Lost Highway

Lost Highway (David Lynch, 1997)


The background image in the opening sequence gives it an air of mystery and builds suspense as all the audience can see is what has been highlighted by the cars headlights creating narrative enigma as where we are. Also the use of the road markings in the background relates to the name of the film as the titles use a font that reflects the colour and look of the road markings. In addition through the markings the audience is able to see that the car is travelling  at high speed, this cause the audience to question why the car is moving fast. 

Furthermore, the car appears to be travelling the middle of the roads which connotes that the drives is in a hurry so there is a lack of safety in their driving but also that the road is perhaps abandoned or in a derelict area. The camera shot used for the isn't steady, this has been included to disorient the viewer but also to reflect the high speed of the car.  


The music in the background starts off with the ambient sound of a car travelling, the song that then comes on has a fast paced beat at the start this has been done to portray the setting and use to build up the suspense. Also the lyrics of the song aren't clear apart from a view words that can be distinguished which are; 'cruise me', 'I'm deranged', 'no return'. This cause narrative enigma as it adds to the disorientation of the sequence.

Above is a screen shot of the title of the film and in comparison to the other titles that appear this one is the largest and fills the screen but in addition it remains there the longest. This is done to illustrate the importance of the text. Lastly the way in which the text appears, is by starting small and then gradually getting larger this gives the impression that text is travelling at high speed towards the viewer, after this the title stops so it can be read, it then continues to get bigger and thus creating the impression that its going through the audience. This again has been done to coincide with the fast pace of the images to create tension.


The order in which the titles appear are with the main characters coming before the title and the other actors coming after. Once these have been done it goes on to show the names of other big name actors that perhaps don't have a main role, these are identified with the use of 'with' and 'and' before their names. It then continues on to people who worked on the film and do not feature in it, with the last title being the directors name which is done to signify his importance. The titles shown are as follows in chronological order;

• Bill Pullman
• Patricia Arquette
• Balthazar Getty
• Lost Highway (main title)
• Robert Blake
• Natasha Gregson Wagner
• Richard Pryor
• Lucy Butler, Michael Masee, Jack Nance
• Jack Kehler, Henry Rollins
• Giovanni Ribisi, Scott Coffey
• With Gary Busey
• And Robert Loggia
• Casting by Johanna Ray, C.S.A. And Elaine J. Huzzar
• Music composed and conducted by Angelo Badalamenti
• Editor Mary Sweeney
• Production designer/Costume designer Patricia Norris
• Director of Photography Peter Deming
• Produced by Deepak Nayar, Tom Sternberg, Mary Sweeney
• Written by David Lynch & Barry Gifford
• Directed by David Lynch

All of the above titles appear and move off the screen in the same way and are all on a left slant. Text that appears before names such as 'casting by' are only outlined with yellow, this shows their lack of significance to the audience as the important text e.g names are shown in block yellow.