Research Into Existing Products 2.1 - Blue Velvet Opening Scene Analysis

Blue Velvet Opening Scene

Blue Velvet is a 1986 American style Mystery directed by David Lynch about a young man who takes on an investigation after finding a severed ear in a field, which leads him to a mysterious nightclub singer and a group of psychopathic criminals. Lynch forms a concept that the whole film is a metaphor by presenting the horrors of the film within an idealistic American neighbourhood; everything is portrayed as perfect but as you dig deeper you find the darker side of America, just as the protagonist finds out as he investigates further.

Much of this idea is formed through the mise-en-scene which is the basis of any film and arguably the most important aspect as it is visually displays the purpose and intent of the film for the audience. Without the use of mise-en-scene other aspects ie. the camera shots, sound, and editing used would have no purpose as the audience would not have any understanding of what is happening in the narrative or who the narrative features. 

At the end of the opening sequence, Lynch uses a motif with the shot heavily zoomed in on what appears to be a garden lawn and the camera travels through the blades of grass. However at the end of this motif a swarming nest of insects is revealed to the audience and this is Lynch's way of presenting the extended metaphor mentioned, as the previous shots displayed a relatively traditional suburban neighbourhood but as the camera (or so audience) delves deeper they discover the not so pleasant underworld. Just as the rest of the film will display with the soon to be featured protagonist.

Lynch effectively presented the film as twisted and mysterious with each shot throughout the opening sequence purposefully shot and chosen to build the mystery of the plot. He opens with a shot of red rose’s in-front of a white picket fence with the top of the shot lined with a blue sky (shown in the screenshot below.) However there are two connotations to this shot, the first being the most obvious which is the use of roses at the foreground of the shot as roses typically symbolise love, devotion, and passion; love in particular relevant to a friendly neighbourhood most likely filled with families. However the roses are also red, which is strongly associated with blood, danger and power as it is an intense colour and links with the shots displayed just minutes later of the death of the protagonist at the time. So, the flower alone could mean different things for different audiences, love or death. The second connotation of the scene is also relating to colour or in fact three colours; red, white and blue which are typically associated with the USA flag, confirming the location of the film to the audience. This also relates to the following shot and the so-called idyllic American neighbourhood portrayed throughout the extract as well as film. The whole concept of using the image of these roses is symbolism which features heavily throughout the film.

Following on from the connotations previously mentioned about the colour red, Lynch made the colour prominent throughout the opening scene, with it featuring distinctly in the majority of the shots up until the fateful moment when the man collapses. Lynch uses a large red fire engine in the foreground of a shot, then in the following shot of the children crossing the road he uses the red stop sign as the focus point and the first child crossing was wearing predominantly red along with a number of the following children. Lynch also decorated the background of the shot featuring the woman watching TV with a red lamp and a red toy beside it.  The use of red in the context of the film is used to almost foreworn the audience about both the death at the end of the scene, and the rest of the film and put the audience on edge consequently building suspense. The whole concept of using colours in particular red is symbolic and used to portray what is happening in the film or about to happen to the audience, the colour theme also links with the title of the film ‘blue velvet’.

A sense of foreboding is also created in the shot of the woman (assumed to be the man’s wife) watching a show on TV which shows a gun (shown in the screenshot below). The obvious connotation of this is that Lynch used this shot to put the concept of death at the forefront of the audience’s mind, building the idea that it is going to be frequent throughout the movie which is confirmed just moments later with the death of the male antagonist. Although short and in the context of the whole film may seem relatively insignificant, this shot is important as it is the first instance that the audience are able to realise the darker intent of the film, previously shadowed by the misleading 'pleasant' shots.

In terms of camera shots, Lynch stuck with wide shots throughout; with nothing other than the opening scene of the roses and the similar scene of the tulips close up. This is used to both focus on the characters in the scene while also showing plenty of the background to build the setting and location for the audience, which is crucial as this is the opening scene and therefore the first instance the audience has to form their perception of the film. The end of the scene where the camera moves through blades of grass is filmed out of focus, purposely used to create a sense of unknown which makes the whole concept more frightening as the audience have a lack of understanding on what is happening and what is about to happen.

To help build the twisted impression Lynch is trying to achieve with the use of the idyllic American neighbourhood, he uses the song ‘Blue Velvet’ by Bobby Vinton, which is slow and a very old-fashioned piece of music, which for a modern audience is most likely to be portrayed as haunting. Using a piece of music which had also been around 35 years prior to the film and recognized by much of the films audience meant that Lynch was able to make them feel more involved as it created a sense of familiarity; mirroring the familiarity they may feel to the neighbourhood. The music is contrapuntal as until the very end of the scene, it doesn’t match the ‘happy neighbourhood’ atmosphere the shots are displaying. Using the music in conjunction with the shots makes the whole scene almost sinister as it uses every day, relatable situations to make the audience feel uneasy without using conventional horrifying or scary sights. This is a technique called psychological horror and is now used in many modern films such as paranormal activity but Lynch was the person who fore-fronted the rise of this technique.

Finally for editing, Lynch used conventional dissolves and slow-mo throughout to match the shots being shown. This makes the whole scene flow smoothly and creates a sense of calm for the audience. This gives a ‘calm before the storm’ perception as the audience knows from other elements displayed in the sequence that something bad or horrifying is inevitably going to happen, but right now Lynch is portraying the scene and consequently the film is quiet, calm and serene. This technique is commonly used in the horror genre as it makes the audience calm so when the horrifying moment happens it comes across as more as a shock, frightening the audience and forming the shocking twisted film Lynch set out to achieve.