Aurally Alarming , Use Of Sound In Blue Velvet Essays - Fiction

Aurally Alarming , Use Of Sound In Blue Velvet Aurally Alarming With Blue Velvet, David Lynch did an effective job in dividing both popular and critical opinions about his odd piece of cinema. While some hail it as a masterpiece, others retain that it is pure perverse nonsense. Despite the initial shock of the overly violent sequences, Lynchs vivid revelation of baseness and depravity in small-town America makes its point clearly, if not bizarrely. One of the most obvious and effective ways by which the films themes are conveyed is through an absolutely brilliant utilization of sound and score. Similar to how advertising companies pair food ads with love-scene type music, or make sock-puppet dogs talk, there is more to a scene than the picture. The use of this filmic sense of audio gives Blue Velvet a heavy pulse to the deep, dark world beneath the superficiality of Lumberton. David Lynch, along with Angelo Badalamenti, composed the score to this film, working close with sound designer Alan Splet. The score, consisting mostly of sparse horns and strings, is subtle and dramatic, bringing to mind elements of classic suspense and murder-mystery film scoring. The climactic showdown scene, in which Frank and Jeffery confront each other a final time, captures what is essentially the films greatest use of score and sound to fortify (while, at times, ironically juxtaposing) the violent, exciting scene. Virtually no sound accompanies the scenes start, Jeffery climbing the stairs to and entering Dorothys apartment. The ambient sounds of his footfalls and the keys, supplemented by an occasional dramatic chord struck in a minor key create an ominous tension that is palpable to the viewer. The scene retains its practically silent tone as Jeffery steps into the apartment to the gruesome scene within. The silence here is purposeful in that Jeffery is silent as he skulks around, and the corpses of the Yellow man and Dorothys husband are silent at this moment because they are, well, dead. The quiet is pierced by a shrill whine, the television is smashed in but turned on, and is emitting a high pitched hum (Dirks). The sound that smashes the silence is a loud transmission from the Yellow mans police radio, eliciting a post-mortem twitch from the dead man, and a frightened jump from both Jeffery and the viewer. Everything returns to silence, until the radio barks up again, reporting the raid on Franks apartment. Next are scenes from the raid, cut with scenes of Jeffery in the apartment, as Love Letters begins to play. Jeffery realizes that the tableau before him truly is an example of one of Franks love letters straight from the heart. With tears in his eyes, and as the line Im not alone in the night plays over the scene, Jeffery says to the bodies, Im gonna let them find you on their own. The playing of this sweet love song contrasts resplendently with the violent police raid and the close ups of the deceased in the apartment. If one were to watch this sequence with closed eyes, the accompanying visuals would not be pictured logically in ones head. As in the scene where Frank and his cronies beat Jeffery to the strains of Candy Colored Clown, Lynch juxtaposes a scene of incredible violence with a soundtrack of whimsy and happiness. The song is also significant to the viewer, who has taken to associate the song, or at least its lyrics, with Frank Booth and his horrifying demeanor. Here, the song is used for symbolic and metadiegetic purposes (Ktepi), both to conflict with the visual frame and to remind us of Franks omnipresent malignancy. He leaves, and the music cuts abruptly as he shuts the apartment door. Descending the stairs to leave, he sees the well-dressed man approaching. Strains of what can only be described as bad guy music begin to swell, leaping in volume and intensity as Jeffery realizes that the man is Frank in disguise. Jeffery runs back to Dorothys apartment, the music seems to chase him as he goes. After he sets up Frank with his clever radio transmission, he hides in the closet. As Frank enters the apartment and begins to hunt Jeffery down, the music swells