Fall 2023: Brandon Talton
Same Song, Same Dance, Different Movie:
A Comparison Between Hollywood Movie Musicals
from the Golden Age and the 21st Century
Brandon Talton
Cinema & Television Arts, Elon University
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements in an undergraduate senior capstone course in communications
Abstract
When Hollywood movie musicals returned to critical and commercial prominence in the 21st century, they came back with a new look and feel. Early 21st century films like Chicago were faster and flashier in comparison to Hollywood’s classic movie musicals from its Golden Age. In considering this new style for the musical, the following study compares the cinematography and editing techniques of 21st century movie musicals with their Golden Age Hollywood predecessors. Using a content analysis on three Hollywood movie musicals and their musical numbers from each era, this study finds that today’s musical numbers have a faster editing pattern, more camera shots, and more-complicated camera movements. These findings are important to understand both how the musical film genre has evolved and to speculate about what the genre’s future conventions may become.
Keywords: movie musicals, cinematography, editing, content analysis
Email: btalton@elon.edu
1. Introduction
Song and dance, bright color palettes and feel-good stories defined Hollywood’s original movie musicals. These genre films were critical and commercial successes for Hollywood during its Golden Age of filmmaking, an era considered to have started in the late 1920s and have ended in the mid-to-late 1960s (Maher, 2022). In fact, from 1929 to 1968, nine musical films won the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences’ Academy Award for Best Picture.
However, as time passed and as Hollywood reinvented itself in the 1960s, the market for musical films declined. They lost public appeal, and their productions became less frequent (Charney, 2021). After 1968’s Oliver won Best Picture, it would be 34 years until another musical film – the 2002 film Chicago – won that prestigious prize.
Although Chicago is the only 21st century musical film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture, the genre has made a return with new classics like Moulin Rouge!, Mamma Mia!, La La Land, and more. While these musicals have been critical and commercial successes (Macrossan, 2021), aspects of what make a successful musical today are unclear. Are they created with the same filmmaking techniques, or have they changed with developments in technology and trends?
Between the late 1960s and the start of the 21st century, general filmmaking changed drastically. MTV, the music video, independent cinema, light-weight cameras, and digital editing have all become integral to Hollywood and filmmaking (Macrossan, 2021). While it would be impossible to determine how influential these individual elements are to Hollywood’s filmmaking industry, this study compares how 21st century movie musicals have been crafted differently than those made during Hollywood’s Golden Age.
II. Literature Review
This study reviewed topics related to filmmaking practices from the Golden Age of Hollywood to the 21st century. More specifically, this literature review examines early cinema’s dependence on theatre, trends in Hollywood film editing, 21st century musical content, the decentralization of filmmaking from Hollywood, and the life cycles of film genres.
Cinematic Versus Theatrical Filmmaking
In Hollywood’s early years, its films were often staged and framed like theatre. The actors in both early film and theatre moved around elaborate set pieces and performed similarly (Byrne, 2018). This was acceptable to early film theorists, for they understood that cinema needed to first imitate the style of theatre before it could develop as a standalone artform. One of these film theorists was Hugo Münsterberg. In 1915, he published a film essay titled Why We Go to the Movies, which remains a foundational and oft-cited article to this day. Münsterberg theorized that filmmakers would eventually discover the singular language of cinema once they understood the artform’s unique qualities. He believed that the cinematic artform was special in that it could allow its creators to travel freely across a scene’s space and time, employ close-up shots to highlight certain details within a scene, and allow its audiences to enter the mindsets of the film’s characters (Münsterberg, 2011).
After Münsterberg published Why We Go to The Movies, the art of filmmaking did not change overnight. Film cameras were still too heavy and too large to follow their subjects freely (Bordwell, 2002). Furthermore, many films were restricted to a studio soundstage, which limited how much a film scene’s setting could be shown. Filmmakers could only film what was inside of the setting’s three constructed walls. There wasn’t a fourth wall, since that was where the camera and production crew were located on the sets. As a result, these three-wall studio soundstage that resembled a theatre stage continued to restrict the language of film.
It was the 1970s before film cameras could move freely and consistently throughout a movie. Cinema’s potential was being tested and redefined constantly in Hollywood during this decade. Technology allowed Hollywood films from the 1970s to move and feel differently than those from the 1920s (Bordwell, 2002). The fifty years between the 1970s and the 2020s have also encompassed a drastic filmmaking evolution, making relevant this study into how 21st century Hollywood movie musicals are shot differently from those previously produced.
A Quicker Edit with More Shots
In the 21st century, Hollywood films have boasted faster editing patterns when compared to the films from Hollywood’s Golden Age (Bordwell, 2002). For instance, 2017’s Transformer: The Last Kingdom had 2,503 shots and an average shot length of 3.4 seconds. This means that on average, the movie would cut to a new shot every 3.4 seconds for the film’s 2 hour and 29-minute runtime (Follows, 2021). An average film from the 1930s, on the other hand, would feature an average shot length that was between eight and eleven seconds (Bordwell, 2002).
Many film critics have suggested that modern Hollywood films have gravitated toward an MTV aesthetic. According to these critics, MTV has influenced today’s films to have shorter shot lengths, flashy cinematography, and pop soundtracks used in a montage. Their reasoning is that the filmmakers who started in the 1990s such as David Fincher (Seven, Fight Club, The Social Network) and Michael Bay (Bad Boys, Armageddon, Transformers) began their careers making music videos (Calavita, 2007).
Even before these directors became prolific Hollywood filmmakers, critics have found fault with MTV since the 1980s. One critic panned 1985’s Rocky IV by writing that “half the time, we seem to be watching MTV” (Ebert, 1985). Another reviewed the 1983 film Flashdance and wrote, “watching Flashdance is pretty much like looking at MTV for 96 minutes” (Variety Staff, 1983). While it would be unreasonable to suggest that MTV hasn’t in some way influenced Hollywood filmmakers or any Hollywood films released after 1983, the year that MTV was accessible across national television cable (Calavita, 2007), this argument does not consider some of the decades-spanning trends in Hollywood filmmaking and editing.
One Hollywood trend to note is the push toward shorter shot lengths. A study supporting this is film theorist David Bordwell’s 2002 essay “Intensified Continuity Visual Style in Contemporary American Film.” In this essay, Bordwell reviewed 20th century Hollywood films and their average shot lengths, and he found that Hollywood films from the Golden Age of Hollywood featured between 300 and 700 shots with an average shot length of eight to eleven seconds. Meanwhile, films from the late 1960s boasted an average shot length between six and eight seconds, and studio films from 1970s had an average shot length between five and eight seconds. By the 1990s, some films even had an average shot length of 2.7 seconds, though this was rather atypical. While there hasn’t been an equally extensive study on 21st century average shot length trends for Hollywood films, there is evidence to support the notion that Hollywood has released films with gradually shorter shot lengths (Bordwell, 2002).
To date, studies have reviewed music videos and Hollywood films from the last 90 years (with more research on the first 70 years rather than the most recent 20), yet none have gone in depth with the musical genre and its technical aspects.
A 21st Century Interest in Musical Media
Between the 1968 film Oliver! and 2002’s Chicago winning the Academy Award for Best Picture, the musical content landscape had changed. MTV, variety shows, television shows with musical numbers, and more have entered the entertainment landscape (Macrossan, 2021). In the 2020s, social media and the internet have become popular avenues for sharing musical media, and some of today’s popular musicians have risen from the music they’ve shared on online platforms (Yang, 2021). There is now an interest in both musical movies and musical media.
In the 21st century, the series Glee (2009 – 2015) brought musical numbers to cable television. The “Carpool Karaoke” series in The Late Late Show with James Corden reimagined singing in variety shows (Macrossan, 2021). Dancing trends on TikTok feature songs like Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” and Billie Eilish’s “Therefore I Am” in 2020 (Billboard, 2020). On YouTube or Vimeo, musicians have profiles for their music videos. Through most media channels, consumers can find content that features singing and/or dancing. This is in part due to the greater accessibility that people have to the necessary video equipment and distribution channels for their work. The decentralization of creation from Hollywood to create musical media has given anyone in the world the ability to film musical content. For instance, a musical film titled Neptune Frost from Rwanda was distributed across theaters in the United States in 2022 (IMDB, n.d.).
Now that films and musical media can be made outside of the Hollywood studio system, a larger group of filmmakers can contribute to, and experiment with, the musical films form. Today, audience notions of what musicals look like are being challenged (Macrossan, 2021).
Classical and Post-Classical Eras for Film Genres
Every film genre in Hollywood has gone through different stages of life. Each genre began with a series of early films that could almost be seen as a series of trials and errors. These early films were testing what narrative decisions, iconography, thematic ideas, and filmmaking techniques worked with their audiences. When these genres eventually became successful, their filmmakers understood what creative decisions were well-received by their audiences. Once a genre reaches this stage, it enters its “classical age.” During this era, the genre’s films have a general formula, and their audiences can know somewhat of what to expect (Schatz, 1981).
Once time has passed and a successful genre has oversaturated the movie market, audiences grow tired of the formula. Public approval wanes and the genre arrives at the end of its “classical age.” At this point, some of the genre’s films focus on stories that question the themes and ideas that their genre’s “classical era” predecessors had once championed (Schatz, 1981).
When this happens and the public’s disinterest in the genre peaks, new filmmakers may approach the waning form and reevaluate its film language. These filmmakers may create films within the genre, but they make them with a twist. To do this, these films often feature a fusion between new narrative decisions, iconography, thematic ideas, and filmmaking techniques with the film genre’s traditional form. This is done in an attempt to respect the genre’s past while also appealing to new audiences. When a film genre arrives at this point, the genre will begin its post-classical age (Schatz, 1981).
The Rise, Fall, and Revival of Musicals
Musical films from the 1940s, such as Meet Me in St. Louis and On the Town, thrived during the genre’s classic age. By the 1950s, however, the genre was beginning its self-conscious state. Films like An American in Paris and Singin’ in the Rain had begun to question typical themes and ideas that were essential to the genre’s classical age (Schatz, 1981). By the 1960s, the genre was further challenging its original filmmaking techniques. Robert Wise’s 1961 West Side Story, for instance, was shot on the streets of New York in an effort to introduce realism in an otherwise non-realistic genre (Foulkes, 2015).
In the 21st century, post-classical musicals have both respected the classical age of film musicals and expanded on what the genre’s films could offer its audiences. Early 21st century motion pictures like Moulin Rouge! and Chicago were both critical and commercial successes and contained film aesthetics that wouldn’t be found in a classical age musical film. Their filmmaking techniques and styles were post-classical in every sensibility (Zoref, 2009).
Research Questions
In considering the technological, cultural, and filmmaking changes in Hollywood since its earliest days, this research aimed to compare how 21st century movie musicals are filmed and edited differently from those made during the Golden Age of Hollywood. The following research questions guided this study:
RQ1: How have developments and trends in cinematography changed the way musicals have been filmed?
RQ2: How have developments and trends in editing changed the way musicals have been cut?
III. Methods
This study reviewed cinematography and editing techniques through content analysis. To answer both research questions, two filmmaking aspects were reviewed: the average shot length of each film and its shot selection.
This study analyzed the musical numbers of three Golden Age Hollywood musical movies and three 21st century Hollywood musical movies. To find the three films most appropriate to study from these two eras of Hollywood, this research referred to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which has awarded prestigious Hollywood films and their craftsmen with awards since 1929 (Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, n.d.). This private group is a voting body comprised of cinema’s leading artists, and they come together to decide what films from the past year excelled in certain aspects of filmmaking (Zelazko, n.d.). Given their credibility, this research chose musical films that were nominated for the Academy’s Best Picture award. The six films were:
- Going My Way directed by Leo McCarey (1944)
- An American in Paris directed by Vincente Minnelli (1951)
- West Side Story directed by Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise (1961)
- Chicago directed by Rob Marshall (2002)
- La La Land directed by Damien Chazelle (2016)
- West Side Story directed by Steven Spielberg (2021)
Additionally, these films were all nominated by the Academy for “Best Cinematography.” Going My Way was nominated for “Best Cinematography, Black-and-White,” while An American in Paris and West Side Story (1961) were nominated for “Best Cinematography, Color.” From the 21st century, Chicago, La La Land (Stewart & Sheehan, 2022) and West Side Story (2021) were nominated for today’s “Best Cinematography.”
Five of the six selected films were also nominated by the Academy for the “Best Film Editing” award. The only film that was not considered for this award was Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story. Nevertheless, the 2021 West Side Story was chosen because its musical numbers could be directly compared to those from the 1961 film.
This study followed the methodology of film theorist David Borwell’s research on 20th century editing trends, which calculated the number of shots in the film and the average shot length from different decades (2002). For this research, each musical number was timed with a clock that began once the musical number’s first shot started. Every cut was recorded, and the clock stopped once the first non-musical number shot began. The average shot length was then calculated by dividing the runtime of the musical number by how many shots were recorded. Once the approximate average shot lengths were calculated, each approximate average shot length was added together and divided by the total number of the musical numbers in the film. This second equation determined the film’s overall approximate mean average shot length.
It should be noted that any of the films’ scenes that were not a part of the musical numbers were not factored into the approximate mean average shot lengths. Additionally, any scenes with a musical score that did not have any musical-style singing or dancing were not considered for this research. In La La Land, for instance, songs like “Herman’s Habit” and “Start a Fire” were not factored into this research. Non-musical singing and dancing moments can be found in non-musical films, and so they are not unique to this genre.
To better understand developments in Hollywood cinematography, this research also reviewed the cinematography of each film’s musical numbers to see what their shot selections were and if either era favored certain shots more than its companion era. In a 2017 interview with journalist Clarisse Loughrey of the Independent about his then-most recent film La La Land, Damien Chazelle said, “There’s things you can do with the camera, and things you can do with modern expectations today that you couldn’t do in the Fifties.” (Loughrey, 2017).
IV. Findings
After analyzing this study’s six films, six themes were identified. Two themes detail the films’ theatrical or cinematic cinematography techniques, two note the differences with each era’s camera movements, and two refer to the eras’ editing styles.
Golden Age Theatrical Cinematography
In comparison to the 21st century musical film numbers, those from the Golden Age have a more theatrical quality to them. It may sound oxymoronic that a film has a theatrical quality to its style, but it’s important to remember that early films relied on the conventions of theatre (Münsterberg, 1915). Indeed, the theatrical quality of the Golden Age musicals made their films’ musical numbers look composed for a theatre stage.
In Golden Age musical numbers like An American in Paris’ “’s Wonderful” and the original West Side Story’s “Gee, Officer Krupke,” the musical numbers unfold before the camera like they would on a stage. The characters sing and dance before the camera without ever moving behind it to show what is there. These numbers are filmed from different angles, and yet they all cover similar angles of the dancing. As a result, only just about half of the musical number’s general setting is revealed. Figures 1 and 2 show the general perspectives of “s’ Wonderful” and “Gee, Officer Krupke.”
Figure 1. “’s Wonderful” from An American in Paris (1951)
Figure 2. “Gee, Officer Krupke” from West Side Story (1961)
21st Century Cinematic Cinematography
In contrast, the 21st century movies’ musical numbers are filmed more cinematically because the scene’s entire settings are shown in the number. In numbers like La La Land’s “Another Day of Sun” and the 2021 West Side Story’s “Gee, Officer Krupke,” the singing and dancing is shot from multiple points of view that let the audience see all 360º of the scene. La La Land’s “Another Day of Sun” unfolds on a traffic-jammed Los Angeles freeway. The camera follows dancers and singers while capturing the musical number from different angles and points of view. The 2021 West Side Story’s “Gee, Officer Krupke,” meanwhile, follows its characters run rampant around their musical number’s setting: a police station. The camera captures shots of the musical number from behind a holding cell, a podium, beside the characters, and more. Viewers of this “Gee, Officer Krupke” number are given a 360º perspective of the police station. Figures 3 and 4 show just one of the angles that each of these musical numbers have.
Figure 3. “Another Day of Sun” from La La Land (2016)
Figure 4. “Gee, Officer Krupke” from West Side Story (2021)
The Golden Age of Hollywood’s Static Camera
The Golden Age of Hollywood’s musical numbers were not filmed with the free-moving and mobile cameras that the 21st century directors of photography used. The Golden Age cameras were large and heavy, so they limited what a director of photography could do to move the camera while shooting. Due to this, film cameras often did not move.
In Golden Age musical numbers like Going My Way’s “Swinging on a Star” and An American in Paris’s “Our Love Is Here to Stay,” the camera moves very little, if at all. While Going My Way is strictly a singing musical and An American in Paris has choreographed dancing sequences, the camera moves more simply relative to that of the 21st century musical numbers.
Going My Way employs almost only non-moving shots. These non-moving shots, also known as static shots, cover Bing Crosby and his co-stars in medium length shots in “Swinging on a Star.” For this number, any feeling of movement comes from the actors themselves.
An American in Paris filmed parts of its numbers with a moving camera. However, it was mostly done through pans (where the only thing that moves is the way the camera is facing) or through tracking the camera back (where the camera itself is physically moving backwards). For some numbers, a crane was used to lift/lower the camera in the air.
In the film’s number “Our Love Is Here to Stay,” stars Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron dance for a number that is generally made up of static shots and panning shots with an occasional shot that slightly tracks backward. The movements within these shots are subtle and barely call attention to themselves, which lets the viewer focus on the dancing stars.
21st Century Hollywood’s Freer Camera
As camera technology improved, 21st century directors of photography were freer to move their cameras while shooting. In Chicago, La La Land, and the 2021 West Side Story, the musical numbers are filmed with cameras that move freely throughout the numbers’ settings.
Chicago’s “Nowadays / Hot Honey Rag” number was filmed with shots that tracked to the left and to the right. Unlike the pans in An American in Paris’ “Our Love Is Here to Stay,” the leftward and rightward movements in this Chicago number move the camera’s base itself. This extra movement made the number more dynamic than it would have been with just static shots.
La La Land’s “Someone in the Crowd” was initially filmed with a camera that weaved through a tiny apartment. The camera moved freely with Emma Stone and her character’s roommates as it followed the characters travel through doors, into rooms, and past tight corners.
Differences in Editing: Shorter Shot Lengths, Mostly
Having emulated David Bordwell’s methodology in “Intensified Continuity Visual Style in Contemporary American Film,” this study found that the approximate mean average shot lengths for musical numbers were shorter in the 21st century, with the notable exception of La La Land (Figure 5).
| Golden Age Films | Approximate Mean Average Shot Length (in seconds) | 21st Century Films | Approximate Mean Average Shot Length (in seconds) |
| Going My Way (1944) | 15.95 | Chicago (2002) | 2.81 |
| An American in Paris (1951) | 36.88 | La La Land (2016) | 79.13 |
| West Side Story (1961) | 12.10 | West Side Story (2021) | 9.24 |
Figure 5. Approximate Mean Average Shot Lengths
With the shorter shot lengths in the 21st century films Chicago and West Side Story, there are quick cuts to small insert shots. These shots draw the audience’s eyes to specific details within that scene. Without inserts, these details may go unnoticed in longer-distanced shots.
Chicago’s “All That Jazz” deploys quick insert shots to provide details of the scene’s night club. These inserts highlighted telling details of the night club and its patrons that may have all gone unnoticed in full shots.
In the 2021 West Side Story’s “Prologue,” a quick insert shows the Jets dunking a paint brush into a paint can. This insert is important to both the “Prologue” and the overall story in that it both shows the Jets gang getting ready to vandalize the Sharks gang’s neighborhood and the Jets’ relationship to the Sharks.
V. Discussion
From the data collected, insights on the differences between these two eras of Hollywood musical filmmaking practices have emerged. This study does not suggest that one method of filmmaking is better than the other; rather, it simply compares two eras of the artform.
The 21st century musical numbers examined placed their cameras closer to their singing and dancing subjects. Close up shots, medium shots, and medium-close up shots appeared more frequently in the 2021 West Side Story and Chicago than the other films studied. This, in turn, directs the audience’s eyes more on the actor’s singing than their dancing. The full shots in An American in Paris that captured Gene Kelly’s tap-dancing simply were not as common in the 21st century musicals, except for La La Land.
La La Land is an exception to this finding for 21st century musicals. The film’s director set out to emulate the technical aspects of the Golden Age Hollywood musicals (Independent, 2017). The influence that Golden Age Hollywood’s technical practices had on his filmmaking is apparent in La La Land’s musical number “A Lovely Night.” This number was filmed in a single take that lasted for over five-minutes, and it was filmed with full-shot framing (see Figure 6). This number is filmed more similarly to the musical numbers in Golden Age Hollywood films like An American in Paris than to a 21st century musical like Chicago, which cuts quickly between medium, medium-full, and closeup shots with some full-shots.
Figure 6. “A Lovely Night” from La La Land (2016)
Additionally, it is apparent with the 21st century musicals (including La La Land) that modern directors of photography move their cameras more frequently with their actors. This contrasts the camera movements in Golden Age musical numbers, which would only pan, stay static, and occasionally crane upwards.
As the 21st century continues and Hollywood movie musicals keep being made, it will be interesting to see which direction movie musical numbers will go. Chicago’s quick editing pattern and closer camera framing helped create a filmmaking style that was both critically and commercially successful when the film was released. La La Land, on the other hand, demonstrated that a successful musical can also be made with musical numbers that feature less shots, a slower editing pattern, and longer running shots. The 2021 West Side Story, while not as commercially successful at the box office as the other 21st century films, was critically well-received and had a third style that mixed elements of Chicago and La La Land. It was a film that deployed a closer-framed cinematography and a slower editing rhythm for its musical numbers.
In looking at these three styles, it appears that the 21st Hollywood century movie musical genre still lacks a consistent film language. Although Chicago is the only 21st century musical to win the Academy Award for Best Picture, its success did not set guidelines that the other 21st century award-winning movie musicals would follow. While it’s possible that Chicago’s style was just a 2000’s movie musical trend, it seems more likely that future 21st century movie musicals will continue to experiment with different technical styles.
VI. Conclusion
It is important to acknowledge the limitations of this study. La La Land intentionally emulated the traditional Hollywood musical aesthetic. Its cinematography more closely aligns with the musicals from Hollywood’s Golden Age (Loughrey, 2017). As a result, the film’s long-running shots raised the average approximate shot length for the 21st century musicals. While La La Land is still a valuable film for this study, its cinematography must be acknowledged.
Future studies that wish to expand on this research should include a larger selection of Golden Age and 21st century films. Instead of focusing on just three films per era, a future study should focus on at least six Hollywood musicals per era. A second avenue of research might also consider adding a third group of Hollywood musicals to study. This era of filmmaking would be the New Hollywood Wave, which lasted from the late-1960s to the mid-1980s.
As the technology and trends in Hollywood filmmaking have changed, so too have the conventions of their films. In this study, three Hollywood musical films from the Golden Age were compared to three from the 21st century regarding their musical numbers’ cinematography and editing techniques. By looking at these prestigious Hollywood musical movies, a few observations have been made on the genre’s development. The 21st century musicals featured musical numbers with shorter shot lengths, closer-framed camera shots, and more camera movement. While further research could expand upon the ideas presented in this paper, it’s clear that today’s Hollywood musical filmmakers are working with camera and editing technology that give them an unlimited number of ways to tell their stories.
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank Dr. Barbara Gaither for all of the support and feedback that she gave throughout the writing of this research. Additionally, the author is thankful for Professor Kai Swanson and her recommended film literature.
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