The Concept of 'Liveness' in the Film Musical Moulin Rouge

Film musical, which is a new genre developed after the “sound” cinema, is one of the popular and notable film genre in the Holywood film industry. The famous musical film examples are Moulin Rouge, The Greatest Showman, The Phantom of The Opera, La La Land, and Beauty and The Beast. Musical Films provide entertainment to audiences by displaying different kinds of songs, dances, and performances. Vaudeville and film musical, shares similarities from each other such as exaggerated perform style, magnificent costumes, and dramatic makeup to demonstrate the characters and the narration of the story.

However, does musical performance give the spectator better liveness or the film musical? It is the film musical because cinema has more flexibility by using the technology other than a live stage musical performance, Moulin Rouge! is a decent example of giving the concept of “liveness”. It provides a diversity of film techniques to demonstrate how it gives the illusion of “liveness”. Mise-en-scene which shows the setting, lighting, and staging; cinematography which is the photographic image that how camera filmed the scene; lastly, the sound which plays a significant role in this musical film.

Firstly, mise-en-scene is an important element which provides evidence of demonstrating the live performance in the movie. It is one of the film technique which spectators notice the most, as human memory we tend to easily memorize the costumes other than the camera movements or the cuttings. The component of mise-en-scene, setting, is the crucial element which indicates the “liveness” in the movie. At the beginning of the opening scene, there is a conductor who is standing in front of the red classic curtain. When the conductor raises both hands and ready to direct his orchestra team, the curtain started to open and the music started. This particular scene is very creative and unexpected in just 1 minute and 20 seconds. It is a short moment, which brings the audience to the illusion of a real stage which is the “liveness”.

Similar to the stage musical where there is an orchestra that plays the music and the curtains that open up; therefore, it gives the feeling of the “liveness”. Besides, after the curtain opened, spectators can see the black and white and old cinema which flickers on the screen to indicate that the story which viewers are going to see is about 1900, in Paris. Then, there is jester (John Leguizamo) who is singing and bringing the narration to guide the audience through the story. As the camera goes through Paris and the protagonist's (Ewan McGregor) room, the lighting is another focus point. As we can see the surrounding of him is full of darkness, just a glimmer of light that shines on him, surrounded by alcohols and a mess of papers.

This indicates that he is hopeless and desperate. It gives a clear and obvious interpretation that the “tragic” event will be involved which is the later event that the death of Satine (Nicol Kidman) who is the one he loves. Furthermore, after the dark scene of the protagonist, the camera goes through the village in black and white colour. Whereas, when it shows the cabaret Moulin Rouge, it becomes more colourful and mostly with red which demonstrates that there is hope inside even though the outside is desolate. Also, when the sparkling fragments are dropping, all the people were looking to the top, it feels like you are with them and looking to the top. Thinking of what is going on? The performance of the actors makes you feel you are with them. On the other hand, at the end of the scene, Christian involved in the performance with Satine and be one of the members to finish the play by singing the love song with his lover. When the performance ended, the curtains closed with the happy audiences.

Consequently, it gives the idea for the spectators that it opens and then closed by the curtains. In other words, it means we are watching a live performance by clearly showing us when it opens and when it closes. [0: ]

Secondly, cinematography has played a significant role to show the live feeling on the screen. The cinematography is the “writing in movement”. When it shows the Moulin Rouge performance where the part is playing the “Can-Can” music. The camera keeps flashing back and forth to show the different performers, it indicates that the “camera” is like a new you who never been there and seeing people going crazy in the cabaret. This is a factor which shows the “liveness” in this film. In addition, the camera movements are important to the spectators. For example, when Satine is hanging on the swing and moving around the audiences, the camera follows her by using the dolly shot. Again, the “camera” is indicating the viewers’ eyes. Moreover, when Satine fall from the top, there is a performer holding her. At that moment, the camera was using the handheld camera and by crossing behind the performers to show the realism in this film.

At that moment, it makes you feel like you are one of the performers who stand beside the stage. Furthermore, while Christian and Satine reveal their love in the song, there is a scene where they go to the sky. The scene, particularly, feels like a staging setting because of the camera movement and the special effect that made the shot. It feels like it is a live performance. According to Johanna Heer, during the processes of making a film, it feels like a theatre for her, the cinematography’s element of “live-action” makes actors become another identity and creates dream worlds. In other words, cinematography has the power to make the film as a live performance. [1: ] [2: ]

Lastly, the sound that exists in the cinema has been the fact of making viewers feel that they are a part of the film. Sound is an influential film technique that included in every movie. At the opening scene, before the red curtain opened, there are non-diegetic sounds. Which we can hear the musicians warming up with their instruments, viewers’ clapping as well as the whistling sound, have recorded off-screen. These canned soundtracks make the movie more of a live performance when spectators even watch it on the screen.

The Overture includes specific soundtracks to indicate the artistic city, Paris, on the 20th century by playing “The Hills Are Alive” to The Sound of Music, and then end it with “Can-Can”. Therefore, the music which is a part of sound, can tell the general information before the movie even starts to let the viewers peep on the story. Moreover, when it goes to the Moulin Rouge cabaret, the performances are dancing and singing; simultaneously, you can hear the background sounds such as some people shouting and a group of people singing, this makes audiences in a “liveness” situation because you are one of the spectators who sing and shout for the performers. And all of a sudden, there is a non-diegetic sound added in which is when Satine shows up, the sound of sparkling fragments dropping from the top. These sound that mentioned are all attempt to capture the “liveness”, it reflects the live performance.

Furthermore, when she sang “Diomands”, she suddenly inhales strongly and passed out, then the stage becomes silence. The inhale echo sounds is non-diegetic, it is obviously re-recorded and it is added the sound effect to make it echo back to feels like you are sitting there and hearing the sound of her inhale. At this moment, it let audiences feel that they are physically there to make it a live performance. [3: ] [4: ] [5: ]

In conclusion, film musical can appear to be more realistic than a theatrical performance. Moulin Rouge! has a lot of examples to show why is this film has showing the concept of “liveness” by showing from mise-en-scene, cinematography, and the sound. Mise-en-scene is where the setting, lighting, and staging works together; the cinematography is how it filmed frame by frame; the sound is where the sound shapes the audiences’ understanding of the images. All of them combine together to make the film “liveness” to the spectators. Since films have more flexibility, it indicates better than a stage performance to show reality.