David_Lynch

David Lynch David Keith Lynch is an American Filmmaker, born in 20 of January in 1946 in Missoula Montana in United States of America. His father was a Forest scientist that worked with the government for that reason he spent a lot of his childhood traveling around EUA. He didn't like much academics however he had a passion for art. David Lynch studied at Corcoran School of Art before moves to Boston, where he studied at Boston Museum School. Having a dream of becoming a painter he quits of the course in Boston and decide to travel to Europe looking for inspiration for his work. He travelled with an artist friend called Jack Fisk and they had the intention of meet famous Painter, Kokoschka in Salzburg, but because he wasn't there to meet them they return to EUA. Back in America he moved to Philadelphia to study at Pennsylvania Academy of Arts. Was here that he starts developing his interest in motion pictures and experimentations. He got into sound trough painting. " I was just a painter, and i was happy painting. And then I was working on a painting and it was a figure in a garden. It was pretty much all black and this figure was emerging out of darkness. And there was some little bit of green, you know, coming out. I heard a wind and i saw the figure move . And i thought that i wanted to have some movement, some sound in the painting .I wanted to hear that wind over the figure." Lynch, David (1998b) David Lynch is a multi-talented artist with a gift for sound. He has an exocentric way of seeing the world and that is reflected in his films. "His imagination runs wild he creates a mood on screen and on set" Dewing , Peter (1998) All of his films are about the mood he wants to create, sometimes his films are not even about the story or script is about the reaction of the public or even just about what he sees in his mind, feelings or dreams. In his first film in 1976 he says : "That was more about a moving painting than a film” Lynch, David (1998b) "David lynch begins with an image and the story is secondary, is not primary at all... If you ask what does that mean or what is the story about I often say maybe that is the wrong question, maybe you should go back to the dadaism kind of appreciation of an image as an image and ask those questions" Raimirez, Charles (1990) For him is all about the world that can be experienced by watching a film and this experience doesn’t need to be classified by words or deep descriptions of what it is or what it means. ”The world in the film is a created one, and people find out certain things about how something was done, or how this means or that means, the next time they see the film, these things enter into the experience…I think it’s so precious and important to maintain that world and not say certain things that could break the experience.” (Lynch, 2006 , p.19) Because of his peculiar way of expressing himself, all of his creations are a mixture of sensations represented by bizarre framing, saturate colors, slow motion in action scenes and a very involving sound. As David Lynch stated many times, the sound is 50% of his films. Lynch many times plays the sound on set to the DOP to help him to operate the camera with the right mood that he wants, as well to verify if the sound matches the scene. He always works with his musician and composer Angelo Badalamenti and they always discuss mood and shapes for the music. "I always get together with Angelo [Badalamenti] before shooting to get the mood to use on the set. Even is nobody else listens to them, I sometimes listen to the music while we are recording. It's a really good indicator of how the scene is going, based on what I am hearing in the music, as well as the dialogue." (Lynch, 1998b , p.51) His technique to reach the sound he wants is by observing an image to have an idea of what sound should go with it. That's where he starts his composition. Lynch likes all the sounds from realistic to abstract that can fuse with or into music. All of his details are meticulously thought out and worked out by him. "He hears everything you do! He has tremendous feeling for music" (Badalamenti , 1998 ) "The beginning dictates the direction and you never know where it's going to end up, but the mood is something you are looking for and somehow we always find it. It takes a kind of strange dialogue and action/reaction with the music Angelo's playing to get there."( Lynch, 1998b) David Lynch, when he's directing his films, spends the same amount of time, if not more, on scenes with no dialogue than ones with dialogue. He's always looking for the right image to go along with the right sound. In his first feature film, Eraserhead, he worked with Allen Splat on he soundtrack. They used two tape recorders to record samples, a few sound libraries which the processes with filters and effects to get the correct mood. They spent months trying to find this correct mood for the film. After that, they spent six weeks working 24/7 on the sound editing before they added the music and dialogue to the final mix. "Through Lynch's meticulous approach to every element of his films, it seems as though it is in the details of his work, both visually and aurally, which give his films a unique mesmerizing power, which at time can seem both sinister and unsettling. These uneasy feelings are primarily created through his intentionally understated scores of subtle ambient sound, which both unconsciously draws us into his films, as well as giving them an atmospheric aural depth." Mcdonald, Shaun Lynch is one of the few directors that experiments with sound. He believes the sound gives the life to an image and opens up the feeling of the audience and takes them to a higher level. "David Lynch couldn't do a film with an uninteresting soundtrack if he tried, just because that’s the kind of brain he has." Thom, Randy (2003) Lynch believes in nature and the power of the subconscious when stimulated by visuals and sounds. He provides beauty and magic in his films because of his connection between reality and his fantastic world. Shaun McDonald wrote about the sound in Lynch's films (talkingpics.co.uk) and refers to him as an artist that can use the sound to give us the feeling that we are living in one of his dreams worlds. After Shaun's interpretation, I could nominate the emotions I felt when watched Lynch's films. The fascinating views of Lynch and the importance he gives to the sound are very realistic and sensitive ways of representing an image. In Shaun McDonald's review he quoted David Lynch, "People call me a director, but I really think of myself as a sound man." Shaun says "Lynch's fascination with sounds and music extends beyond film soundtracks" Mcdonald, Shaun Lynch gives sound to emotions and feelings and, amazingly, some cannot even be described in words. “A film should stand on its own. It’s absurd a filmmaker needs to say what a film means in words.’ (Lynch, 2006 , p19 ) After researching on David’s working methods and inspirations sources I found out that we have very similar opinions in a spiritual field. He believes that trough meditation ideas can emerge and being developed. ”Inside every human being is an ocean of pure, vibrant consciousness. When you “transcend” in transcendental meditation, you dive down into that ocean of pure consciousness….you can catch ideas at deeper level. And creativity really flows.It makes life more like a fantastic game.” (Lynch, 2006 , p.27/28) As well his idea about the artist doesn’t have to suffer to understand the pain is something I always though, because it blocks your flow of creativity. I always try to keep my mind clear and positive in order to be open for ideas to take over my mind. “It’s good for the artist to understand conflict and stress. Those things can give you ideas but I guaratee you, if you have enough stress , you won’t be able to create.” (Lynch, 2006 , p.93) When I am working in a sound design for a film, after I finish or almost finish I always show it to different people in order to get a wider opinion about it. Reading about Lynch I found that is one of his tips to artists.” Although you can’t make a film with the audience in mind, at a certain point, before it’s finished, you need to experience the film with the group.” (Lynch, 2006 , p.89) Another tip I got from lynch is to pay attention to the detail to get ideas. ”Ideas come along in strangest way when you pay attention.” (Lynch, 2006 , p.77) I do agree with this totally and I always knew it but is good to have this reminder because sometimes I just get distracted and unaware and forget how great ideas can be based in very simple details or perspectives. After all the biggest lesson I got from David Lynch is not being afraid of expressing my ideas even if it looks or sounds non-sense. Having no fear to commit mistakes, always experiment and just let the imagination flow without the preconception of everything has to have a context and just appreciate/create things simply for what they are. Bibliography: Badalamenti , Angelo (1998) Pretty as Picture: The art of David Lynch [VHS] by Toby Keeler Chion, Michel (2003) Soundscapes – The school of sound lectures 1998-2001 translated from french by John Howe , Wallflower Press Dewing, Peter (1998) Pretty as Picture: The art of David Lynch [VHS] by Toby Keeler Dunder , Jonathan , Articles/ Biographies/other/Lynch , David [www] http://www.freeinfosociety.com/article.php'id=31 (Accessed 17 oct 2009/15:41:36 GMT) Lynch , David (2006) Catching the big fish- meditation, consciousness, and creativity, New York , Penguin Group Lynch, David (1998a) Soundscapes – The school of sound lectures 1998-2001, Wallflower Press Lynch, David (1998b) Pretty as Picture: The art of David Lynch [VHS] by Toby Keeler Lynch ,David (1997) Lost Highway [DVD] Mcdonald, Shaun, Sound in the films of David Lynch [www] http://www.talkingpix.co.uk/ArticleLynchandSound.html (Accessed 4 oct 2009/23:14:27 GMT) Ramirez ,Charles (1990) Twin Peaks [DVD] The 1st season special edition-interviews Santi, Luiz Otavio (2003) Cidade dos sonhos http://www.slideshare.net/bibi.org/cidade-dos-sonhos (Accessed 5 Nov 2009 15:49:03 GMT) Thom, Randy (2003) Soundscapes – The school of sound lectures 1998-2001, Wallflower Press Links British Film http://www.britishfilm.org.uk/lynch/Schap3.html David lynch Biography http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000186/bio