Corporate Video Production: What Film Are We Watching?
This week at Crash Symphony Productions, in order to inform our approach to corporate video production, we’re watching Twin Peaks, the 1990s TV series created by David Lynch and Mark Frost. It’s back for a third season, 25 years since the last airing.
The series follows an investigation headed by FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper into the murder of homecoming queen Laura Palmer in the fictional town of Twin Peaks, Washington. The narrative draws on elements of crime drama, but its uncanny tone, supernatural elements, and campy, melodramatic portrayal of eccentric characters also draw on American soap opera and horror tropes. Like much of Lynch’s work, it is distinguished by surrealism and offbeat humour, as well as distinctive cinematography. The show’s acclaimed score was composed by Angelo Badalamenti in collaboration with Lynch.
Twin Peaks was followed by a 1992 feature film, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, that serves as a prequel to the television series.
It’s such a distinctive show, and it’s cancelling prematurely did nothing to deter the cult following that it attained throughout the years. It now is considered one of the greatest TV dramas of all time.
There are so many aspects to Twin Peaks that go into making it the show that it is. There’s so much genre-breaking, bending and blending. The occult and supernatural aspects of the show are in stark contrast to the late 80s small town setting. There’s an undercurrent of Native American myth and folklore that melds and contrasts with the UFO conspiracies that run through it. There truly is nothing like it.
In a lead up to the recent release of the new season, there has also been a book release by co-creator Mark Frost. The Secret History of Twin Peaks book deepens the mysteries of Twin Peaks and primes you for the upcoming series. But most notably it delves into the history of Twin Peaks which is far beyond the scope of the TV series to cover, and this is where the Native American myth can really be explored.
