Today is the 73rd birthday of master film-maker David Lynch, who created his own genre of film-making, titled “Lynchian.”
Considered as the “Renaissance man” of modern American film-making, the great American film-maker, David Lynch was born in Missoula, Montana, on January 20, 1946.
World of cinema would have been very different without Lynch and his surreal dreams. No one makes films like the great director.
Lynch is considered an auteur for the cinematic techniques, symbolism, and visual narratives, he used in his films.
David Lynch is less a director, and more an artist. His artistic personality is demonstrated through his films. He is also a painter, musician, actor, and photographer.
Directing trademarks
Lynch’s film-making style is known as surreal. Looking at Lynch's work as a director, we get to watch surreal drams, contrasting realities, and mentally damaged protagonists.
He prefers to zoom in on moving objects to add meaning to the story. As a painter he has a vivid sense of colour, thus he is highly mindful of colour selection in shots.
Fading is one of Lynch’s favourite techniques. He often applies this technique to transition from one scene to another, or from one camera angle to another using a fade.
Smoke and fire
In most of his early films, Lynch used smoke as a symbol for obscurity, darkness, and confusion.
On the other hand, in his old films he used fire as a symbol of anger and hostility. Both fire and smoke are present in his films subtly.
Sounds and music
Lynch pays extra attention to sound design and music. More or less, in David Lynch film there is noise almost all of the time. Lynch likes to use low frequency ambient noise to bring texture and depth in the scenes.
Lynch believes, “Cinema is very close to music.” Along with haunting, rumbling ambient noise, Lynch often uses slow, melodic, and haunting music.
He frequently collaborates with Angelo Badalamenti for his projects. To depict visual themes like isolation, identity crisis, and darkness, Lynch uses Badalamenti’s music as a dramaturgical effect.
Influence on great film-makers
Lynch’s works have huge influences on other great filmmakers. Influence of “Eraserhead” can be seen in Stanley Kubrick's “The Shining” as well as in “The Fly” and “Hell Raiser.”
The influence of “Blue Velvet” is very visible in Quentin Tarantino's “Pulp Fiction” and “Reservoir Dogs.” Coen Brothers were also highly inspired by Lynch.
Happy birthday, Maestro. Thank you for inspiring all the emerging film-makers in different parts of the world.