Dirty Dancing is a film about a girl called Frances (Baby) Houseman who goes to Kellerman's summer camp with her family. At this summer camp she meets Johnny Castle, a dancer, and they fall in love, despite Baby's family disapproving.
0:00:30 - 0:00:40
The opening sequence of Dirty Dancing is a montage of various clips of people dancing in the club where Baby and Johnny first meet, which establishes locations which are key in the film. This opening to the film is non-linear as these black and white montage scenes come up later in the film, and is where Baby and Johnny meet. These two people dancing intimately connote that the upcoming relationship in the film will be intimate, with both of the characters being passionately in love with each other. Also, this scene foreshadows scenes which will come up in the film, creating the audience to remember back to the opening sequence, as they remember what they've already seen and established. The themes in this film which are established through the dancers, which are Dance, Love, Sex and Aspiration. The audience expect a relationship in the film, even though they have not been introduced directly to the characters that will pursue the relationship yet, but the enigmatic nature of the opening sequence, leads the audience asking questions like 'Who will the main characters be?' and 'Why are they dancing so intimately?'. In this sequence there are various camera shots including lots of close ups of actions, not just faces, helping the audience to see the nature of the relationships between the people in the film. Every aspect of this black and white montage fades in to one another, and the editing techniques of dissolves connote the relationships are easy going and free. Which is ironic, as Baby and Johnny's relationship is not as easy as these 'dirty dancer's. The song is 'Be My Baby' by The Ronnettes. The whole song is about love, and relationships further establishing the themes established in this film. The fact that there is no dialogue in the montage connotes how 'love drunk' the couples are, and their partners know how in love they are, they are lost for words.
0:01:52 - 0:02:00
The first actual film footage you see after the opening montage is the car in which Baby travels in, and this shows the audience that the car is going to the location of where the films is set. The era is also established, by the make of the car being a typical 60's film, when cars were big and only rich people had cars, establishing also the class of the characters, and that Baby is a middle/upper class woman, raised in a wealthy family. The song playing as the scene is going revealing is 'Big Girls Don't Cry' by Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons in which the lyrics to the song are about how 'big girls don't cry' insinuating that Baby is a 'big girl' despite her nickname being Baby. The sound is diegetic and then goes to non-diegetic as the voice over of Baby kicks in. This song was popular in the sixties with the rock'n'roll music having it's day. This song also hints to the audience that Penny, the 'rockette' connoting she is a 'bad girl' who enjoys listening to rock & roll. Also in the 60's 'rocket/rockette' was slang for a drug user and people involved in drug culture, so further developing characters without even seeing him them yet. Penny's relationship with Johnny is distinct, as they are not in a romantic relationship, it is more of a 'back up', safety net friendship for the pair. This is the first view of Baby, and this is significant because she is the main character in the film, so it establishes key characters in the film. This proves Baby is one of the key characters in the film, as she is the first to be seen in the shot. The close up of her reading a book connotes a smart, independent woman, who is intelligent and knows what she wants in life. This can also signify and reinforce the era that the film is set in, as her clothing are typical of this period in history, being flouncy and free. Baby's clothing also connotes innocence and her being a typical daddy's girl, in which she dresses modestly, which is ironic as she goes on to become almost a grown up woman, as she dances sexually, and goes to the staff club, where she meets Johnny, in which the club is established in the opening sequence i have analysed above. The audience's first perception of Baby is young and innocent, which is twisted later in the film as she falls in love with Johnny. The voice over of Baby comes in at 0:02:00, in which she introduces herself, she says in this video that she wants to become a member of the peace corps, which establishes Baby as a selfless character, as she wants to help others, and travel the world helping others, so she is a caring and selfless character. The enigmatic questions are asked by the audience, asking 'Who is this girl?' and 'What is going to happen to her?', in which the story unfolds as she arrives at Kellerman's mountain resort. The themes in the scene are a culture clash, as Baby is established as a middle / upper class woman, and Johnny is working class. Also, aspiration is a theme, as it is explored through the voice over and how Baby talks about how successful she hopes her future to be.0:02:35 - 0:02:43
This shot is an establishing shot of Kellerman's mountain resort, which establishes the first real setting and location where the film is going to be situated. This scene also relates back to the opening montage, telling the audience that the first location where the montage was held, was in Kellerman's resort, so by just 2 minutes 35, the audience have put all the clues and narrative together to define where the film will be located and what settings will be key to the film. The location of Kellerman's is seen to be a massive resort, which looks very much for rich and wealthy people to go to on vacation to which reinforces the class of Baby and her family. In the voice over, Baby says 'That was the summer we went to Kellerman's and then is silence, which creates an affect, which lets the audience see the resort for themselves and make their own judgement into what will happen in the next scene and the forthcoming film. The hand held camera movements could connote that Baby is filming the scene herself, as a type of memory video recorder, for family holiday video tape, or this shot could be purely Baby's vision of what she sees as she looks out of the car window. The setting is established on a summer day, in which the themes of Summer romance could come into it, as Baby and Johnny are together for a whole summer, and that is where the film ends, so by Baby saying in her voice over ''That was the summer we went to Kellerman's'', which sounds like a backtrack, and she is thinking back to one of the best summers she ever had as she is very informal as she speaks, so she is putting herself back into her 17 year old girl role, even though she would be older when she is speaking this voice over. The sound at this part of the film is continued to play as the 60's era car pulls up, reestablishing era, and the sound then becomes diegetic again and the Houseman family in the car can all hear it, as it is being played through the car radio. 0:04:13 - 0:04:25
This scene introduces the owner of the summer resort, Max Kellerman. Who is the patient of Dr. Jake Houseman, Baby's father. This doctoral role reinforces the wealth and upper class nature of the Houseman family already established. Max's line of 'There's a merengue class in the gazebo in the next few minutes, The greatest teacher. Used to be a Rockette.' This line further establishes the dancing aspect of the film, and reassures the Houseman family that people can change, which then presumably foreshadows Johnny's relationship with Baby, and that 'bad boy' personas can then change into more respectable ones, and that they should not be too quick to judge their daughter's lifestyle choices and who she chooses to affiliate herself with. This scene is powerful in exploring other characters such as Max and briefly Penny, connoting these two are strong characters as they are explored in an insignificant detail which is ironic. By Penny being described as a former 'rockette' this connotes the tension between Johnny and Penny's relationship as they are not formally in a romantic relationship. By Max being the first on site member of staff greeting the Houseman family, this shoes he is a very rich and respectable man in the hospitality industry, as he has invited the family to his resort for the first time. Max's views are cast on the working class American citizens, as he frowns upon Penny's lifestyle habits before she became a dancer at the resort, which then the theme of Aspiration is re-enforced, as Penny's dream was to be a dancer since she was a child. The close up of each characters faces are reaction shots with establish emotion within the scene, as this is the Houseman's first family vacation in a long time, reinforcing the theme of hard work and success of Jake.
0:05:19 - 00:05:29
This scene explores the atmosphere of Kellerman's and the atmosphere the people at the summer camp have to dancing and how Baby feels very anxious and self conscious. The themes shown are innocence, as when Penny says, ''Okay now, ladies, when i say 'stop'... you're gonna find the man of your dreams...STOP!'' Baby goes to dance with her dad, showing how innocent Baby is, and she is a daddy's girl. Baby also says something like this in her voice over when she said ''...and I thought I'd never find a guy as great as my dad'', recapitulating that Baby is very close to her dad, and they have a close father and daughter bond. Even though Baby is a daddy's girl, and her daddy will protect her, deep down, Baby is shy and she has a sense of an uncomfortable state as she dances, connoting she is a shy and anxious character who keeps her self to herself, and when she meets Johnny, Baby changes in to woman and no longer a shy teenager. The long shots cover the whole of the dancing scene, which establish the setting, on the gazebo which plays an important location in the upcoming scenes. These long shots are also used as a way for the audience to spot Baby and Dr. Houseman during the scene, as they are the only characters we have visually been introduced to. Close ups of the feet of the holidaymakers as they are in Penny's dance class is an interesting shot, as we then see Baby step on someone elses feet, and get tangled up which connotes she is a bad dancer, which asks enigmatic questions to the audience such as 'why is the film situated around this character if she can't dance?'. Penny's introduction to the audience is very a very flirty and fiery character, in which the film goes on to explore her back story and how she struggles to cope with discovering she is an expectant mother. Penny covers up with a brave face, this is shown she is most likely a down trodden woman, who has had a hard life, and not the best start to life at all. The music in this scene is diegetic, so the characters within the story line can hear it, the piece of music is typical of the 60's, when dancing was a particular hobby for upper class people, and families that could afford to take lessons.
00:06:38 - 00:06:48
The dark balcony that Baby is walking on has natural, low key lighting symbolizin
g it is night time at the summer camp. The fact that the balcony is dark connotes danger. The contrast between Baby walking on the balcony and Max Kellerman having a gathering with the waiting staff of the resort in the high key, artificial lighting, connotes the contradiction in the film, as innocent Baby is on the dark balcony, and the important staff are in the bright room where the conversation which doesn't sound very nice is currently undertaken. Max's personality is then contrasted as he is very bossy towards the staff and not very polite. This shows the audience that first impressions aren't everything in this film. The lighting for this scene plays a key contrast in the story line, that the visitors to the resort are kept in the dark, that the wait staff and the majority of the staff are under strict orders by Max to make sure they have the best time possible, and that the service they recieve is forced. I analyse this because Johnny and Baby's relationship is very natural, and not forced, which also breaks Max's rule of 'keep your hands off'. Risk is a theme explored in this film, as Johnny puts his career on the line as he develops his relationship with Baby. At 00:06:59, Johnny Castle enters for the first time, which completely changes the attitude and atmosphere of the scene. The costume Johnny is wearing is a tight fitting t shirt, a leather jacket over his shoulder and dark sunglasses, connoting he is a real bad boy, by the way he walks and the way he's dressed. Max gets frustrated that Johnny is walking late into the staff meeting and discusses dancing with Johnny in a raised tone of voice. This reinforces dancing as a theme, and this is also the first time that Baby finds out that Johnny is a dancer. This scene creates a real enigmatic vibe as the love at first sight aspect kicks in and questions are thrown to the audience, which include 'are they going to get together?' and the audience make judgments and assumptions into what's going to happen later in the film.
00:07:56 - 00:08:03
This scene is of the Houseman's first family dinner at Kellerman's, which is set in the dining hall, establishing another key setting of events in the film. This scene is particularly important as it establishes the class of the Houseman family and who Kellerman's caters for as its summer residents. The wait staff pull out the chairs for the guests connoting high class service, which connotes that the family are very well off. The props in this scene include a very well 'dressed' table with clean linen and posh decorations within the room, connoting classiness. In this scene baby is very distracted by the thoughts of Johnny who she saw in the last scene we can tell this because she is leaning back in her chair and she is very occupied with her thoughts by staring off into space and not participating in the conversation being held by her fellow family members. Also in this scene we are introduced to Robbie who later in the film Lisa falls in love with, he is dressed in a smart shirt and tie as all of the wait staff at Kelllerman's are. Max mentions in this scene that Robbie is from Harvard university which is prestigious and he is of an upper social class fitting in with with his surroundings at Kellerman's. This scene also shows the audience that the Housemann family are tight knit and they are a very family holiday type family. So ethene of this film is family and relationships between father and daughter and a family in general. The first shot in this scene is a long shot which helps the audience to see the whole table and surrounding tables establishing class and setting amongst the whole scene and other characters staying at the resort.
00:08:33 - 00:08:46
This scene is also sat in the Kellerman's resort dining room, and is a follow on from the scene analysed above. This scene introduces another new character, Neil, who is Max's grandson. Themes established in this scene are love and jealousy, as Neil is particularly interested in persuing a relationship with Baby. Social class also plays a big role in this scene, as Neil is looking to go to a top university, just as Baby wants to study in Mount Holy Oak connoting both of these characters are very smart and in control of their lives. Aspiration is a key theme, and I personally think the writers of this film have included this scene is to throw the audience off, by insinuating and hinting that Baby may be lots in her thoughts with Johnny but she is still possibly interested in Neil. Consequently leading the audience to question what will happen with Neil and Baby's relationship. One shot in the scene where there is a close up of Neil smiling at Baby and rasing his eyebrow, connotes he is a flirt, which at that point there is a cut to Baby's reaction of her smiling back.
00:18:24 - 00:18:34
In this scene, this is where Johnny and Baby have their first interaction in the film. The first shot is a midshot of the three characters, which sets up the conversation. As Johnny says the line, "Yo, Cuz, what's she doing here?", he looks at baby, and then back at his cousin. This connotes there is tension between the two, as Baby should not be in the club. This tension is established through the juxtaposition of the couple, which is to be much closer in the up coming scenes as Johnny changes his mind on his thoughts towards Baby. Baby is very innocent in this scene as the first thing she said to Johnny is 'I carried a watermelon', connoting she has never really had much experience in talking to men. The lighting in the club is very dim, which is natural, low key lighting connoting the mood and the reality of the dancing that is going on amongst the sexy dancers. Johnny's shirt is unbuttoned, creating the raunchy appeal of the dancing to the younger guests and staff members staying and working on the resort. Johnny is very strong, and he shows this when he beckons Baby over with his finger, telling her to come here. This also establishes the hold he has over her, which is a strong part of their relationship as it develops, and Johnny is a very dominating character, and Baby is innocent and shy. As Johnny teaches her to dance, Baby realises that this is her first true love, and possibly her first sexual experience, meaning that another theme in this film is sex. The song playing in this part of the film is Love Man by Otis Redding, which I'm assuming is put in to establish Johnny and how good he can be at loving women. 
No comments:
Post a Comment