Storytelling in Motion: Cinematic Choreography and the Film Musical

— —

Jenny Oyallon-Koloski (Assistant Professor, Assistant Professor, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)

Storytelling in Motion

Cinematic Choreography and the Film Musical

Jenny Oyallon-Koloski (Assistant Professor, Assistant Professor, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)

$219.95

Hardback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We then advise you accordingly. If the time taken to get any book is too long for you, you can let us know and we will cancel or adjust your order, and refund as required.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

Oxford University Press Inc
11 September 2024

Theatre Studies; Films, movies & cinema; Dance

How do filmmakers guide viewer attention through the frame using the movement of bodies on screen? What do they seek to communicate with their cinematic choreography, and how were those choices shaped by the industrial conditions available to them?

Storytelling in motion: Cinematic Choreography and the Film Musical demonstrates how figure movement can serve as a versatile strategy of meaning-making, particularly when filmmakers attend to the relationship between choreographed movement and film style. Using Franco-American film musicals as case studies, this book analyses the narrative and stylistic impact of figure movement in cinema and the subtle power of cinematic choreography, those moments when filmmakers deliberately combine the strengths of film style and organized figure movement to convey narrative meaning through motion. Cinematic choreography emphasizes musical conventions in Singin' in the Rain (Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly, 1952), prejudiced conflict in West Side Story (Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise, 1961), aesthetic play in Les Demoiselles de Rochefort (Jacques Demy, 1967), generic discomfort in Trois places pour le 26 (Jacques Demy, 1988), the politics of illness in Jeanne et le garçon formidable (Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau, 1998), and decision-making in La La Land (Damien Chazelle, 2016). Integrating vocabularies and analytical systems from Laban/Bartenieff Movement Studies, film studies, and related fields to parse cinematic figure movement on multiple formal levels, this book uses performative research methods from videographic criticism to show the poetic and oblique connections between films through videographic as well as written chapters. Storytelling in Motion centers the crucial material conditions needed to make figure movement a significant component of narrative filmmaking: time, money, rehearsal space, industrial support, and performers and crew with the necessary embodied and institutional knowledge. The films discussed tell a clear story of how cinematic choreography was used by French and American filmmakers to innovate storytelling through figure movement, inspired by their predecessors' aesthetics while working within differing industrial conditions.

By: Jenny Oyallon-Koloski (Assistant Professor Assistant Professor University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)
Imprint: Oxford University Press Inc
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 156mm, Spine: 3mm
Weight: 1.240kg
ISBN: 9780197602669
ISBN 10: 0197602665
Pages: 320
Publication Date: 11 September 2024
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Jenny Oyallon-Koloski is an assistant professor of media and cinema studies at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a Certified Movement Analyst through the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies.

Reviews for Storytelling in Motion: Cinematic Choreography and the Film Musical

The author successfully explicates the changing ways filmmakers craft film choreography to tell stories through figure movement while drawing attention to the historical changes that helped them. Her research engages performative methods to assemble ideas from videographic criticism and LBMS. She acknowledges that cinematographic technology is dependent on the expertise of the camera operator, and the book tells the story of the effect that poststudio-era changes to the industry and to dance have had on the form. The chapters move chronologically, and readers, particularly those interested in film studies, dance, and especially choreography, will find the research satisfying and thought-provoking. * L. K. Rosenberg, CHOICE *