SCENE DECONSTRUCTION

Baz Luhrmann’s 2001 film, “Moulin Rouge” is vibrant, romantic and all around melodramatic, and it’s the film which I chose to deconstruct a scene from. I will exploring the Roxannne/Tango scene – one of my favourites from the film and possibly my favourite scene out of every Baz Luhrmann movie that I’ve seen, (I’ve seen all of them, multiple times).

The scene embodies a classic Luhrmann piece in every regard, fulfilling all of the characteristics you would expect from the director’s now highly distinguishable style. From Catherine Martin’s exquisite and grandiose costumes and sets to Jill Bilcock’s maniacal editing, and of course, a large emphasis on music. Josh Abrahams’ stunning edition of “El Tango de Roxanne” is performed throughout the scene by José Feliciano, Ewan McGregor, Jacek Koman and Nicole Kidman. This scene is by no means subtle or suggestive, instead, in true boisterous nature of Baz Luhrmann, every emotion is highlighted and amplified to an essentially melodramatic standard.

Within the film, the scene doesn’t necessarily serve any significant purpose in terms of developing narrative. However, it is crucial in the way it works as a tonal piece, heightening the drama towards the lead up to the final act, as the tension of the scene escalates at a rapid pace as if the film is holding its breath before finally exhaling at the end of the scene. The choreography in tandem with the musical performance of “Roxanne” work together to explore the divergence between Christian’s (Ewan McGregor) sadness and jealousy, along with the Duke’s (Richard Roxburgh) lust and terrifying anger. The dance number works to progress the scene by beginning with slow, lengthy and exploring movements, building up to sharp, electric actions that accentuate the impending doom of the characters’ situation.

Arguably, the most striking aspect of this scene is the overwhelming amount of edits that are included in the short space of time, as the cuts happen on average every two to three seconds. I am often unappreciative of directors who use so many cuts that their films seem to have been fed through electric fans. However, for Luhrmann and “Moulin Rouge”, I believe it is the right approach. He uses so many different setups and camera angles that some of the songs seem to be cut not on every word of the lyrics, but on every syllable. There is hardly any breathing room, it makes the scene feel anxious and tense in the best way possible. Shots from the same angle are rarely returned to, resulting in a scene which contains an enormity of camera set ups.

The scene features an array of shots that range from shallow, mid and deep focal lengths as well as an assortment of close ups, mid and wide shots. Medium shots are commonly used throughout the scene featuring a dancer or other supporting characters, while close ups are generally only used when Christian, the prostitute, The Duke or Satine (Nicole Kidman) are on screen. During Satine’s dinner with The Duke when he starts to become mad at her, there is a shot – not particularly groundbreaking, but still powerful in its manner of conveying status. Satine is on the ground with The Duke standing above her, and the camera placed over The Duke’s shoulder, intricately showing Kidman’s portrayal of a fearful, distressed Satine, right before the necklace is ripped from her neck and the music comes to a climax. Wide shots are also sporadically used throughout, and towards the end of the scene, wide aerial shots are used of the dancing troupe as they perform the tango and Christian walks through, clearly showing how small he feels on the inside in perspective of the large dance group.

The scene is all colour and music, sound and motion, kinetic energy and intense emotion. The brilliance of the scene comes not from small details like the framing of a singular shot or the way the light sparks in a character’s eyes in one moment. I believe the scene is a compelling one due to the way everything fits together as a whole to present an to present an enthralling piece of heartbreak and chaos, and wouldn’t wish Baz Luhrmann to have done it any other way.

ACTION EXERCISE

Isn’t it always the way that what seems so simple, turns out to be brain-wracking and intense. Our first homework exercise as part of ‘Box’ was to pre-produce and film for a thirty second sequence, with ourselves as the main actor performing one simple action. One of the prompts was that this didn’t need to be interesting, however, it needed to be thoughtful and well made. Yet, I think I got these switched and ended up filming an action that could have been much more uncomplicated but produced at a higher quality.

I struggled with the same sort of thing I did with ‘Make The Bed’, and I thought an action piece involving me turning my fairy lights on and off would be fun and visually engaging, but I think the edit turned out a little more sloppy and a little less magical than I had hoped. Ultimately, if I were to do it again, I would have done something much more straightforward like sitting in a chair or brushing my teeth. I believe if I had done this I would have been able to focus more on the edit than getting wrapped up in how pretty the shot was. I also didn’t spend any time on correcting exposure or anything, most likely because I don’t know how to do this – but it is going to be necessary at some point.

However, at the end of the day, my final action piece is still important to me as I think it represents my reluctantly to let go of aesthetics and embrace the somewhat technical side this studio presents. My aim this semester, taking into account what I have already produced, is to forget a little bit about my perfectionist/‘arty’ side when it comes to pre-production, as I’m used to spending hours fretting over what I’m going to create. I also want to learn a lot more about the technical side of editing, hoping that it will help me in the long run.

MAKE THE BED

While I would have loved to reflect on a slightly more interesting exercise like ‘Lenny’, rather than ‘Make The Bed’, my practice in syncing audio and video didn’t go so well, hence ‘Lenny’ still exists as a choppy piece of art with non-existing audio. However, ‘Make The Bed’ turned out to be a more critical learning experience than I anticipated.

Overall, I was happy with the outcome of ‘Make The Bed’, and not just because the exercise came around the same time I needed to wash all of my bedding. In the end, six shots made it into the cut, though I filmed a lot more than six and took about an hour to get it all recorded. If I learnt anything, it’s that I took far too long stressing over what the shots would look like, and spending too much time there when I could have put more time and effort into the edit.

While I do like the video and am happy with the shots that resulted, I wish I had thought out the pacing the edit slightly more. When I watch it back, I’m overwhelmed by a sense that I’m rushing, and in 40 seconds there is so much happening really quickly. Generally, when I make my bed in the morning it’s a slow, relaxing activity that is normally done quite leisurely – nothing is really upbeat or exciting about it. I don’t really believe my edit of ‘Make The Bed’ reflects that, I’m almost stressed out by the whole thing.

If I were to repeat this exercise, I would have filmed with a more serene mindset, hopefully achieving much more calm shots to match the mood of the piece that I’m imagining in my mind. I would have also put less shots into the sequence, making use of the 40 seconds with longer, more purposeful clips.