Singin’ in the Rain – Adnan Khan

It is a film that depicts the cinematic movies that were being made in the late 1920’s. It depicts the transition of silent films to films that contain synchronized sound (talkies).

 *How does Singing in the rain locate the development of Genres within the Hollywood Film Industry and the Studio System?

The film initially shows two huge stars Don Lockwood and Lina Lamont who work in the extremely popular format of silent films. The films were technically not silent as they were usually accompanied by a band or a narrator narrating the events. The actors used to portray mainly through their expressions and body language. Later in the film, the arrival of talkies forces the Monumental Pictures to release their own sound picture. They make The Dueling Cavalier into a talkie but they face huge difficulties. Lina is not fit for speaking with her high pitched and annoying voice. Dubbing emerges as Kathy, Don’s love interest who’s a stage performer and choir girl uses her voice to be used as Lina’s. We get to see how the location of microphones poses difficulties in their recording the sound. Ultimately when the film is released, the sound in one scene is out of sync and the dialogues seem superficial.

*What are the distinctive features of the Hollywood Studio filmmaking practice that you come across in the film which are crucial to the understanding of Genres?

Studio Filmmaking shown in the film through Monumental Pictures shows us how actors are contract bound. It shows us the army of people employed to make a film. The grandeur of the sets created and the costumes play an important part in the making of a musical. The sets are elaborate that give audiences the feeling of escapism. The musicals are all shot within this studio and they were all very high budget movies.

Singing in the Rain : A funny tale of Gratitude to the pioneers

Singing in the rain is a musical-comedy Drama which pays tribute to the artists and inventors who emerged during the transition period when film-makers started incorporating sound into films in the late 1920s and the early 1930s. The transition did not happen in one day and it took years to understand and then create cinema using sound. Prior to the invention of sound, films were shown with live music and inter-titles. The film takes a rather satirical dig on many actors, who lost their charm and stardom because their voices did not match their previously established personas. The films revolves around three talented artists who go on to depict how various segments of film-making like script writing and playback singing were born during the transition from Silent to “Talkies”. The film also pays tribute to many Broadway artists who found jobs in the industry because of their talent and experience. Also, the indigenous artists were appreciated with the roles portrayed by Gene Kelly and Donald O’Connor. The grandeur of the studios was highlighted explicitly in the film, with romance, comedy, dance setups being highlighted meticulously in various scenes. The grand schema of the studio system was depicted beautifully which attracted so many talented indigenous people from all across America. The film has many funny scenes which inspire many films even today. Even after 68 years, the film makes audience laugh and tells the tale of various inventions in the art of film-making. Origin of various genres like The Musicals, Romantic Costume Dramas, Kaleidoscopic choreography (Busby Berkeley), Melodramas etc. has been shown in the film all the while highlighting the importance of studio system. The publicity system, the Star System, contractual hiring and many more aspects of studio system has been shown very explicitly in the film. The film also shows how studios, because of money and infrastructure attracted not just artists, but technicians and labour from all across the country. The studios played a major role in converting film making into an industry.
Not sure if people back then felt it or not, but watching the film now, kept me on edge thinking will the insecurity of Don Lockwood take over his friendship with Cosmo, who gave most of the ideas and was a brilliant performer himself. Or is it the effect of Bollywood over the years, that we expect a friend to betray his best friend after getting success?

Made in America, “Singing in the Rain” is a musical romantic comedy which highlights the paradigm shift of movies from silent films to movies with sound and music being an integral element of the movies. There is a film being produced in the film “Singing in the Rain”. The movie was an introduction to experimentation of sound in the Hollywood cinema. In late 1950s and early 1960s cinema was no longer limited to studio and the logic of hybridization of genre started developing. Genre has always developed with the demand and sticking to one genre became obsolete by then and directors started looking for versatile actors and actresses who are fit to both watch and hear. “Singing in the Rain” doesn’t stick to one genre rather has multiple genres mixed and matched, from music and dance to romance to comedy to drama to happy ending it is an amalgamation of various genres into one film . Back when studio system started to emerge there were studio owners who produced similar type of storylines in multiple films and actors and actresses were same throughout films so when shift came from silent to the talkies era it is visible in the film “Singing in the Rain” how directors had to hire diction coaches to make same actors and actresses fit for the evolution.
Overall film is not just a musical and is a treat to watch for anyone who is looking to watch the evolution and a basic storyline.

Distinctive features of the Hollywood studio filmmaking practice in Singin’ in the Rain

Singin’ in the Rain (1952) is an American musical comedy directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen. The film shows the transition of movies from silent to the talkie. It also traces the journey of two actors, Don Lockwood and Lina Lamont through this transition. Having achieved huge success in the silent films, the transition to talkie becomes hard for the actors and studio (Monumental Pictures) in general as they struggle with the technology and performance.

Set in the year 1927, it also throws light on the Hollywood Studio System which existed primarily in Hollywood from 1920s to 1950s. This was established as a method by some studios which had control over production, distribution, and exhibition of films. They had their own studios and creative talents who were hired on long term contracts and the studio functioned as a factory.

Important to the understanding of genres, here are some of the distinctive features of the Hollywood Studio filmmaking in the film:

 

The hiring of actors and creative team

Monumental Pictures had hired the actors Don Lockwood, Lina Lamont and later, Kathy Selden on long term contracts. This way all of the films by Monumental Pictures had the same actors and off-camera staff. In some way, this created similarities in the genres of films being made.

In one of the sequences at the beginning where Don Lockwood presents himself as a substitute to the injured actor (Bert) on the sets, he is hired as a stuntman after the director gets impressed by his show. In the following scenes, Lockwood performs stunts for many films of the studio, all directed by the same director, Mr. Roscoe Dexter.

In all of the films shown, Don Lockwood and Lina Lamont remain the lead actors and so does the director. Both the films, ‘The Royal Rascal’ and ‘The Duelling Cavalier’ were romantic costume dramas. This system didn’t produce many genres, as evident in the film and had similarities along with minor differences. Any film having Lockwood and Lamont could easily be presumed to be a romance. It can also be said that keeping the on-screen faces similar, which people enjoyed, studios were encouraged to produce same kind of films, thus narrowing the development of any other genre. Studios adapted the genres and somehow it became associated with their identity in the early days.

 

Hierarchical control in the studio 

The studio functions were approved by the owner of the studio, here Mr R.F. Simpson. He had the final word on any issue and took the decisions of appointing the staff. He was not necessarily involved in the process of filmmaking, nor did he have much knowledge about it (On the sets of ‘The Duelling Cavalier’, Simpson didn’t know the function of the audio cables and tried to put it aside while the shoot was on, despite indications to not do so). He was the head, concerned with only the on-screen performance and the market performance of the film.

The director of the film, the publicity department, and other staff were in a way controlled by him and could not proceed without his orders. This way, he could induce a change in the film. They were mere employees, working to earn salaries. This can be seen in gestures by the director when Simpson is around. He follows him like a subordinate and takes his orders. As soon as Simpson came on the set of ‘The Duelling Cavalier’ and asked the shooting of the film in silent mode to be stopped and start afresh with sound, the director commands the staff to stop at once.

All the people working in the film were important but some weren’t given much respect, like the pianist Cosmo Brown. The actors, though hired, enjoyed some power and were heard. They were crucial to the film production and that is why the tantrums of Lina were catered to. She got Kathy Selden fired and the crew was distressed when Kathy was hired again, so as to not disappoint Lina.

 

The studio as a factory, Film as a product

Saying the studio worked as a factory, there was an organizational structure within it and the end product of it was the film. All the sections of production worked in close contact. A chain with the publicity department and advertising had to be maintained and the image of the studio was a major concern. This can be seen in sections where Lina is being convinced to stay away from making speeches at the premieres. The reputation of the studio and the actors had to be kept. Since the film was a product, it was advertised and we can see that the concept of movie posters was already existing. A star-studded premiere night further glamourised the film. The advertisement for the film belonging to a particular kind categorized the films.

The studio practice also typecasted the actors and built a faithful viewership. In this case, people would come to see Don Lockwood and Lina Lamont’s iconic romances and were smitten by their presence. In one way this generalised the production of films, and people, including the actors, were in a similar space.

 

The domination, competition and the need to survive

The studio system gave rise to few studios in the Hollywood which dominated the filmmaking domain. Controlling all the aspects of film production, there were only a few studios which ruled. This led to frequent film productions; multiple films were produced within months, as can be seen in the film also. Frequent productions not only carried forward a way of filmmaking the studio had adapted but was also a way to thrive commercially. The main purpose of it all was to earn money.

There was competition among the studios and this could be one of the reasons for experiments. For instance, in Singin’ in the Rain, ‘The Duelling Cavalier was being made into a silent film until the owner of the studio realized the success of ‘The Jazz Singer’ by Warner Bros. It was because of the idea of keeping up with the competition, he wanted the silent ‘The Duelling Cavalier’ to be made with sound. The arrival of new technology had its impact on filmmaking but it was taken up furthermore because of the feeling of ‘not being left behind’. Failing initially in the sound part, the film soon gets reworked into a musical ‘The Dancing Cavalier’.

The need to survive and remain popular is also very evident in this film. The efforts of the publicity department in cooking up stories of the real-life romance between Don and Lina ensured that they remain in the limelight and the audiences remained hooked by the reel and the real. The fancy columns of the fan magazines being sheer publicity are also acknowledged in the film. This kept the popular genre of romance and costume drama going.

 

The studio system collapsed in the 1950s but it gave way to filmmaking practices that continue to exist even today. The advertisements, publicity, contractual hiring, and competition have seeped into the future but the roots of it lie in the earlier times.

 

Western Genre

Western cinema is a genre that is often set on the American frontier during the last part of the 19th century (1865-1900).  There is a common theme that runs throughout this type of genre, which makes it easier to distinguish it from other genres. It often portrays the wilderness and a set up that includes horses, saloons, desolated landscapes, deserts and mountains. Western films commonly feature protagonists such as cowboys, gunslingers, and bounty hunters. The use of sound and music also play an important role in the western films. Films like, The Good the Bad and the Ugly, Once Upon a Time in the West, Red River, etc. are some of the prime examples of the western film genre.
Western films are generally big budget films, which include a majority of male actors wearing very distinctive western clothing such as denims, boots, hats and jeans, who are law breakers and are often shown riding on horses. They are normally masculine persons of integrity and principle – courageous, moral, tough, solid and self-sufficient, possessing an independent and honorable attitude.

This genre was also adopted by the foreign markets and they started making their own western. As a result, genres such as Spaghetti genre, Curry Genre, etc. emerged. “Sholay” is one of the examples of the Curry Western, it shows the influence of western genre on the Indian Cinema.
Later on, one could also see a little modernization in the western films when there were more female leads, and how there were cars and automobiles instead of horses and the use of rifles instead of old school pistols and guns which can be seen in the film “Thelma and Louis”.

Development of genres in the Singing in the Rain.

Singing in the rain is an upbeat musical from 1952. It comically highlights the challenges of the Hollywood industry in transitioning from silent pictures to talkies. The movie effectively traces the journey and development of the internationally popular musical genre. From initially featuring music and a number of songs throughout the movie it gives way to dances and performances and the motivation of the characters to further evolve the genre with storytelling and dialogue delivery and thus recreate the space of musicals. The introduction of sound made possible the articulation and allowed for a symbiotic relationship and synthesis of the semantic and syntactic aspects of the genre which further enabled and evoked the pleasure of cinema. However, synchronisation with sound and standardisation of the accent were needed accuracy and proper consistent working. The movie also registers the chronological advancement of the theatre and subsequent additions of features such as playback singing, dubbing, and the choreography of the camera. Moreover, the movie became a classic due to the broadway performances and a heart throbbing montage of dance and songs that became superhit. It captured the attention of the audience through it’s dreamlike and grand performances and unique narration of the birth of modern musical on a larger scale and the budding romance and conflicts in love as a parallel storyline.