At the start of this film we
are presented with an idealistic Utopia of life in America during the 1950’s.
In the first shot, a pan shot from the sky shows white picket fences behind a
bed of tall Roses that stand out in front of the clear blue sky; all these
colours are symbolic of the American flag. The backing track is calm and from
the era and the digetic sound of birds tweeting helps to establish a calm
atmosphere, which is nature orientated. This is continued with focus on yellow
tulips. After the red Roses, a slow smooth transition reveals a red bus driving past where a dog
accompanies a man wearing a blue shirt standing on the side of the bus which
gives the sense of friendly community and again uses the trio of colours to
signify America. Following this a set of school children cross the road
adding to the sense of security in the neighbourhood which cuts to an
establishing shot of a stereotypical sub
urban house. The background music is noticeably soft and in harmony with the
slow fading of the cuts. Inside of the house a woman is calmly watching an old black and white TV where a gun is being held moving across the screen. This forebodes the distressing scenes of a man having a stroke shortly after but is at first harmless as the danger of a gun is only on the TV which is like the neighbourhood appearing safe at the start of the film.
The scene starts to build tension when after the digetic sound of a hosepipe watering the plants can be heard, the tap begins to in case in volume as the hosepipe is strained by a branch; it about to burst. The physical tension of the hosepipe becoming stuck arrives immediately before the man using it has a stroke and is left on the floor in pain. Meanwhile, the Blue velvet soundtrack continue to play creating a contrapuntal effect as the music is slow and can drift in and out with ease where as the suffering of the man is visibly intense and not peaceful to listen to. An out of focus shot creates a blurred vision effect as the camera tilts downwards towards the ground which could show the view the man has before he hits the ground or a metaphor for life not always appearing to be what it seems as the man is not shown during these few seconds as he is below. A medium shot shows a dog jumping on the man drinking water from the hosepipe which is still shooting water into the air and a baby who walks to the man. The innocence of the baby shows he helpless as no one is around to help and almost mocks the situation he is in as there is no one to help him in such as drastic situation. It could also symbolise life carrying on despite what is happening and that ant any point life can stop abruptly and in times of life saving moments there is no safety blanket as the fire engine, which is used save lives, passed by earlier. A close up shot of the dog adds an element of disbelief as the main concern of the dog is the enjoyment of drinking water from the shooting hosepipe. The irony is he is watering his plants to give them life but he is in a life threatening situation whilst doing so. From this the background music begins to fade and a mysterious sound with a similar effect to going through a jungle/grass intensifies as we are brought directly to ground level to a point of view shot of potentially a bug or snake crawling through the grass.Visibility is limited and the atmosphere has changed to an unnerving feeling as we are unaware as to what/who the viewpoint is and the unfamiliar surroundings which contrast to the familiar stereotypical 1950's America we observed earlier in the scene.
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