The logic and fictional science behind Donnie Darko is a lot, to say the least. The interesting thing about this movie to me lies in the fact that the movie contains such a lofty and arcane idea in it and applies it to a movie about a seemingly normal teenage boy. The movie is so unique because it places complex science-fiction in the familiar setting of a high school. When people read the explanation, there is a moment of realization that draws them to the movie even after the first time they view it, and that is where the genius of this movie lies. It baits people to think about it and even obsess over it, which has created a cult following around the movie.

Donnie Darko is a very strange movie. The sound effects were very loud and piercing. Donnie makes a friend named Frank who is a very bad person dressed as a bunny. Frank makes Donnie do bad things but he gets away with it all. In one universe Donnie survives a freak accident but in the real universe, he dies from being crushed by a jet engine.

People that died in the real world know what is going to happen in advance in the fake world. This causes much confusion with the audience even after reading an explanation of the movie online. At one point in this crazy movie, Donnie kills Frank after Frank kills Donnie’s lady friend named gretchin.

Donnie Darko was a very in depth movie. With the ideas of time travel and a tangent universe makes it hard at first to wrap your mind around these concepts. This is the type of movie that should be watched more than once so you can understand the ideas they had. In the real universe there is nothing but darkness, anger, chaos, and fear. But in the tangent universe everything was good. Besides Frank. Frank was a bad character and influence on Donnie. I think this because when Donnie shot him, he began to haunt Donnie in his tangent universe. He would make him do things that were bad. Things like flooding the school and burning that guys house down. People in the tangent universe that died in there know whats going in the real universe and the tangent. The two people that could do this was Frank and Gretchin. The reason Frank killed Donnie in the tangent world is because Donnie killed Frank in the real world.

Donnie Darko is a sci-fi thriller. It shows time travel and Donnie Darko being a paranoid schizophrenic. The movie shows all the things that Donnie is seeing in his dreams which are things that will happen if he doesn’t die from the jet engine falling through his house, so it was either him dying or everyone he loves dies. Donnie meets Roberta Sparrow who wrote a book called Philosophy of Time travel which Donnie reads and learns from. They called Roberta “Grandma Death” which Donnie ends up speaking with her for a brief moment she says the time is coming you bette get ready. The time travel aspect that they use in the movie is that the tangent universe which is also called parallel universe shows that all the bad things in Donnie’s life happen in his parallel universe in his dream. The manipulated death which frank who donnie kills and gretchen is also the manipulated death.

The art of anticipation is what allows The Shining to be classified as a horror film. Though laced with typical scary themes such as murder associated with the hotel, ghost twins, and special powers that foreshadow events, The Shining elevates its fear factor level by incorporating suspenseful music primarily composed of dissonance. The most prominent part, in my opinion, that highlights the importance of properly scoring a film, is when Danny enters the maze to avoid his father’s ax. The music eludes to a death or a climaxing creepy point, however the audience is fooled by the sounds as nothing ends up happening to Danny. Without the suspenseful music, The Shining would be stripped of is horror title and left as simple and odd movie without a purpose.

12 Years a Slave shines light on the horrors of slavery in a more realistic way than ever produced before. As the camera focuses for multiple seconds on the boat sailing away in the early middle of the story, the audience is forced to feel the disaster cast upon the slaves. This act of prolonging the clip creates a serious atmosphere to reinforce the importance of the scene. The camera also plays a big role in informing the audiences attention of the powerful topics at hand during the whipping scenes. As Patsey is being beaten by Platt and then by her master, the camera zooms in on the gruesome wounds and the agony in her face. Camera angle plays a large role in 12 Years a Slave as it helps the audience feel more realistically the struggle that slaves were forced to endure.

Extras- essentially human set pieces, used to create a crowd or landscape

Nonprofessional performers- amateurs who are chosen for their look rather than their talent

Trained professionals- the bulk of professional actors whose training allows them to portray a variety of roles

Stars- famous performers who are used for commercial purposes of recognizability

Stage acting gives more control to the actor- who is able to mold their part according to their interpretation. Film actors are more at the mercy of the director, who has final artistic say over the actor’s choices and physicality.

1. Identify 4 categories of film acting and their purposes within film.

~extras- actors who are used to provide a sense of crowd in film

~non-professional- actors who are not chosen to be in the film because of their acting skills, but are chosen for their appearance.

~trained professionals- these actors are trained very well and can play a variety of characters.

~stars- performers who are very well known in the public. Them being in the film alone can attract a lot of people to watch it.

2. Stage and Screen acting are 2 extremely different types of acting. You can be a good screen actor but not a good stage actor and vice versa. To be a good stage actor you have to know how to move your whole body during the performance since there is no camera to crop you and everyone can see your whole body. Yet in screen acting some shots might just be your face or your hands. Also with stage acting you have to know how to project your voice so everyone can hear you. With screen acting you can speak in your normal voice.

I love this movie! It is creepy and gets into your head. Johnny is at the point where he is starting to go crazy, while his son can see the dead and all of the bad things that have happened at the hotel.

12 Years a slave was a very serious film and I thought the camera angles used were a good way of portraying the emotion and hardships of the slaves. A lot of the scenes were very still and quiet, but a lot happened within them. I recall one scene when they just showed the main character hanging from the tree, just struggling to stay alive. There was not much action occurring, no talking and nobody helping him. However, in the background we saw many people walking about their daily lives and not even paying attention to him hanging from the tree. I think this scene speaks on levels that nobody else has to because we saw that these people went through such harsh conditions and punishments, that they were too scared to even save their own friend. Yes, eventually he gets down from the tree, but in the time we spent watching him hang there, we began to feel even more sympathy for him than we already did. I myself wanted to just go help him because nobody else would. 12 Years a Slave showed a lot of emotion overall, which I liked, even though I thought it was sad.