Creating deeper deepth via dynamic shots

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When I first saw Singing in the Rain by Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly, one of the first things that caught my eye besides the colorful sets and costumes was the camera movements. The first two films, Sherlock Jr. and Man with a movie camera didn’t have too many dynamic shots like Singing in the Rain did. The vast majority of the film was filmed in a studio which gave the director access to all the tools necessary to execute different types of dynamic shots. One of the types of shots that I felt added to the film were the crane shots. These crane shots were used in two different ways, by taking the camera up and away to shoot everything, put things into scale on how big of an operation this dance number was and the sheer space of the studio in all its detail. The second way the utilized crane shots were coming from far out and coming in to focus on a few characters gave the feeling of personalization and in a way you felt closer not only in relation to the camera but also on a personal level.

Probably the most effective type of dynamic shot used in the film was the use of tracking and pan shots. without tracking and pan shots in Singing in the Rain, the song and dance wouldn’t have the same fluidity or impact to it because dance is a dynamic movement and needs a dynamic camera movement to go along with the choreographed dance. In every breakout dance sequence or singing the camera was doing something dynamic. Never once did the camera just film passively it was always active during those particular times. weather it was a high shot looking down on Don in the pouring rain, or following him while he’s dancing though the flooded streets. Too add on these dynamic dance shots one of the more impressive aspects was the fact that the shots were very long which meant the dancers had to get all their steps right while trying to be in sync with the other dances, on top of that they had to sing. Very impressive and difficult task to accomplish and probably very frustrating doing multiple takes to get it just right.

Musical movies after Singing in the Rain set the standard for musicals on how the camera should move in relation to the action and dance being presented on stage. Les Misérables is a current example, a 2012 musical directed by Tom Hooper, took a different approach by turning the whole movie into singing and dancing but created dynamic camera shots to dramatize the characters and give greater depth to them even thought they were singing the entire time.

These types of shots were crucial to the films aesthetic, especially with musicals overall ambiance, more dynamic shots match up nicely with the fluid movement of the choreographed dance movements on screen.  Paired up with a solid musical score Singing in the Rain executed the perfect amount of dynamic shots that didn’t over power the film or make you feel like you were spinning through its movements, that created a timeless classic.

21 thoughts on “Creating deeper deepth via dynamic shots”

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