Re Sparkle Motion v1.32

Rating: 10/10 (15 December 2006)

I discovered Donnie by knowing that it included Daveigh. This tries to link together detail from the Donnie Darko disks, together with assorted IMDb files, in order to identify who Sparkle Motion are and other parts where they contributed to the film. This is not comprehensive, but covers the main bits.
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Some background:
High School Musical's Ashley Tinsdale has a non musical role in this, Dorky (Kim, brunette). Here she is actual high school age.
DC soundtrack - ntsc-1:06:58_pal-1:04:14 – ntsc-0:58:08_pal-0:55:46 in the shorter version, speaking at Jim's presentation - Hi. My stepsister, like, I sometimes worry that she eats too much. – Joanie and Beth are on screen too.
Except, who is that sitting next to Cherita in Donnie's English class? This is very early Tisdale and she is not just in one scene. The Blu-ray version helped me to notice that, but mine lacks the promos of Killing Moon and Mad World that are a highlight of the DC DVD two disk set.
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From the DC version Production Notes video, filming of the main Sparkle performance was on 27th July 2000, 24 days to go. From IMDb trivia and box office, filming started on Daveigh's birthday and ended on August 31st after 28 working days.
I consider Sparkle Motion as actors rather than dancers. They play a special role in the film. The choreography will be a relevant statement. Their early practice session is a lead in to us being shown The Destructors, such as Donnie asleep on the golf course as an extension of the lead in.
This exercise helps the dance to dance for me. I had expected to rate Daveigh for song and dance but for me her website in 2006 gave the wrong examples and for me the competition from LiLo at the end of Life Size is too hot. And that Greene too, that Greene is a killer.
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From the D C soundtrack - ntsc-1:24:00_pal-1:20:40 - ntsc-1:11:30_pal-1:08:35 in the shorter version, intro to the performance - Now the moment we've all been waiting for. It is my pleasure to introduce to you Emily Bates, Suzy Bailey, Samantha Darko, Beth Farmer and Joanie James. They are Sparkle Motion.
From the cast list and biog files:
Daveigh Chase plays Samantha Darko - Date of birth 24 July 1990 of Las Vegas, USA
Jazzie Mahannah plays Joanie James
Tiler Peck plays Beth Farmer - Date of birth 12 January 1989 of California, USA
Marina Malota plays Emily Bates - Date of birth 7 February 1987 of Burbank, USA
Carly Naples plays Suzy Bailey
Also: Kristina Malota, sister of Marina, plays Susie Bates, sister of Emily, pics say younger sister.
Beth Grant plays Kitty Farmer, mother of Beth, possible joke?, and also the teacher cum Sparkle organiser who teaches Jim's stuff.
Daveigh and Marina have both acted in several films. Carly and Tiler and Jazzie have done some too. Simpler to check their IMDb listings than write them here.
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Visuals:
Samantha and Joanie are clearly labelled in the soundtrack so taken as read here.
DC visuals – ntsc-0:21:21_pal-0:20:33 – ntsc-0:18:30_pal-0:17:45 in the shorter version, the outdoor practice – screen left to right at the start is Emily Bates - Beth Farmer - Samantha Darko - Suzy Bailey - Joanie James
DC soundtrack – ntsc-0:30:17_pal-0:29:10 – ntsc-0:26:14_pal-0:25:24 in the shorter version, at the bus stop on the day of the flood - Emilie and Susie Bates join Samantha and Joanie etc at the bus queue - Emilie Bates: Hey! Hey! I can't believe this! School's closed today because it's flooded. - Joanie James: No way!
DC soundtrack - ntsc-0:31:24_pal-0:30:07 – ntsc-0:27:01_pal-0:26:02 in the shorter version, talking about the flooding – left to right Emilie Bates - Joanie James - Susie Bates - - Emilie Bates: Beth's mom said the boys' locker room flooded and they found faeces everywhere. - Susie Bates: What are faeces? - Emilie Bates: Baby mice.
DC soundtrack - ntsc-1:23:06_pal-1:19:43 - ntsc-1:10:35_pal-1:07 in the shorter version , pep talk before the performance - 0K. Now, girls, I want you to concentrate. Failure is not an option. And, Bethany, if you feel the need to vomit up there, just swallow it. - It identifies Beth as the blonde with long cute hair tied in a pony tail.
DC version Production Notes video – 8:40, the dance introduced in a different way and a snippet shown from a different angle.
These times relate to region 2 PAL versions and region 1 NTSC versions. The R2 appear to be 24fps replayed at 25fps. The region 1 are likely to be 24fps played at 23.976-ish fps. Approximately a 4% difference.