The Film Musical rain.jpg definition ìWhat is a film musical? ìWhat is not a film musical? ìIs it important? ìWhy? Altman: Definition: Semantics ìNarrative ìFeature length ìRomantic couple ìRhythmic movement and realism ìDiegetic music and dialogue Altman: Definition: Syntax ìDual focus ìParallelism ìMusic and dance as signifiers of personal and communal joy, romantic triumph ìContinuity between realism and rhythm ìClassical narrative hierarchy reversed at climatic moments Wedel: Musikfilm ìI understand the term as a narrative genre with a duration of at least one hour, with repeated musical numbers with dietetically bound singing that established a significant relation between filmic narration and musical discourse My definition ìmusic part of the diegesis or ìbased upon a piece of music (or both) ì Genre or number? ìThe musical number ìThe musical moment ìThe crystal song Musical number ìProduction number: diegetic singing and/or dancing Musical moment ìAmy Herzog ì„In short, the musical moments, as I deploy the term here, occur when music, typically a popular song, inverts the image sound hierarchy to occupy a dominant position in a filmic work. The movements of the image, and hence the structuring of space and time, are dictated by the song.“ Crystal Songs ìPhil Powrie ì“a films’ essence (…) the disruption in question is that of the performance as narrative intervention rather than interlude". (102, ì"… [crystal songs] intervene in the narrative to convey change, and in that conveying they also, figuratively, transport us from the artifice of a film to a utopian space beyond artifice, where what we see is what we hear, and conversely, what we hear is what we see." (223) ì Genre or Number? ìGenre theory also helpful to analyse numbers in other films ìTheories about musical moments and crystal songs also helpful to analyse numbers in musicals ì Altman: Duality ì"Duality as an organizing principle, providing no space for plot, motivation, and chronology, which common sense recognizes as important components of numerous musicals" 58 ì Altman: dualism ìSetting ìShot selection ìMusic ìDance ìPersonal style (Star Image) ìStyle ì Style: 1. Audio Dissolve ìThe audio dissolve superimposes sounds in order to pass from one sound to another (Altman 63) ìThe movement which we see an screen is now an accompaniment to the music track (69) ìThe music creates a utopian space (69) ì 2. Video Dissolve ìAny visual device bridging two seperate places, times, or levels of reality (74) ìDiegetic space – idealized space ìReal – ideal ìTime (past, future) ìMemory, dreams ìReducing oppositions, dissolving contradictions ì 3. Personality Dissolve ìEach character is double ìInternalizing the basic dichotomy ìSurface character of each member of the couple corresponds to the repressed personality of the other (81) ì ì Sub-genres ìShow musical ìBackstage musical ìFairy-tale musical ìFolk musical Jane Feuer: Myths ìspontanity ìintegration ìaudience ìentertainment Richard Dyer: Utopia ì“Entertainment... presents ... what utopia would feel like rather than how it would be organized.” ì Dyer: Non-representative signs ìIntensity ìEnergy ìAbundance ìTransparency ìCommunity ìAudience connection Sources, precursors ìOperetta ìBroadway ìSilent cinema Austrian-German Operetta Films Der-Kongress-tanzt-3.jpg Der Kongress tanzt German Musikfilm 2011-09-18-Die-Drei-von-der-Tankstelle-13.jpg Operetta Musicals Merry Widow Love Me Tonight love me tonight.jpg Busby Berkeley Depression ì “presenting a world of opulence and excess’ alongside narratives dealing with ‘struggling chorus girls and Depression hard times” ìRubin (2002, p. 59) Backstage musical ìTheater : film ìStage : backstage ìPublic : private ì Berkeley at WB 1933/34 ì42nd Street ìGold Diggers of 1933 ìFootlight Parade ìDames ì Berkeley ìCamerawork ìTracking shots ìBirdseye crane views ì ìThe camera dances, not the actors ìEditing Gender politics ìidentity of camera and spectator ìstock casting of women as visible and men as viewer ìMale artistic direction ìFemale bodies ì ì ì 42nd Street ìShow=sex ìNever danced the lead – never kissed Backstage structures ìPutting on a show ìConstituting a romantic couple ì“The two separate activities come to be equated, with the long final number celebrating the successful conclusion of show and romance alike” (Altman 227) ì Ginger Rogers & Fred Astaire catwalk_yourself_ginger_rogers_fred_astaire.jpg Freed Unit ìUnit system of production ìStars, composers, choreographers, screenwriter ìEmphasis on choreography ìLong ballet sequences ìCamp? ì ì Freed Unit: Films ìMeet Me in St. Louis 1944 ìOn the Town 1949 ìSingin’ in the Rain 1952 ìThe Band Wagon 1953 Wizard of Oz wizard-of-oz-original1.jpg Post War Musicals ìExtended ballet sequences ìGreat American Songbook ìMusical biographies/biopics ìAnti-communism, consumerism, captialism ì Cont. ìDramatic instead of comedic ìMarginalization of African-Americans ìNew gender roles ìNew technology ì Extended ballet sequences ìAn American in Paris 1951 (18 min) ìSingin' in the Rain 1952 (13 min) ìThe Band Wagon 1953 ì The great American songbook ìLong player LP 33 1/3rpm ìComposers from the 1920s and 30s recorded as the great American songbook ì 734f9b7bb79044ec46893b630a9661375d07467a.jpg ella-fitzgerald-sings-the-cole-porter-songbook.jpg Biopics ìRhapsody in Blue 1945 ìNight and Day 1946 ìThe Great Caruso 1951 ìGlenn Miller Story 1954 ìBenny Goodman Story 1955 ì Politics ìAnti-Communism: Silk Stockings 1957 ìConsumersim: Funny Face ì Dramatic ìWest Side Story ì African-Americans ì“end of number, beginning of story” ì hqdefault.jpg ì Gender Roles doris-day-movies-calamity-jane.jpg Cont. Gentlemen_prefer_blondes-to.jpg Technology kiss_me_kate_01.jpg Dinosaurs ìOklahoma! (1955) ìSound of Music ìHello Dolly! ìPaint Your Wagon ì Folk Musical ìThe sound if nature inspire man to make music 306 ìThe rhythm of life already constitutes a dance 307 ìColonization, transforming wilderness into civilization 310 ì Pop ì “A Hard Day’s Night found stylistic inspiration and energy from the French New Wave in its jump cuts and handheld camera: The Sound of Music is impeccable in its traditional three-point lightning, carefully balanced framing, and crisp continuity editing.” (Griffin, 235) Bob Fosse ìCabaret ìAll that Jazz (1979) ì Nostalgia ìThat's Entertainment! (1974) ìBeginning of academic research Post-modern Musicals ìPennies from Heaven ìMoulin Rouge ìLa la Land Musicals today ìFairy Tale: Enchanted, Frozen ìShow musical: Glee, High School Musical, Pitch Perfect ìFolk musical: Lagaan, French Musicals 1930s ìRené Clair: ìSous les toits de Paris 1931 ìLe Million 1931 ìA nous la liberté 1932 Jacques Demy ìLes Parapluies de Cherbourg (1964) ìLes Demoiselles de Rochefort (1967) ì critique-les-demoiselles-de-rochefort-demy-varda11.jpg Bollywood ìMusical numbers obligatory ìDubbed ì3 hours ìCinema of interruption ì Singers ìAsha Bohsle Unbenannt2.png ìLata Mangeshkar Unbenannt.png Who is singing? ìThe character ìchoir ìChange from 1st to third person within a song ì(f.e. Mother India) Music as commentary ìLyrics in Urdu ìLyrics referencing the epics ì Case studies d9fe3df5f2544476dd2d350292ae629c--indian-bollywood-bollywood-stars.jpg Kal Hoo Na Hoo 6a00e551a4e0f388330192abe1b2d0970d.jpg Conclusion ìMeaning ìNumber/Moment/crystal song ìGenre – number ìDiegetic music ìOverall structure ìTheories and methods ìterminology ì Finale All.jpg