Donnie Darko- An Independent Film.

For independent study, we were told to watch an independent movie, for my film choice, I watched 'Donnie Darko'.

Donnie Darko has gradually become more popular over the years since it's release back in 2001. Originally it was an independent film. We can tell this by the storyline and narrative structure.

The film is about a boy who is thought to be schizophrenic, which is later questioned by the audience, as to whether he is schizophrenic, or just having th ability to know the future.

Donnie has visions of a rabbit named 'Frank', who is Donnie's sister (elizabeths) boyfriend. The first words we hear from Frank are 'wake up' addressing Donnie.

Frank then tells Donnie a specific time, to which the dates in the film base themselves around. For example, 'day 22, 6 days left', counting down the days that Frank informed Donnie of.

The film starts off with a jet engine crashing into the Darko household. We then progress through the film from Donnie's point of view watching him base his decisions on his encounters with Frank. Donnie gets a girlfriend called Gretchen, and the two are stalked by a member of the police, of which the audience never really find out why. The film then ends with the jet engine crashing into the house, but alternatively killing Donnie. After Donnie's body is wheeled out of the house, we see Gretchen asking who he was, as she never got to meet Donnie in this alternative scenario.

The film questions the theory of Time Travel after a brief encounter with 'Grandma Death' and her book based on Time Travel, which appears a few times in the movie. The film is also filled with hidden images of Frank the bunny himself.

Donnie Darko has a mixture of a linear and a non-linear narrative plot line. The film questions science and human morals. It is filled with hidden messages, which is typical of an independent movie, for example, 'Cloverfield' is a film also filled with hidden messages.

All these aspects and more are how we can tell that Donnie Darko is an independent film.

Genre theory

What is genre theory?

Genre theory is when film producers make a film of a certain genre to appeal to an audience.

Genre theory considers different aspects of a genre while making their movie such as lighting, setting, character development, dress code, sound and many more. For example, you can tell what time period the movie is set in by their dress code, and this sets up a genre.

Genre theory follows a set of rules and conventions that create a label or genre of film.

How has it changed over time?

< Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy- A Science-fiction comedy.

Genres are set under certain labels such as science-fiction, horror, romance, comedy, action and thriller, but labels are constantly being created over time, and they are always adapting.

Due to new technologies, genre’s can now change and adapt in new ways that people couldn’t have in older times, such as action. Due to high quality special effects, there are rules and conventions that have been added onto the genre of action that never existed 40 years ago.

As film producers are constantly trying to create new ideas, a lot of them try to break away from typical conventions of a genre, whilst still sticking to the rules of genre theory. Film producers now must adapt a certain genre to make their movie original and in order for it to be a success.

How does it affect you as media producers?

Genre theory affects us as media producers as we must research into many types of films of a certain genre, from the first movie of that genre made to now.


We need to be able to distinct what is expected of that genre, so we can follow the rules and conventions correctively. If we didn’t do enough research into a genre appropriately, our productions over the next year and beyond wouldn’t be as much of a success as it could have been. Therefore, as A-levels students, genre theory is an important.