Blue Velvet Analysis.

Blue Velvet Textual Analysis:

In the opening scene of Blue Velvet, the colours red, white and blue appear. This could be related to the American flag, as the white picket fence shows the typical 1950s American dream. The camera starts at a worm angle and slowly moves down revealing the fence then the roses. Instantly when these colours appear they contrast each other, therefore they stand out to the audience. There is use of non-diegetic sound, as there is added music. The music is upbeat, happy and gives of a positive effect to the audience and additionally shows the audience the time the movie is set in as the music played is old fashioned. The music portrays the stereotypical 1950's American society.

This image below portrays the typical happy neighbourhood. The weather is good (use of pathetic fallacy) which is what creates the safe and 'perfect' atmosphere which is additionally shown as there are again Americas colours; white, red, blue. Also there is a man is waving which shows the safe, happy environment they live in (he is also on a fire engine which additionally supports this 'safe' place). His body language is open which show that it’s a comfortable place to be; it’s almost portraying the idea of the 'American dream' which is believed to be the perfect life. The fire engine is an older model which also adds to the time this movie was set in. The camera in this shot stays still and when the fire engine has moved the houses are shown. The houses look the same which could suggest that this neighbourhood is calm, and mature as there are neither children nor toys anywhere. The theme song is being played in the background which helps the audience feel this 'perfect neighbourhood'.

The image below contrast both the ones above as this man is in a situation. He is clearly hurt as there is nothing he can do. The dog also supports the fact that this man is in trouble as he has fallen on what seems to be a patch for growing vegetables. The film-makers use diegetic sound as the dog is barking, which makes the audience question what happens next as a dog usually barks because of danger. Diegetic sound is also used when the water is coming out of the hose pipe. Its shows the water pressure is high and that this is attracting the dog that is almost oblivious to the man. It supports the fact the man lying unconscious on the floor is in trouble. The film-makers have still used non-diegetic sound as the blue velvet theme song is still playing in the background but the sound of the barking and the water overpower this, creating more of a dramatic effect on the audience.

The image below shows grass, this simply shows there is some sort of badness hiding under all of the 'perfect neighbourhood' act as the music in the background starts to fade and the diegetic sound of the water becomes more louder almost like the film-makers have enhanced the sound to create a tense atmosphere. This makes the audience question what’s happening as the use of the camera going through the grass could be a point of view shot from a bug’s perspective. When the camera starts to go through the grass there is use of non-diegetic sound as the theme song and the background noise fade and this loud, tense, deep sound occurs showing the audience something is just not right. This shot will help the audience question whether there is an actual 'perfect' society to live in because from the clips before the man’s collapse, the film-makers portray this stereotypical 1950's American society.