Hello, I had a question (beautiful film, by the way) about a moment in the ballet portion of the story. When she first steps into the shoes, the film does this sort of speed-up or jump-cut effect to make it seem as though they just magically appeared on her feet. How would they pull off this transition in the actual ballet as performed on stage?
Innsmouth Free Press http://www.innsmouthfreepress.com
They did it by stop frame motion
A burly stage-hand was holding Moira up in position and they laced up her shoes one frame at a time.
They often did tricks like that. Less obvious is when Léonide Massine (as Ljubov as the shoe-maker) leapt onto the stage towards the end of the ballet, cinematographer Jack Cardiff speeded up the camera slightly so that when it was played at normal speed then Ljubov appeared to linger in the air a bit longer than gravity would normally allow
Steve
I believe the OP wanted to know how they did this maneuver live on stage, not for the filming of the movie.
shareYes, that. I meant, how do they do it in the ballet? Obviously, they can't use stop-motion for a live performance.
Innsmouth Free Press http://www.innsmouthfreepress.com
It was a filmic ballet performance, not a film of a live ballet performance. They stopped and started the dancing many times during the filming.
This board is about the film, so that's what I told you about.
Nobody's managed to successfully produce this on stage. The one attempt to do it on stage with music by Jule Styne folded after just 5 performances
Steve
Thanks Steve Crook - I love reading your posts!
shareYes, I'm aware that it's on film and that they wouldn't, say, have been able to do all of those rapidly changing elaborate sets as she dances.
But the change into the shoes would be a necessary component that those other things are not. Hence the question. Does she take her old shoes off and put them on? Does the shoemaker put them on for her? Do they stand straight up?
Innsmouth Free Press http://www.innsmouthfreepress.com
They're all necessary components.
When the shoemaker puts the shoes on the ground they are stuck there vertically
(impossibility #1)
When Vicky jumps into them there's a jump cut to show her feet in the shoes
(impossibility #2)
Then the burly stage hand(s) held her up while they did the stop-motion to show the laces tying themselves up
(impossibility #3)
The whole was then put together to make the cinematic magic
Steve