I’m slow, I admit. This may be an old post from Big Hollywood’s John Nolte about West Side Story but eternal truth does it contain. In particular, this:
“Something else you can appreciate is how little the camera gets in the way of the musical performances. Today’s musicals are all editing — chop, chop, chop. “West Side Story” might cut here and there and move the camera a bit, but you are at least allowed to enjoy these remarkable performances without feeling manipulated or cheated. The actors, music, and choreography dazzle, not the post-production”
Spot on.
Over the yuletide there was a BBC special with former ballerina Darcy Bussell re-creating some famous Hollywood numbers by Fred, Ginge, Gene and Cyd. The programme concentrated on the differences between dance in ballet (all stiff backs, glum faces and pointy toes) and dance in musicals (hunched shoulders, loose limbs and comedy props).
Well, Darcy's a game gal and made a rum go of it. But the thing that you really noticed in the resultant dance films was the editing. No machine-gun editing and quick-fire cuts here, there and everywhere. Instead there were long lingering shots where the camera allowed us to watch the dance in full flow.
It’s been said that film editing and choreography are similar in as much as they are both essentially exercises in rhythm. This may be true but too much of one can spoil the other. Too many short, snappy cuts (“chop, chop, chop”) and what you end up with is not a dance but a series of poses. In dramatic terms, it’s like defining a character by a series of attitudes rather than a personality.
But more recent film musicals seem to have caught MTV-itis with their short little spans of attention. In fact, when it comes to editing a dance, the best music videos are of the old school. Just ask Beyonce.
(By the way, all of the above goes for modern action films too.)
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