Mise en scène and cinematography in film

¶ … Blue Velvet, directed by David Lynch [...] mise-en-scene and cinematography in the film. David Lynch is a master of the film noir, dark and brooding types of films that disturb, disquiet, and titillate all at the same time, and "Blue Velvet" is no exception. The film is part blue porn flick, part girl-next-door love story, and part sadistic kidnapping, and yet the elements all blend together to form a cohesive whole because of Lynch's masterful use of mise-en-scene staging and cinematography. "Blue Velvet," even with its' happy ending, leaves the viewer wanting more somehow, and that too, seems to be just what Lynch intended.

Blue Velvet

Mise-en-scene is a French term describing the "director's text" or staging of a film, and in "Blue Velvet," David Lynch's intricate and often surreal staging is an integral part of the film. He arranges space and time in the film with such dark and dreamlike qualities that the film can be nothing more than memorable and yet quite disturbing at the same time - a true mark of Lynch's film and a tribute to his mise-en-scene. The most compelling visual motif in the film is of course the color blue. Lynch stages action around the color to keep it always in the memory of the viewers. The film opens with a sensuous scene of blue velvet fabric undulating on the screen, the theme continues from the background music to the clearly blue cigarette smoke issuing from the cigarettes of the characters, and in fact, Dorothy, the nightclub singer and sado-masochist, is known as "The Blue Lady" in her act. This continual motif of blue throughout the film not only carries through the title, but also creates an enduring element that grows and develops through the entire plot. It reveals information about the characters, and even signifies Dorothy and her highly "blue" relationship with the evil and depraved Frank, who loves to suck on her blue robe when he is not making her black and blue. Even the music Dorothy sings, such as "Blue Moon" and "Blue Velvet" help to carry this blue theme through the film, and Lynch's dreamy and often highly blue-hued staging only add to the theme and visual motif of blue surrounding this disturbing film. In fact, a close viewing of the film brings up small and important details of how Lynch blended the color blue into many aspects of the film, and some that are not always seen the first time through. For example, when "The Blue Lady" steps onstage to begin her act, a blue spotlight hits her just as she sings the word "blue." This is just another little mise-en-scene element for Lynch, and these little elements pop up all through the film, right to the very end, when that mysterious flap of blue velvet from Dorothy's robe ends the film to the tune of "Blue Velvet." It is not the theme of blue that permeates the film nearly so much as how Lynch stages each blue scene that creates the mood, tension, and highly charged sexual feeling that permeates the film, and carries away the characters. These scenes are sometimes dreamlike, sometimes eerie, but always help to move the film along; even they are disturbing and even have an undertone of evil, which is just what Lynch seemed to be looking for.

Just as Lynch used mise-en-scene throughout the film to carry the theme, plot, and characters, he uses unusual and dark, film noir photography to move the film along and build the characters. The blue theme of the film is of course central to the cinematography, and Lynch is well-known for his dark, brooding scenes, which are central to this film, and central to the theme. The blue cast of many of the scenes adds to the look and entire plot of the film, but it also gives an eerie sense to the scenes, which goes right along with Lynch's mise-en-scene themes. The cinematography is just another cog in the entire staging of the film, but it is of course the visual sense that carries the viewer through the film. As the film progresses, the blue tint to the evening shots just seems to fall into place, and Dorothy's "Blue Lady" act, filmed in the blue spotlight, could be filmed no other way, it seems. Of course, the sexual scenes all have that dark, smoky blue quality to them to add to the very "blueness" of what they are doing. (Blue movies are another name for sex films), and the blue scenes in this film almost scream "sex, violence, and depravity."

However, Lynch uses some stark contrasts to the blue overtones of the nightclub and sex scenes to help graphically portray the differences in the story line. The "regular" shots of the white-picket fenced houses during the day are brightly lit and vivid, compared to the other scenes in the film, and this technique helps move the plot along visually. Clearly, these vivid, clear shots of the town and its people point out how "normal" this small town appears on the outside, while the blue-tinged underbelly lies beneath the surface. Those brightly lit people such as Sandy and Jeffrey's mother seem to exist in a vastly different world, and of course, they do, which is the whole point of the vastly differing uses of cinematography and lighting.