In Donnie Darko, Donnie (Jake Gyllenhaal) goes through a series of stressful situations that seem to cause mental distress. This mental distress is pointed out in several scenes where you can see the lighting dim indicating that there was an intense conversation going on between Donnie and Frank the Rabbit. This is emphasized especially in the first conversation in the bathroom between Donnie and Frank the Rabbit where during their dim lighted, heated conversation they are suddenly interrupted by Donnie’s little sister Samantha and the lighting immediately goes back to a normal household setting with Donnie breaking from his trance. This is used in several other movies to emphasize on emulating moods or possibly separating characters from their reality. All in all, the use of lighting was able to allow the viewer to understand the mentality of the main character.