Analysis of Mulholland Drive Opening

Mulholland Drive, dir. David Lynch, begins it's opening sequence with a black screen and the titles fading in and out in time  to a low pitched, soft toned incidental music. The music has a dark feel to it which fits in with the theme of a thriller. However, this is quickly contradicted by the bright pink dancing scene which follows.  

This juxtaposes the introduction to the film as dark and scary to light and lively. As the pink is being introduced through silhouettes, the music changes and becomes more lively and upbeat and focuses on the sound of drums and trumpets, also as the dancing scene progresses, the ambient sound of audience cheers is heard. 

The costume that the people in the dancing scene wear is very stereo typically 40's, they wear oversized shirts with old-fashioned patterns, long brown skirts and dull colours. Layers of editing is used to compose what is in the frame. Towards the back there's a pink background and silhouettes of people dancing, and various clips of couples dancing are edited in. Towards the front of the frame, very white images start to move around and further focus into people smiling. This helps to create an establishing idea of the film as light-hearted and happy, which is then flipped on it's head as the music begins to fade out and the people dancing disappear. Suddenly, you can hear someone breathing and the camera uses a point of view angle and blurs in and out of focus. This suggests that the person is weary and unstable which contradicts the scene before. The uncertainty of the situations draws the audience in.

The audience is introduced to the title of the film through a street sign that says 'Mulholland Dr.', this subtly informs them of the title without it being too explicit.