advice" detailing references to sex, violence and coarse language. If a certificate specifies that a film or video game is only suitable for someone over a certain age, then only those over that age may buy it.

The BBFC can also advise cuts for a less-restrictive rating. This generally occurs in borderline cases where distributors have requested a certificate and the BBFC has rated the work at a more-restrictive level; however, some cuts are compulsory, such as scenes that violate the Protection of Children Act 1978 or Cinematograph Films (Animals) Act 1937. The final certificate then depends on the distributor's decision on whether or not to make the suggested cuts. Some works are even rejected if the distributor refuses the cut.

Both examiners and the directors of the BBFC are hired on a permanent basis. Examiners are required to watch 5 hours 20 mins of media, to a maximum of 35 hours a week.

Symbol	Name	Definition/Notes
	Universal	All ages admitted, there is nothing unsuitable for children over 4.
	Parental Guidance	All ages admitted, but certain scenes may be unsuitable for children under 8.
	12A	Cinema only. Introduced in 2002. Films under this category are considered to be unsuitable for very young people. Those aged under 12 years are only admitted if accompanied by an adult, aged at least 18 years, at all times during the motion picture. However, it is generally not recommended that children under 12 years should watch the film. Films under this category can contain mature themes, discrimination, soft drugs, commonly used milder swear words, and moderate violence/sex references.
	12	Home media only since 2002. 12A-rated films are usually given a 12 certificate for the VHS/DVD version unless extra material has been added that requires a higher rating. Nobody younger than 12 can rent or buy a 12-rated VHS, DVD, Blu-ray Disc, UMD or game. Films in this category may include infrequent drugs, infrequent use of strong language, brief nudity, discreet sexual activity, and moderate violence.
	15	Only those over 15 years are admitted. Nobody younger than 15 can rent or buy a 15-rated VHS, DVD, Blu-ray Disc, UMD or game, or watch a film in the cinema with this rating. Films under this category can contain adult themes, hard drugs, strong language, moderate-strong violence/sex references, and mild non-detailed sex activity.
	18	Only adults are admitted. Nobody younger than 18 can rent or buy an 18-rated VHS, DVD, Blu-ray Disc, UMD or game, or watch a film in the cinema with this rating. Films under this category do not have limitation on the bad language that is used. Hard drugs are generally allowed, and strong violence/sex references along with strong sexual activity is also allowed. Scenes of strong real sex may be permitted if justified by the context.
	Restricted 18	Can only be shown at licensed cinemas or sold at licensed retailers or sex shops, and only to adults, those aged 18 or over. Films under this category have material the BBFC does not allow for its "18" rating, thus the violence and sex activity will be stronger in R18-rated VHSs, DVDs and films than those rated "18," however, there is still a range of material that is often cut from the R18 rating. More cuts are demanded in this category than any other category.

Actual Prelim...

This is our finished prelim, the editing is smooth and everything went well. I learnt how to use all the apple macs, as we used a program on them called imovie. this program is for editing and creating movies, it is standard with any apple mac, may it be macbook, imac or mac mini. 


the program is very easy to use, and holds a variety of techniques used for editing. you can easily split footage, change the colour, speed it up. You can also add transitions such as fade to black. As you can see from our prelim, there is a scene where the camera looks like a CCTV camera, imovie gave us this ability very easily, we just changed the colour of the footage and then added a special effect. This made it look like I was walking past a CCTV camera. 


Our prelim had a variety of camera shots such as a over shoulder shot, which was very effective when we was filming in the office, this gives the audience a real sense of like they where there stood in the office. We also did a action shot, showing me open the door into the office, this is a very good shot, as it shows the audience what is exactly going on.

This is the program imovie, this is a screenshot off of my own macbook. I already had experience in using imovie but i have learnt a lot more from doing this prelim task.

Prelim Plan:

Starring; Kingston Capes (Agent Capes)
              Henry Louth (The Don)
Camera and Filming: Jessica Cooke & Hannah Phillips

• Mission impossible theme tune from start of prelim.
• Long shot of Agent Capes walking up the sweeping staircase
• Freeze frame of Agent Capes where writing will come across the screen saying 'Agent Capes' for a duration of one second
• Transition to mid shot of Agent Capes walking towards the camera from roughly four steps down from the top of the stairs.
• Close up of Agents Capes's feet walking across the stairway towards the door.
• Mid shot of Agent Capes opening the door
• Transition to mid shot from other side of the door
• Mid shot of Agent Capes walking towards the camera
• Long shot (CCTV style) of Agent Capes walking from one end of the corridor to the other
• Mission impossible music stops
• Midshot of Agent capes walking towards a door
• Close up of his hand placed on the door handle
• Close up of sign 'meeting in progress'
• Mid shot of door opening from the other side and Agent Capes walking into the room
• Over the shoulder shot (FREEZE FRAME) of The don for a duration of one second.
• Over the shoulder shot of the don speaking; 'ah kingston, i've been expecting you'
• VERY IMPORTANT TO STICK TO ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY DEGREE RULE
• Over the shoulder shot of Agent Capes putting his hand in blazer and picking out a letter
• Extreme close up of Agent Capes's eyes
• Extreme close up of the dons eyes
• Close up of both characters hands exchanging a letter
• Mid shot of the don recieving the letter and reading it and then speaking; 'what is this?!' to then go on to say 'i'm dissapointed kinsgton..'
• Mid shot of Agent Capes saying; 'its not my job anymore'
• High angled shot of the don saying i'm disappointed and reaching his hand to somewhere under the table
• Screen goes black
• GUN SOUND OCCURS.

MEMENTO opening analysis...

Director: Christopher Nolan 

Writers: Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan

Stars: Guy Pearce, Carrie-anne Moss and Joe Pantoliano

The Titles in Memento are unusual to one of a conventional thriller. The typical thriller aspect is to have a black background, with either red or white writing over it. This gives the audience a sense of fear, and may also add mystery. The red may symbolise blood, and the white death, and then black could symbolise mystery or confusion. However in Memento the titles are done with blue on black. This shows a possible theme of loneliness, sadness and even confusion through out the film. The non-diegetic sound used through out the title may also represent loneliness and sadness. Starting off with a single instrument and adding more and more as the titles progress. This gives the audience a sense of loneliness and even confusion, this indicates how the main character, goes about his life on a day to day basis, through out the film. As the title finish's another non-diegetic sound is added, this is a ticking clock, maybe inferring that someones life is about to run out, thus symbolising death. The film is also played in a non-linear fashion meaning that the film is played backwards, this means that the audience have to piece the film together, and also has a very shocking experience.