Over the weekend, The Film Dr. tagged me in a blog meme begun by Stephen Russell-Gebbett who blogs over at (the interestingly titled) Checking on My Sausages and MovieMan0283 who blogs at The Dancing Image. According to the guys, the person tagged is to submit a gallery of images that represents “the thrill of cinema,” however s/he interprets that phrase. The other rules are spelled out thusly:
- Pick as many pictures as you want, but make them screen-captures.
- Pick a theme, any theme.
- You MUST link to Stephen’s gallery and my post too.
- Tag [at least] five blogs. For my tags, I’ll go with Amanda at Judgmental Observer, Matt at Faded Requiem, Timothy at Inessentials, Noel and Nick at Monsters of Television, Matt at Submitted for Your Perusal, and Annie at Celebrity Gossip, Academic Style.
My contribution represents the thrill I get from watching dance numbers in classical film musicals. The actors/stars dance! They can really dance! And you know how we know this? Long shots (and long takes, for that matter). Consistent, numerous shots that frame the performer’s full body. We see his/her feet, legs, torso, arms, shoulders, neck, and head all working together to get that step just right, to entertain the viewer, to make it look so easy.
As I often explain to my film students, many numbers in contemporary film musicals like Moulin Rouge, Chicago, and Nine avoid long takes, opting instead for fast-cutting, snippets of “dancing” body parts, and rapid camera movements. But this is not dancing; this is cheating. Even a (feisty!) eighty-one-year-old Gene Kelly recognizes (and laments) this:
“MTV, with its quick-cut camera work geared to short attention spans is the modern-day spawn of old-time musical numbers. Film editors have become the choreographers today. Everything is bam!…a tight shot of a shoulder…a leg…half a pirouette…an ass. In my day, editors were simply called cutters. Now a whole musical can succeed or fail based on the editing.”
As Kelly points out, some people chalk up the look and style of current musicals numbers to the modern audiences’ attention span (i.e., they can’t take lengthy takes and boringly framed long shots; they’re used to movement, quick cuts, etc.). Of course, this is nonsense. The problem — well, a problem — is that very few of today’s Hollywood actors/stars know squat about singing and/or dancing; as a result, they cannot successfully execute a number onscreen, at least not in such a way that would merit a 3-minute take framed completely in long shot.
Oh well, at least we can reminisce for a moment about those who knew the craft. To the thrill of the long shot — and those with talent…
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Professor of film and Shakespeare. Advocate of social media. Lover of popular culture,
Well done. Thanks for taking the challenge. I knew about over-edited fight scenes, but not so much about the decline of the long shot in musicals. Is this post in part an excuse for further celebrating Gene Kelly?
Re: "the decline of the long shot in musicals," yeah, it's especially apparent in Richard Gere's "tap dance" number from CHICAGO. Note the heavy crosscutting b/tw fantasy and courtroom; also you'll notice lots of medium shots from Gere's torso up in which we HEAR the tapping but don't actually SEE it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRVeOuJSIpo
Re: "an excuse for further celebrating Gene Kelly," sure why not???? Woohoo! Honestly, last night I began a post on Venetian blinds and the way they visually slice film noir characters; but after a few minutes I stopped, thinking that theme was overdone. =)
That's very interesting about Long Shots in musicals. The quote from Gene Kelly is brilliant and he's absolutely right.
There is something special about sitting back and letting classy professionals entertain. You can feel it in these images.
Thanks! And thanks for the blog meme challenge. And, sure, who doesn't love a feisty old Gene Kelly stickin' it to those youngsters?! =)
I guess I don't watch enough modern musicals to notice this type of thing, but now that you point it out, I realize you're totally right. And it's so unfortunate, too, as one of the best things about musicals is actually seeing the intricate choreography.
However, I don't think there's enough Cyd Charisse in this. But to be honest, I probably would have made all the pictures of her, or at least included one from Silk Stockings.
Re: more pictures of Cyd Charisse, next time. Next time. =)
What great shots! A great theme, and images well-plucked…btw, you might enjoy this post I put up a while back: http://thedancingimage.blogspot.com/2008/12/astai…
And thanks for participating!
Thanks! Just posted a comment on your dancing post — enjoyed reading it!