During the opening credits you can hear the sound of a storm, which acts as contrapuntal sound when you realise that it is not in fact raining, the sound stops within the first few seconds of the scene starting. The titles are on a simple black background with bold white writing, the gothic style font gives away the genre. The use of an establishing shot gives an idea of location; here it is a shot into a valley where it pans across to reveal a long shot of Donnie laying in the road, although it is not yet clear that it is Donnie.
The ambient sounds of birds reflect the time and place; it is shown to be dawn. As the camera moves closer it sparks an enigma, making the audience ask “what is it?” this is key to creating suspense in a thriller. You can begin to make out that it is a person in the road, and laying on a bend on the road – a very dangerous place to be, this could symbolise the danger of Donnie’s condition, which is schizophrenia, intertwined with the big open space around him showing that with this mental illness, he is alone. A non-diegetic soundtrack begins to play matching a classical genre with choral singing, tying in very much with the psychological thriller genre. As the camera moves around Donnie, it makes it clear to the audience that he is the main protagonist, this leads to the first cut of the movie, the use of this first long take creates suspense and possibly representing that Donnie is currently calm. You then see another pan of the location and when the camera stops, Donnie stand up and the back of his is revealed in the shot, this suggests he is in the middle of it all.
When Donnie turns his head and we see him smirk and laugh it gives the impression he is unstable interlocking with his mental illness. We can see that he is wearing pyjamas, giving viewers an idea of the time again but also symbolising that what he does is out of his control, it’s not classified as a social norm to cycle to an unknown place and sleep in the road. 
After the shot of Donnie laughing and walking out of shot, the title of the movie appears in the same gothic font but what’s really affective is the sun getting brighter and creating a blank screen to move on to the first cut of the movie, the use of this first long take creates suspense and possibly representing that Donnie is currently calm. Donnie begins riding his bike and the editing becomes more rapid, fitting in with the different non-diegetic soundtrack that has begun to play fitting in more with a rock genre but still creepy. Some of the shots are from Donnie’s perspective going along the road; this represents the journey he has to go on to get home or to be ‘normal’. 
Many of the takes throughout the opening are shot with a handheld camera, this makes it feel more real, and like you’re there with him or observing him, this makes the audience feel more involved. I chose to analyse this film because it’s a psychological thriller which is what our film will be, I also like the story and the soundtrack throughout. 
