What is a musical?
Putting songs into stories has been going on since Ancient Greek, as a way to make it easier to remember the story's being told. Movie musicals are easy to identify as singing and dancing is an important part of telling the stories.
Movie musicals are all about people singing and dancing to tell the story. Music is a big part of the movie. Many musicals have love stories as the main focus. There are often romantic relationships that are important to the plot. Some musicals have magical or unreal things happening, making them a bit fantastical. The songs in musicals help to move the story forward and show what the characters are feeling. Most musicals have happy and positive endings that make you feel good.
Production Techniques:
On technique frequently used is choreography, People work really hard to make the dance moves look amazing and coordinated which makes the film more mesmerizing to watch. Actors often pretend to sing while filming and in post production the real singers' voices are used, so it sounds perfect, and not sound exhausted after dancing. Costumes are unique for musicals because they use colorful and fancy costumes to make the scenes look fantastic as well as flowy and easy for movements, The music is a big part, and there are real musicians or recordings to make it sound great and each movie unique most songs are created specifically for the story and if not they are carefully chosen to be weaven in to the story telling.
Institutional Conventions - How the Genre is Marketed:
The trailers being a main marketing strategy show off catchy songs, dances, and famous actors to get people excited. They promote the music from the movie, and you can buy it to listen to the songs at home. They have interviews with the actors, directors, and others to talk about how they made the movie. They release clips of the best song and dance parts to build anticipation sometimes they even release step by step choreography. As well before the release they let you buy things like T-shirts, posters, and CDs related to the movie.
"The Sound of Music" is a famous musical that shows all the key things about this genre. It has lots of singing and dancing. It's also a love story between Maria and Captain von Trapp. The movie takes place in beautiful locations and has fantastic songs like "Do-Re-Mi" and "My Favorite Things." The ending is super happy, which is a big part of what makes a musical.
"La La Land" is a modern musical that keeps the tradition alive. It has great dancing and music, and it's a love story too. The characters are trying to make their dreams come true in Hollywood, which adds a touch of reality to the magic. It's a feel-good movie with all the musical elements.
Other Film Examples within the Genre:
"The Wizard of Oz" (1939)
"Singin' in the Rain" (1952)
"Moulin Rouge!" (2001)
"Chicago" (2002)
"Les Misérables" (2012)
"The Greatest Showman" (2017)
"In The Heights” (2021)
