26 10th script
- 1. Presentation Script. Brett Egan [lights fade, projector beam comes on) Projector: Investigation title ‘Investigation into David Lynch’s directing styles and variety of themes, inspirationsand ideas. Presenter: This is an extract from „Masters of cinema- David Lynch‟ Projector: „Lynch‟s childhood seems to have been about discovering inner sensations- in particular that profound sense those other swarming, seething, more abstract worlds existed beneath the surface‟ ( Quote from source 1). Lynch‟s ideas for his films originate from being inspired by the thought of a world deeper than we know of; a world of decay that lies beneath all of the beautiful aspects of life.Source 3 fits in brilliantly with this point as he states “There is goodness in blue skies and flowers, but another force- a wild pain and decay- also accompanies everything.”However he also states his childhood was an “idyllic interlude” also a quote from Source 1. But he expands on this in Source 20when he states that no matter how good or bad a childhood a kid has had, ideas and feelings come from outside of you and that we actually experience more from a “feeling in the air”. Projector: Shows extract from Fifty Contemporary Filmmakers (Source 3) Podcast of David Lynch and Chris Doridas of KCRW radio station plays (Source 20) Presenter: The point I‟m making is that Lynch tends to focus on the theme of inner, darker sensations and emotions of life that exist underneath what appears to be normal life and the way in which he constructs narrative and camerawork to unsettle the audience. For example in Blue Velvet (Source 12) we are initially presented with the perfect American neighbourhood with the white picket fences and the friendly firemen waving in slow motion. But in typical Lynchian fashion we are taken into the descent of what lies underneath Mr Beaumont‟s flawless lawn Projector:(Shows the scene in Lost Highway when Mystery man walks up to Bill Pullman and gets him to phone his own house). (Source 13) Presenter: The point made by source one is clearly backed up by this scene in my focus film „Lost Highway‟. The conversation between the „Mystery man‟ and Bill Pullman‟s character „Fred Madison‟ holds the element of surprise and a complete juxtaposition to what is widely perceived by Hollywood society as „Narrative logic‟; a film whose narrative is fluent and follows the five stages of film narrative. David Lynch is notorious at breaking the widely perceived narrative logic through his use of abstract elements and themes in his work. Projector: (shows YouTube clip-„Ideas are like fish‟) (Source 9) Presenter:As I was saying David Lynch deals with his ideas in a very ambiguous manner and has a reputation of having largely complex and unusual narratives in his films. From the clip you‟ve just watched, you can see David Lynch is a metaphorical thinker. An idea suddenly comes to him and he catches it „like a fish‟.
- 2. Projector: He is in direct touch with his unconscious, but also with the unconscious of his audience, whom he regularly presents with breath-taking descents into a surreal world‟ (another extract from the opening of „Masters of Cinema‟) (Source 1) Presenter: This extract really struck me about David Lynch. I think it‟s a perfect description of his style as he often creates surreal world out through his construction of mise en scene and narrative. Projector: (Shows clip from Lost Highway- 58m-1h.4m) (Source 13) Presenter: I have used this clip to show just some of the elements that David Lynch has employed into his movies. David Lynch uses a lot of Film Noir elements. His low key lighting on Balthazar Getty‟s face is iconic of the Hitchcock and Billy Wilder eras; something which inspired David Lynch‟s references to original Noir. Source 4dedicates a chapter to focus on Lost Highway and its portrayal of Film Noir elements through use of characters as Alice is seen as the iconic femme fatale as she leads Pete Dayton on and is manipulative of men- highlighted by her blunt reaction to Pete saying “You‟ll never have me”. Fred is also a mirror of a typical character as he‟s portrayed as the jealous, paranoid husband. Projector: Screenshot of extract from David Lynch; American dreams, nightmare visions (Source 4) Projector: (Shows screenshot of David Lynch‟s directing inspirations) (Source 8) Presenter: The screenshot on screen is just a sample I took from the David Lynch biography on Wikipedia. We can clearly see that all of his influences can be grouped together in a way. For example Alfred Hitchcock and Billy Wilder can be categorized as they are both referred to as legends of Noir and creating suspense through use of low key lighting. Federico Fellini, Warner Herzog and Luis Bunuel link in to other aspects of Lynch‟s work as they were surrealists and used different techniques such as Fellini‟s abstract plots, Herzog‟s unusual focus on insanity and Bunuel‟s fascination of randomly showing shots of insects; something which is highlighted in the opening to Blue Velvet (Source 12) when we are taken into the decaying, horrific undergrowth of Mr Beaumont‟s lawn; the idea of juxtaposing what is seen as the perfect American neighbourhood is highlighted here. Projector: Shows opening of Blue Velvet (Source 12) Projector: (Opening clip of Federico Fellini‟s „8½‟ plays) (Source 11) Presenter: From the clip that has just been shown, there is clearly some relationship between Fellini‟s and Lynch‟s work. The sequence is the characters dream and when he man starts to climb out of his car window and begins to fly, it‟s implying that maybe he‟s died and when he‟s being used as a kite, it may represent that he feels like someone‟s puppet. Lynch even statesthis inSource 2 on examples of perfect filmmaking. Projector: Extract from page 125 of Movie Makers Masterclass; expands on David
- 3. Lynch‟sadmiration for Federico Fellini‟s abstract atmosphere in his films. (Source 2) Presenter:The following clip is the opening to Eraserhead, one of David Lynch‟s earliest feature-length films. Projector:(Opening clip of Eraserhead plays) (Source 14) Presenter: The clip shows the correlation of implication between Fellini and Lynch. Henry Spencer is superimposed over a rock-like planet whilst he opens his mouth and his deformed baby spills out. My personal interpretation of this is that it represents Henry‟s deformed mind. Also „the man in the planet‟ is looking out onto Henry and pulls levers. This may be implying that the man in the planet is, in fact, Henry‟s conscious making decisions by pulling the levers. Also in Source 19, the scenes where Henry Spencer is looking at his radiator and has visions of the disfigured woman is interpreted as implying he is considering the easy way out; through committing suicide: Projector: Shows extract from Media Magazine on screen (Source 19) Projector: Shows following clips from each film: -Blue Velvet- Dorothy Vallens on stage - Mulholland Drive- Adam Kesher is directing/ Betty Elms acting - Lost Highway- Fred Madison playing the saxophone Presenter: The following clips from each of my focus films reflect another theme David Lynch likes to employ into his films narratives. Each of the three clips link together through the idea that Lynch likes to show visual performance in his films and his main characters have a tendency to be passionate in the creative arts and performing. The strong emphasis on characters performances mirrors Lynch‟s characteristics as he likes to base his main characters on himself (something which is mentioned in Source 1) Projector: Shows extract from page 35 „A couple of actors‟ which explains the resemblances between Kyle Maclachlan and David Lynch (Source 1). Presenter: Lynch is involved in music as well as directing which is evident in source 6 as he is categorised as being a composer. This is also highlighted in source 1 again. Projector: Shows extract from page 39 „Lynch: Master of films, master of music‟ which explains Lynch‟s brief work as a director and his collaborative work with Angelo Badalementi. (Source 1) Presenter: He also explains his love for music and the power of sound and how it can control a scene and employ the intended emotion by simply adding sounding effects, in Source 2. Projector: Shows extract taken from page 129 „The Power of Sound‟( Source 2)
- 4. Presenter: There is a correlation of Lynch stereotyping female characters by their hair colours. In Blue Velvet, Sandy Williams is portrayed as a blonde, optimistic young woman whereas Dorothy Vallens is a direct contrast to her character as she is the dark haired, experienced pessimistic woman who only sees the negatives in life- this may be a metaphor of Lynch‟s ideology that underneath the beauty of nature (Sandy) lies the decay and mystery that haunts it (Dorothy). In similar circumstances, Rita is seen as the experienced, grounded brunette whereas Betty is the ingenuous optimistic blonde looking for stardom. Source 5 covers this point briefly: Projector: Shows screenshot of Phillip French of the Guardian‟s review of Mulholland Drive. (Source 5).