Essay/Term paper: Singing in the rain

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Music

The hit musical "Singin' in the

Rain" may possibly be one of if not the greatest musicals of

all time. With it's tale of the film world of the mid 1920's

and its creative underlining love story between Don

Lockwood (Gene Kelly) and Kathy Selden (Debbie

Reynolds), it provokes the interest of someone who would

not generally be attracted to a musical. It is a classic

masterpiece that set the standards that musical films of

today will be judged by. It is a classic performance by the

great Gene Kelly and displays outstanding performances by

Debbie Reynolds and Donald O'Connor. As well as

starring in this brilliant movie, Gene Kelly teams up with

Stanley Donen to make their mark in film history. In my

opinion, what set the stage for the level of entertainment

that this movie contains is the opening scene. The opening

scene set the role of sarcasm in the movie and gave the

movie an immediate sense of humor. Four individual parts

of movie making come together in this film to create a

dynamic opening sequence. The basic principles of sound,

editing, mise en scene, and cinematography collectively give

this opening sequence a memorable quality that is without

match. The opening of Singin' in the Rain takes place at the

opening of the new movie "The Royal Rascal" starring Don

Lockwood and Lena Lamont. There are famous people all

around and their fans are loving every second of it. The

fans' faces are full of joy and awe as their favorite actors

and actresses enter the large building that will soon be

showing the new movie. Soon, the two people that

everyone in Hollywood is dying to see, appear in their

stretched Rolls Royce and bring the crowd to its feet. As

Lockwood and Lamont exit their luxurious ride they are

received lovingly by everyone. They walk to the front of the

building and are introduced to the crowd. Then the

question is posed to Mr. Lockwood, "How did it all

begin?" The answering of this question is what my paper

will explain. I will attempt to break down the opening scene

and show how it all started. By using tools of film such as

sound, editing, mise en scene, and cinematography, this

paper will show how the scene was made as well. Mise en

scene played an important role in this movie as with any

other movie. The properties of mise en scene were fully

effective in the beginning flashback scene. At the beginning

of Don Lockwood's flashback he states that he learned

everything from his mother and father and that they sent him

to the best dancing schools. He flashes back to show that

he actually just danced in dirty pool halls as a little kid with

his friend Cosmo. The flashback is precise in terms of mise

en scene. The clothes that Don wears are that of the early

1900's. The setting is a dingy pool hall with old men playing

and drinking which gives the feeling that the area was poor.

That gives more credit to Don because it shows he really

wasn't trained in dancing schools and actually learned on

his own. The room was extremely dim and Don and

Cosmo were centered in the foreground of the shot.

Another example of mise en scene is the second segment of

the flashback. A young Don and Cosmo sneak into the

movie theater to see a horror movie that they would

normally not be able to see. The setting is outside an early

20th century theater. In front of the theater are large

cut-outs of the movies that are playing there. They are

obviously of that time because they are painted, they are

not pictures as the ones of today are. The youngsters are

also dressed in early 1900's style clothing. The third

segment of the flashback is inside a tavern of most likely the

1920's. The place looks very low class and there are men

of all ages drinking and playing cards in the background.

The costuming in this segment is very well done as well.

Don and Cosmo, who now appear to be in their early

twenties are wearing suspenders and playing instruments in

the right side of the shot. The fourth segment shows exactly

how diverse Don and Cosmo really are. In this segment

they are on stage dressed as clowns and putting on a show

for an unknown audience. They use props such as canes

that spray water and wind up hosing each other down with

there Super-Soaker like canes. They appear on center

stage but the viewer can still see props that belong to the

stage in the background. The final stage of the flashback

before they reach Hollywood is an interesting scene. In this

scene the mise en scene is constantly changing. Cosmo and

Don are performing but the background is constantly

changing. The background shows different cities and towns

to express the fact that the two of them have traveled far

and wide doing their acts. They are superimposed over this

background wearing checkered suits that show up very

well over the constantly changing background. Another

very important part of this movie is the sound. Throughout

the flashback the shots keep returning to Don Lockwood

and he sets up the next scene by telling the complete

opposite. For instance he says that his motto is "Dignity,

always dignity." Immediately following this statement the

flashback shows his actual childhood and shows him being

embarrassed in numerous ways. He also talks over parts of

the flashback to give details of how things were (or weren't

for that matter). He also says that his parents brought him

up on the "classics" (films) but in actuality he was sneaking

into horror movies at a young age. He also exaggerates the

truth when he says that Cosmo and himself did the best

show halls when they were really dancing in bars. The

musical segment of the flashback was also a wonderful

addition. Don and Cosmo are shown giving a fabulous

dance routine but unfortunately the fans didn't feel it was all

that great. The cinematography in this classic was another

plus although it there was not too much of it. In some

movies it seems that the camera movements don't flow

through the film while this one did. Throughout the

flashback there were basically only long and medium shots.

For instance, during the second segment of the flashback

where Don and Cosmo sneak into the theater, there is

some significant camera work. The shot begins with a

medium shot of the billboard that is advertising the horror

movie and then zooms out to welcome the entrance of the

boys. Then the camera slowly pans to the right to show the

kids duck under the ticket clerk's window and then into the

theater. There is little to the cinematography in the third

segment as well. The camera starts out with a long shot on

the left side of the screen and then pans over to the right to

see an older Don and Cosmo playing their instruments. The

most significant part of the cinematography in this scene is

that in only the scene before, Don and Cosmo were a good

ten to fifteen years younger. The way the camera moves

added somewhat of a surprise and welcomed the fact that

the two boys had finally grown up. In the fourth scene the

camera does not move at all the camera being stationary

would lead one to believe that the view is of an audience

member. The fifth scene has the camera staying focused on

the center of the screen as a superimposed Don and

Cosmo dance in front of a constantly changing background.

After the background has dissolved into its final setting the

camera stays in a long focus constantly. The camera now

follows Cosmo and Don as they do their dance scene. The

camera pans left and right to follow their every movement

and to keep them centered in the middle of the screen.

Editing has an enormous effect on this classic musical. The

flashback scene consists mostly of cuts and dissolves.

There must not have been much film on the cutting room

floor because many scenes look as if they were shot in one

take. The majority of editing is done with dissolving one

picture into another. Too much cutting can ruin a film but

there was so little in this segment that it makes the movie

flow a lot better. if the flashback scene had used cuts

instead of the method of dissolve, this scene could not have

been as effective as it was. The first scene starts the

flashback. There is a dissolve of a close-up of Gene Kelly's

face in front of the theater and into a memory of his youth

at a pool hall. There is a moment of action where Don and

Cosmo get escorted out and then the scene dissolves into

scene two (the kids trying to sneak into the theater). The

previous scene dissolves into a poster that is advertising a

horror movie. We see the two boys sneak into the theater

and the camera again dissolves, this time back to Gene

Kelly. There is a close-up of him speaking and then another

dissolve into the bar scene. The camera pans over to see

Don playing a violin and Cosmo playing the piano. They

play for a short time and then the camera dissolves into a

sign that says "Amateur Night." This is the beginning of the

fourth scene. The picture is now cut and the next shot is of

Don and Cosmo dancing and performing one of their

routines as clowns. After a brief time of viewing this the

camera dissolves into a superimposed Cosmo and Don

dancing in front of a changing background. The changing

background is a series of shots of different cities. Each shot

is separated by a cut. Finally the camera dissolves into the

original background that the superimposed duo were taken

from. They proceed to dance for a couple of minutes and

when they are finished there is no reaction. There is a cut

and we see a point-of-view shot in terms of Don and

Cosmo to see that the audience is booing. This is the last

scene before they actually get to Hollywood. Singin' in the

Rain is the musical that all other musicals should be judged

by. It tells a story that only others had dreamed of telling.

Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds and the great Gene

Kelly help give one of the greatest performances of all

times in a musical. With the help of superb editing, sound,

mise en scene, and cinematography, this film cannot be

topped. The fist scene of the movie creates an atmosphere

that helps the viewer know that he/she will enjoy this

wonderful classic. Throughout the movie there are surprises

and fun that makes this a movie that people will want to

watch again and again. Gene Kelly said it best when he

said, "Dignity, always dignity." That is what this movie has

from beginning to end, dignity. The best thing we could

possibly do is forget about our worries and just start Singin'

in the Rain. Courtesy of Chew (1995) U. of Maryland