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re: "Rainbows" dropped from WOODS films

Posted by:	LegitOnce 08:30 pm EDT 08/15/14
In reply to:	re: "Rainbows" dropped from WOODS films - Michael_Portantiere 01:47 pm EDT 08/14/14

The way the scene is done in the stage musical is a very clever theatrical presentation of a process that in reality would take place over a matter of several months, i.e., Anna's gradual assertion of herself to the King as an equal in human terms. It is, however, a theatrical solution and not a cinematic solution. Cinema has the tools of editing, camera angles and montage that are not available (or at least not as idiomatic) in a theatrical solution. So, the scene could have cut quickly back and forth between the two principals (editing), used POV shots of, for example, Anna "towering" over the King and then readjusting herself so she is on a level with his POV, followed by a reverse shot (from Anna's POV) of the King's change in posture. Or the scene could have been done with montage, a series of quick scenes over time beginning with the King in a clearly dominant role and gradually evolving so he and Anna were visually presented as equals. The scene as filmed for the picture is essentially a theatrical solution, recorded. It is effective because the material is very fine. But if you compare it to Robert Wise's treatment of another "process" sequence (i.e., "Do Re Mi" from The Sound of Music you see that the King and I scene is something less than imaginative. (Think how the later film would be diminished if "Do Re Mi" were staged with the children just marching about the entrance hall, with the camera cutting from long to medium shots.)

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Next:	The whole "uncinematic" thing - AlanScott 05:21 pm EDT 08/14/14

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