Blue Velvet

Introduction

Blue velvet is a mixture of psychological horror and drama. Directed by David Lynch, it has a running time of 121 minutes. Produced by Fred Caruso and Written by David Lynch. It stars such actors as; Kyle MacLachlan, Isabella Rossellini, Dennis Hopper, Laura Dern, Hope Lange, George Dickerson, Dean Stockwell. Music arrangement by Angelo Badalamenti and Cinematography Frederick Elmes Distributed by De Laurentiis Entertainment Group. Released September 12th 1986. In the box office blue velvet grossed

over $8.6 million. The target audience for this movie as any would be people that are into horror and drama movies, there are themes throughout this movie that mean it is not suitable for those aged under fifteen.

Media language

The setting of this opening sequence is a perfect community with white picket fences and house wifes with quiet childing. A very seren and peaceful enviroment. As there are a lot of people within this opening sequence the costume varies a lot; we see a group of school children all wearing casual clothing, we also see an elderly women again wearing casual house clothing

the last person in this opening sequence is they elderly man that eventually suffers a heart attack and dies although he is doing gardening he is pretty well dressed he is wearing s and a white vest with a hat all the clothing although most casual is clearly from a different era, just from looking at they overall opening sequence we can tell that it is most likely set in the 50’s we can tell this from looking at a range of

things; The scenery, the clothing choices and the characters used here.

Low key lighting is used within this opening sequence this lighing gets across the atmosphe that Lynch was looking for when dirrecting this

opening squence it fits with his genre and themes. Although low key lighting is used the mergority of the time in a couple of frames in the opening sequeune high key lighing and normal lighing are used Lynch tactically placed these in the

happpier points of the opening sequence.

In this opening sequence we hear both diegetic sounds and non-diegetic sounds; right at the very start we hear the song ‘Blue Velvet’ by Bobby Vinton this continues throughout the whole opening sequence (2:05 minutes). Soon after this we hear diegetic sounds ; A fire engire driving through the shot, at the same time we hear some birds tweeting. Another diegetic sound we hear in this opening sequence is the sound of the old man watering the grass, the next sound is they old man suffering a heart attcack and finally the last diegetic sound is the old mans dog barking at the old man whilst hes dying, throughout this when the man is dying we also hear the sound of the hose contining to disperce water. All of these sounds link in with the genre and what Lynch was trying to portray with this opeing sequence in the happier parts of the opening sequence we hear the happy sounds with the birds happily singing and then as the opening seqeunce takes a sinister turn so does the sounds Lycnh has used.

Camera Angles/Shots/Movements

We see a wide shot being used this can also be called an estableshing shot this as its name suggests is to help the audience get an idea of the souroundings and where the opening sequence is based.

Lynch also uses a point of view shot in this opening sequences this is so that the audience feel involved in the action and see what they would be seeing if they were there live.

This shot is called a long shot, This allows the viewer to understand the relationship between the characters and their environment. This shows the whole person and other characters, but the background dominates the shot.

We then see a midium shot. This shot is favouited in sequences where there are a small amount of people are featured this allows the viewer a look at the body language of the actor as well as being able to see what is happening in the rest of the scene.

Representation

Within this opening sequence the idea of the perfect surburbier is being represneted we know this because of how David Lynch has choosen to set out the opening sequence. At the start of they opening sequence it is a possitive representation however roughly half way through we see it take a turn for the worst and suddenly its not the perfect sububier anymore it’s a horror show where we have people dropping dead. I do believe this is a fair representation of not only American sububier but of life, there is no such thing as the pefect neighbourhood although it may look perfect to outsiders people within that ‘perfect suberbier’ are aware of its flaws and imperfections. The representaions in this opening sequence are Subversive; Lynch is trying to break the barriers exposing the idea of the perfect neighbourhood. This representaion links in witht the target audience.

Narritive

The narritive is linear meaning it is all in cronological order and makes sence to the viewer.It shows us suberbier and the idea of the perfect neighbourhood with the white picket fence but then suddently the oepning sequence takes a sinister turn and the old man watering the grass suddenly has a heart attack. Binary opposites we see here include; Innocence Vs Violence, Life Vs Death and Happiness Vs Filth. In this opening sequence we have a protagonist (a main character) this is the old man we build a fondness for while watching the opening sequence. We also have the elderly lady she is they observer in this we only see her for a minuite and she doesn’t speak but she contrubutes to the overall feel of the opening sequence.They enigma code is quite obviously present in this opening sequence when the old man we see at the start and form a relationship with dies we as the viewers want to then watch the film to see what happened to the man and what will contuine to happen throughout the actual film.