{"id":176,"date":"2020-04-27T05:22:55","date_gmt":"2020-04-27T05:22:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themossytypewriter.wpcomstaging.com\/?p=176"},"modified":"2020-04-27T05:22:55","modified_gmt":"2020-04-27T05:22:55","slug":"lighting-in-the-film-blue-velvet-1986-film-critique","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themossytypewriter.com\/?p=176","title":{"rendered":"Lighting in the film Blue Velvet (1986) &#8211; Film Critique"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By Hope-Elena Sardella, ENG225, 02\/24\/2018<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"line-height:2;\"><amp-fit-text layout=\"fixed-height\" min-font-size=\"6\" max-font-size=\"72\" height=\"80\">     In this week&#8217;s discussion, I have chosen to examine the use of Lighting in the film Blue Velvet (1986). Blue Velvet&#8217;s writer and director David Lynch wanted Blue Velvet to embody a\u00a0modern-day\u00a0<em>Film Noir<\/em>; a genre of film that is a mystery movie with femme-females and\u00a0the end result\u00a0is to solve a crime (Goodykoontz\u00a0&amp; Jacob, 2014). Lighting and Color are crucial to Blue Velvet&#8217;s cinematography uniqueness. The light in Blue Velvet used to convey the phycological impact, and message of the film, in addition to portraying the theme of Film Noir. Blue Velvet&#8217;s Cinematographer: Frederick Elmes, used a variety (and combinations) of lighting techniques such as three-point lighting, and high-key lighting, some low-key lighting, along with the full-color hued light. What makes Blue Velvet stand above most films is in large due to the lighting used to display the emotion or reaction. Audiences are accustomed to taking cues from lighting to comprehend the emotion of a scene, but in Blue Velvet, we see lighting used as\u00a0a\u00a0 juxtaposition\u00a0(Bassett, 2011) to confuse the viewer on emotion. At the beginning Blue Velvet, we can see soft shadowy lighting primarily meant for positive events and emotions, placed on bizarre and monstrous scenes the physiologically through the audience off. Media scholar Nathaniel Basset states &#8220;It is this contrast between the beautiful depth in producing the visuals and the actual content of what they convey which disturbs the audience so much&#8221;. For Example;\u00a0<\/amp-fit-text><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"line-height:2;\">This scene in Rossellini&#8217;s apartment with Hopper &#8211; the lighting is soft and shadowy, and alluring but the scene is violent and negative:&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-rich wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Blue velvet - Do it for Van Gogh\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_HEoqLdy10Q?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"line-height:2;\">The <strong><em>duality of emotion<\/em><\/strong> is also present in this provocative masochistic sex scene with Jeffrey and Rossalini:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-rich wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Blue Velvet - Hit Me, Meeting Frank, Arriving at Ben&#039;s\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XeLyhsVS9mE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"line-height:2;\"><amp-fit-text layout=\"fixed-height\" min-font-size=\"6\" max-font-size=\"72\" height=\"80\"><em><strong>High-Key lighting<\/strong><\/em> is used often throughout the film. Often high-key lighting\u00a0scenes\u00a0are set in the daytime. The color is over saturated and bright making it almost too intense to look at:<\/amp-fit-text><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-rich wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Blue Velvet - Opening Sequence\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/TwuzI8Y0uW0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"line-height:2;\"><amp-fit-text layout=\"fixed-height\" min-font-size=\"6\" max-font-size=\"72\" height=\"80\">Blue Velvet has a unique style of lighting which is indicative of the style of David Lynch. Although the lighting may not be conventional, it does adhere to the theme of Film Noir and encompasses the air of mystery. David Lynch utilizes&nbsp;<em>mise&nbsp;en<\/em><em>&nbsp;sc\u00e8ne<\/em>&nbsp;to the full extent to tell its story through the use of odd angles, and visual symbolism.&nbsp;<em>Mise&nbsp;en<\/em><em>&nbsp;sc\u00e8ne<\/em>&nbsp;is described by Goodykoontz and Jacob (2014), as the visual elements we see in a film that gives the viewer an understanding of what is occurring in the film. Throughout the film, there is a heavy emphasis on phycological symbolism that is indicative to David Lynch&#8217;s symbols he uses in all his films, along with the emotional impact created by leaving the audience&#8217;s psyche vulnerable with visual misinterpretations.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/amp-fit-text><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>References<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Basset, N. (2011, September 24). Blue Velvet: Cinematography&nbsp;Of&nbsp;The Subconscious. Retrieved February 24, 2018, from&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/mrliterati.com\/2011\/09\/26\/blue-velvet-cinematography-of-the-subconscious\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/mrliterati.com\/2011\/09\/26\/blue-velvet-cinematography-of-the-subconscious\/&nbsp;(Links to an external site.)<\/a>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Goodykoontz, B. &amp; Jacobs, C. P.(2014).<em>Film: From watching to seeing&nbsp;<\/em>(2nd ed.) Retrieved from https:\/\/content.ashford.edu\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Motion picture. (1986). United States: De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (DEG). Retrieved February 24, 2018, from&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/XeLyhsVS9mE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/youtube\/XeLyhsVS9mE&nbsp;(Links to an external site.)<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/XeLyhsVS9mE\"><\/a>&nbsp;&nbsp;<br>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Motion picture. (1986). US: De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (DEG). Retrieved February 24, 2018, from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_HEoqLdy10Q\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_HEoqLdy10Q\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Motion picture. (1986). US: De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (DEG). Retrieved February 24, 2018, from <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/TwuzI8Y0uW0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/youtu.be\/TwuzI8Y0uW0\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n\n    <div class=\"xs_social_share_widget xs_share_url after_content \t\tmain_content  wslu-style-1 wslu-share-box-shaped wslu-fill-colored wslu-none wslu-share-horizontal wslu-theme-font-no wslu-main_content\">\n\n\t\t\n        <ul>\n\t\t\t        <\/ul>\n    <\/div> \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Hope-Elena Sardella, ENG225, 02\/24\/2018 In this week&#8217;s discussion, I have chosen to examine the use of Lighting in the film Blue Velvet (1986). Blue Velvet&#8217;s writer and director David Lynch wanted Blue Velvet to embody a\u00a0modern-day\u00a0Film Noir; a genre of film that is a mystery movie with femme-females and\u00a0the end result\u00a0is to solve a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":524,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2227,2228,2229],"tags":[165,194,166,168,187,178,169,195,196,197,198],"class_list":["post-176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-scholarly-journal","category-uncategorized","tag-blue-velvet","tag-cinematography","tag-david-lynch","tag-film-critique","tag-film-lighting","tag-film-noir","tag-film-theory","tag-frederick-elmes","tag-hopper","tag-mark-frost","tag-nathaniel-basset"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/themossytypewriter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/pexels-photo-713149.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/themossytypewriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/themossytypewriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/themossytypewriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themossytypewriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themossytypewriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/themossytypewriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themossytypewriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/themossytypewriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themossytypewriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themossytypewriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}