Aesthetics in David Lynch's Cinema: A Visual Narrative Analysis of Blue Velvet

The aesthetic and narrative integrity of a cinematic work is shaped by the director's conscious combination of cinematographic elements. Cinematography is more than just a visual tool; it is a fundamental building block that constructs the narrative's world of meaning. Technical components such as camera angles, lighting, colour palettes, and spatial arrangements play an active role in conveying the characters' inner worlds, emotional transitions, and the subtext of the narrative to the audience while constructing the film's atmosphere. This study analyses David Lynch's 1986 film Blue Velvet within the framework of cinematographic narrative elements. The elements of camera usage, lighting design, composition, and editing in David Lynch's Blue Velvet, selected as a sample, have been examined as fundamental components supporting the narrative's ambiguous and multi-layered structure. The aim of this study is to analyse the narrative of David Lynch's Blue Velvet. To achieve this aim, camera movements, composition, lighting, editing, and sound themes identified within the framework of descriptive analysis were examined in detail. The cinematographic elements used in Blue Velvet, while being the product of aesthetic concerns, become a functional narrative tool that supports the thematic depth of the story.