4/14/2012
Title: Singin’ In the Rain
Language:
English Color:
Technicolor
Cast: Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor, Debbie Reynolds, Jean Hagen, Millard Mitchell, Cyd Charisse, Douglas Fowley, and Rita Moreno
Director: Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly
Screenwriter: Adolph Green, Betty Comden
Genre: Comedy, Musical, Romance
Running Time: 130 min
Release Date: 11 April 1952 (USA) Awards: nominated for two Oscars, won a Golden Globe, National Film Registry, and a WGA Award (Screen) The witty film Singin’ in the Rain is set in 1927.
The main male character Don Lockwood started out as a musician, then got a lucky break as a stunt man, and worked hard to become a star actor. Then Lina Lamont, the main female character is a glamorous diva. The stars are expected, by studio heads, to pretend to be romantically involved with each other. However, Lina mistakes the on-screen romance for real love. The two stars are only used to making silent romantic pictures, however now the studio has decided to make their first sound picture. Don has a beautiful voice for the part, though, his partner Lina, has a shrieking, thick New York accent. Sadly, the video hits theaters and everyone laughs at the picture. Don’s best friend and ex dancing partner Cosmo, suggests to turn the hopeless film into a musical, and proposes that Don's aspiring actress and dancer-girlfriend, Kathy, substitute her singing voice while Lina lip-synchs. At the end of the movie Don found love and success however neither would have been possible if not for Kathy.
Singin’ in the Rain has many dimensions of sound, the first being fidelity, which is sound that is faithful to its source. An example of fidelity is when; Kathy gives the audio from behind the curtain while Lina acts. Another dimension is time, for example, the voice of the Lina is substituted by the voice of Kathy, synchronizing the movement of the lips and matching the exact timing is called time synchronizing. Also, sound of the tapping of the feet while Don, Cosmo, and Kathy are dancing is the diegetic sound whereas the other sound effects added in the movie is the example of non-diegetic sound.
The movie Singin in the Rain doesn’t fall into just one theory. However, I feel genre film theory played a significant role in the film. The idea of ‘genre’ is basically synthetic, an artificial construction by intellectuals discussing a text’s relation to a group of alike texts. Romance, Western, historical, crime, science fiction and horror describes types of story; such as Singin’ in the Rain.
The first article I found was from The City Review, written by Carter B. Horsley. The author wrote about how Joyous and bursting with energy, the movie is. The article also spoke about how Singin’ in the Rain is not the perfect musical but has two incomparable scenes and a incredible opening that alone justifies its greatness. The article also gives a brief run through of the film and talks about how the story is a parody of Hollywood's transition from silent to sound films.
The second article I found was from Chicago Sun-Times, written by Robert Ebert. The article talked about how unlike most of the movie musicals of recent years, "Singin' in the Rain" was not based on a Broadway stage production; it worked the other way around, with a London and Broadway musical in the 1980s being based on the movie. The original screenplay held up so well that the Tommy Steele stage version in London followed the film even in small details. Also the article talked about how the movie was flung together quickly in 1952 to capitalize on the success of "An American in Paris.”
I thoroughly enjoyed Singin’ in the Rain. The movie is anything but boring. The chorography was perfect and exciting to watch. There's great humor in Singin' in the Rain, especially in the scenes that deal with the technical difficulties of the early days of talkies. I had never watched Singin’ in the Rain before this class, however now I would vote this movie one of the bests.
Citation Horsley, Carter B. "Singin' in the Rain [REVIEW]." Here Is The City. 2000. Web. 16 Apr. 2012.
CHECKLIST FOR PLAGIARISM 1) ( ) I have not handed in this assignment for any other class. 2) ( ) If I reused any information from other papers I have written for other classes, I clearly explain that in the paper. 3) ( ) If I used any passages word for word, I put quotations around those words, or used indentation and citation within the text. 4) ( ) I have not padded the bibliography. I have used all sources cited in the bibliography in the text of the paper. 5) ( ) I have cited in the bibliography only the pages I personally read. 6) ( ) I have used direct quotations only in cases where it could not be stated in another way. I cited the source within the paper and in the bibliography. 7) ( ) I did not so over-use direct quotations that the paper lacks interpretation or originality. 8) ( ) I checked yes on steps 1-7 and therefore have been fully transparent about the research and ideas used in my paper. Name__Kristen Shults_____________________________________ Date_3/1/2012______ points: l. ( ) An introductoryp aragraphc learly introducest he subject.A topic statementi s evident within the paragraphT. he positiont akeni s clear.I f thep ositioni s unclearp, ut a question mark in the margin. 2. ( ) The next two paragraphse achh avea single or main claim. Note eachc laim in the margin n a3-4 word phrase. If you can't identift the claim, put a question mark in the margin. Iftwo or more claims exist and tend to diverge from a coherent thought, put a question mark in the margin. 3. ( ) The samet hing holds for the next two paragraphso n the opposites ideo f the issue. 4. ( ) rne four paragraphsa bovea ll focus on thelssie at hand;t irly do not wandero ffinto irrelevant tenitory. If any paragraph wanders, put a question-r"ri. in the marlin. 5. ( ) The sixth paragraph weighs the conflicting claims from the nut p*ugt"pis above and arrives at a conclusion.IlTty some evidence is-inore convincing than ltheievidence is explained. The ensuing conclusion is clearly stated. Circle it. liyou can't find the , conclusion, put a question mark in the margin. 6. ( ) The finalparagraphr eturnst o what was statedi n the first paragrapha nd, in light ofthe evidencep resenteda nd weigheda bove,c onvincin$y rephraseit hJposition statement.t f the conclusione xpectedb y the assignmentis to be.tinesiedj,u stifring statementsfo r the variancem ust appearh erea nd flow from the explanationi n ihe sixthiaragraph of your paper. Consider all question marks appearing in the margin and fix those that need fixing. Next: 7. ( ) Is eachc laim in paragraph2s -5 supportedb y evidence?A re therea ny nakedc laims supportedo nly by variationso f "I believe..."?If so,p ut a big X in the marginb esidet hat paragraph. 8. ( ) Is eachc laim backedu p by a referenceI?f a claims tandsn akedo f supporting evidenceo r argumentp, ut a big X in the margin. consider any X appearing in the margin and lix those that need fixing. Another thing: 9'd( ) Doest hep aperd o moret hans imply but gloriouslyr estateth e question? Examine the case study and cross out all ideas that uppeu. in boththe case study and in your paper. What remainsu ncrossedo ut is your analysisI.t shouldc onstituteit re ma.loiityo iyou, paper.I f it doesn'ty, ou haven'td onea n analysis. D,J.EderP, h.D, Copyrigh@t 2 0t2 deder@siue.edu Rewrite as necessatTW. hen you've finished,l et it sit at least one night befored oing the final step below. Finalty: Up to now, you'veb eenw orkingo n substancea ndt hinking.N ow, on the final morning over breakfast on the day the paper is'due, check out the mechanics. Sweep your paper with a spell checkera ndc omb it for the cornmonf atale rrorsi n the list below.I f you find sucha n error, put a check in the box. 10.( ) A sentenclea ckse itheras ubjectorav erb;a sentencdeo esn ot beginwitha capital lettero r endw ith a period (citationsi n parenthesegso aheado f periods,n ot behindt hem). I l. ( ) A sentenceb eginsw ith a relativep ronoun sucha s Which, Who, That, Where,a nd When. 12.( ) A pronoun lacksa clear antecedentt;h at is, a word such as it, he, she,o r they doesn ot havea n obvious link to a noun (especiallyn oticeablei f a sentenceb eginsw ith ,t, he, she, or tha. 13.( ) A pronouno r verb fails to agreew ith its antecedenitn number;t hat is, a singlep erson or agency is refened to as they, or a plural subject is given a singular verb (such as,- "memberso f the schoolb oard....givesth eir vote..."). 14.( ) A sentencer uns-ono r usesa commat o splicei ndependenitd east ogether;t hat is, complex ideasa re not split into two sentencesb ut are linked, often by a cornma,i nto an overly long, wandering sentence.
