opening sequence

1. Analysing Opening Sequence
Eraserhead
Release Date: 1977
Genre: surrealist body horror
Director: David Lynch
The film starts with white text in a Times New Roman font against a pitch-black background. The text
says “David Lynch” in a large size and “presents” in a smaller text, which implies that David Lynch
directed the film that is about to be shown. The black background does not tell us much about the
film we are about to see, as if it is trying to be kept secret and not meant to know much about the
film. It can also show that the film is shot in black and white. The screen then cuts to the title, which
is in the same style as before. Underneath the title it shows a close up medium shot of a man on a
horizontal slant in the foreground that has a translucent look to him as you can see a large rock
through his forehead, which is separate from him. The man’s face moves around the screen freely
but looks very paranoid and disturbed. The man moves out of the screen’s view and the camera
zooms towards the large rock, which now seems to resemble the Moon. The shot changes to a high
angle shot, which looks down on the ground of the moon tracking to show a pathway on the moon.
The screen eventually fades to black and cuts to an establishing shot of what seems to be a
makeshift house on the planet but it is not quite clear to see if it is or not. The camera zooms into a
hole in the house to the point where again the screen turns to completely pitch black. The camera
then tracks out of the pitch black screen to show a man who is visibly deformed and unlike other
humans sat looking out of a window in what is assumed the house from the previous shot. We then
see the man from the opening scene still on a horizontal angle opening his mouth in a forceful way.
He does not look like he is in control of what is happening and can almost be seen as screaming. It
then cuts back to the same shot of the man on the planet who has a sharp reaction in his arm and
moves it forward slightly. We then cut back to the man who has a translucent spermatozoon shaped
creature coming out of his mouth.
The creature them fully comes out of his mouth and goes beside his head. Right now it is virtually
impossible to try and explain what is going on here as nothing has really made sense up to this point.
It again turns to the man on the planet who turns his head very slowly and has another twitch in his
arm, this time as if he is trying to reach an object. The camera then cuts to a low angle looking up at
the man on the planet who is looking at some levers. He rocks back and forth slowly before reaching
for one of the levers. The camera cuts to a close up medium shot of the man on the planet and pulls
a lever backwards in a painful like manner. The creature next to the horizontal man them moves to

2. the right of the screen until it is out of view as if the lever has called the creature to go towards the
man on the planet. The man on the planet is probably having an effect on the horizontal man as the
scenes correlate and cut back to one another.
The horizontal man seems calm and unaware of what is going on during this sequence. The camera
then cuts to another low angle of the man on the planet who proceeds to pull another lever in his
room but seems much less painful about pulling this lever. The man on the planet is clearly wanting
this creature that came out of the horizontal man’s mouth for some reason. The camera cuts to a
high angle shot of a crater in the planet. It seems to full of a liquid but it is hard to identify properly.
The camera then cuts back to the man on the planet who proceeds to pull a third lever in a much
more relaxed manner. It then goes back to the crater on the planet and the creature from the man’s
mouth falls from the sky and drops into the liquid. We then get a super close up the liquid bubbling
and rippling due to the creature falling into the liquid. The water is rippling very violently which may
or may not be deliberately exaggerated. The man on the planet may be trying to kill said creature.
The camera turns to a tracking close up shot of the liquid from an angle that shows the rippling from
an under-water point of view. The camera tracks downwards as you large air bubbles rising to the
top and a large array of smaller bubbles that could show something disintegrating but it is probably
used as a transition or a visual effect.
The screen then cuts to black for a seemingly extended time. At this point I think that when the
screen turns to black it is meant to symbolize a drastic change of location and set. You then see a
white badly-shaped circle move slowly to the centre of the screen from the left. The circle is bright
white so it stands out pretty easily form the black background. The camera then zooms into the hole
like it has on other scenes. You can see some objects around the hole as you get closer, it looks a lot
like grass but it is really no that obvious. If it is grass the hole could be a portal to earth but is really
unclear. The opening scene ends here as the screen goes a blinding white colour. This is a contrast to
the previous sections in which the screen goes pitch black between scenes. This may be a sign that
the film is going to a brand new location, possibly earth.