David Lynch and Visual Style (Major Project Ideas and Research)

What is beginning to emerge from my pre-production work for Aduna and my dissertation research is just how important it is to produce ideas in a film making discipline that is relevant to the final product. Looking into film making and director's influences, it is clear that ideas have a basis or inspiration from other; and this especially indicates the relevance of technique when it comes to animating my short film. Blue Velvet (1986) directed by David Lynch has been heavily influenced by the imagery of Un Chien Andalou (1929) directed by Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali, which was part of an artistic movement after the first world war. Much of the imagery used within that short film has helped inspire the works of Lynch through images that have almost been mirrored within the cinematography in Blue Velvet. Surrealist films having no specific narrative conventions also compares with Lynch's conventions of Blue Velvet when discussed within The Philosophy of David Lynch:

"Lynch's films are only fantasies, perhaps just details of the character's nightmares to which we have the privileged access."

What can be established from this is that Lynch is acknowledged as using conventions and imagery in a way that stylises his work to the extent where he is described as 'one of the most influential postmodern artists in the industry.'

(Un Chien Andalou and Blue Velvet imagery comparison)

My own discoveries in early cinema have indeed made me realise the importance of basic uses within mise en scene and how lighting and cinematography can be utilised for a dramatic effect. Noting how Lynch and his ideas have evolved from another has made me realised that ideas are never original; nor are they new. This is quite clearly not a bad thing giving the impact and success that David Lynch has gained, but it's made me appreciate the 'less conventional' films that are meaningful to their context despite seeming ludicrous.

Bibliography

Devlin, W, 2011. The Philosophy of David Lynch. 1st ed. Kentucky: The University Press of Kentucky.