THE RED SHOES (1948), MICHAEL POWELL AND EMERIC PRESSBURGER
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"The Red Shoes" is rich in imagery. Because of this, it was hard to choose a specific scene that stood out; the colours, vibrancy, succinct lighting techniques, and other cinematic devices used throughout the film made it a very artistic one indeed.
One shot that briefly caught my eye was toward the end of the film, immediately after Victoria Page meets Lermontov for the second time one the train and agrees to, once again, dance "The Red Shoes". After this shot, the camera immediately cuts to Vicky's dressing room, and then finally a shot of a double-frame that on the left has a caricature of Lermontov, and on the right, has a romantic picture of her husband and lover. In the middle of the two photos is a radio that sounds.
I found this shot amusing for many reasons: first, caricatures are commonly used to exagerrate or distort certain features of a person, whether they are complimentary or used in a mocking tone. Of course, the caricature of Lermontov is used in an entirely comic way in this situation; this caricature emphasized his demonic and loveless qualities - his notion that art and love must be separated in order for the former to thrive. This caricature, of course, is contrasted (literally) side-by-side with a tender photo of her loving husband, Julian.
Even funnier is that this shot is portrayed to us (the audience) with Lermontov on the left, and Julian on the right - sinisterness vs. goodness, perhaps?
Of course, the shot was filmed in a way that portrayed these photos as left vs. right entities, but what happens when we look at the frame from from a different perspective? What does the director know that the audience doesn't? Is he subtly trying to ask us to dig deeper?
Anyway, I am starting to run off on a silly tangent...
"The Red Shoes" is rich in imagery. Because of this, it was hard to choose a specific scene that stood out; the colours, vibrancy, succinct lighting techniques, and other cinematic devices used throughout the film made it a very artistic one indeed.
One shot that briefly caught my eye was toward the end of the film, immediately after Victoria Page meets Lermontov for the second time one the train and agrees to, once again, dance "The Red Shoes". After this shot, the camera immediately cuts to Vicky's dressing room, and then finally a shot of a double-frame that on the left has a caricature of Lermontov, and on the right, has a romantic picture of her husband and lover. In the middle of the two photos is a radio that sounds.
I found this shot amusing for many reasons: first, caricatures are commonly used to exagerrate or distort certain features of a person, whether they are complimentary or used in a mocking tone. Of course, the caricature of Lermontov is used in an entirely comic way in this situation; this caricature emphasized his demonic and loveless qualities - his notion that art and love must be separated in order for the former to thrive. This caricature, of course, is contrasted (literally) side-by-side with a tender photo of her loving husband, Julian.
Even funnier is that this shot is portrayed to us (the audience) with Lermontov on the left, and Julian on the right - sinisterness vs. goodness, perhaps?
Of course, the shot was filmed in a way that portrayed these photos as left vs. right entities, but what happens when we look at the frame from from a different perspective? What does the director know that the audience doesn't? Is he subtly trying to ask us to dig deeper?
Anyway, I am starting to run off on a silly tangent...
The shot that moved me most was "The Red Shoes" ballet scene, because of the wonderful use of colours, and artistic vision. You could clearly tell that the sets were done by a painter, at some points it looked like Victoria was dancer who had come to life inside of a painting. They way the portrayed the shoes making her go insane was amazing. How the news paper turned into the shape of a man, transformed into a man, they flashed back to her dancing just with a paper. It showed how she was going insane because her mind created a man to dance with to convince her to keep going. Why should she stop if she is not alone in the matter?
Another thing that I found really interesting was, in the end of the ballet the girl had the man take the red shoes off before she died. Then at the end of the film Victoria had Julian remove the red shoes as well. The shoes seem to represent the struggle between what your passionate about and who you are passionate about. If the worlds don't always fit, you have to choose. Victoria's worlds didn't fit together to the ballet took on a real life meaning and drove her mad.
The shot that moved me in Powell and Pressburger's, "The Red Shoes" was the ballet scene with the very first performance of the Red Shoes Ballet. This scene was so capturing, the colors and scenery, paintings and the camera/lighting techniques were astonishing. The specific shot that caught my attention was when Vicky Paige appears on stage and the ballet takes off, she seems to dance towards the shoemakers shop with her partner. She keeps looking at the shop where the red shoes sit and wait for her. You get the idea from the back-and-forth camera shots that she just can't keep her eyes off of the red shoes. The shoemaker notices her curiosity and approaches her with the shoes eventually with the help of early technology he manages to magically place the red ballet shoes standing straight up on their toes as if Paige was going to dance, jump and slip right down into them. Then the film-makers create the animated illusion that she does just exactly that by appearing on her feet. While this is happening the music (Julian's orchestra) intensifies and she starts to dance more frantically symbolizing the main idea that the red shoes are "taking over" her and driven her mad. The idea of the main conflict of the film in this scene was portrayed very well by Powell and Pressburger. They used many cinematic devices that made the film as artistic as it was. Great film!
The shot that moved me most in The Red Shoes was during the ballet performance scene, when the audience's premature applause was represented by a montage of waves on a beach.
It became apparent early in the presentation of the ballet that the intended audience was not the diegetic <-vocab word! patrons attending the theatre, but the external movie audience. The use of trick shots (such as Victoria jumping into the red shoes when in an actual ballet there would have been a costume change required) made the the whole sequence a spectacle deliberately aimed beyond the world of the movie.
Yet Lermontov had wagered earlier on that the audience would not wait until the end to applaud. To acknowlede that he had won his bet would require acknowledging the audience... so the crowd is replaced by waves on a beach, and suddenly we are forced into Victoria's perspective. Julian is vivid, the orchestra is absent, and the crowd an indistinct yet powerful organic presence simultaneously feeding on and being fed by the performance. Anyone who has performed on a stage knows this feeling!
Victoria is shown alone, dancing on the bare wooden floor of the stage. There are no props or set pieces to distract her, or to mar the image of the floor-as-sand. Julian is almost in the center of the screen, conducting the dance directly. The audience starts out as a black mass that slowly fades into waves.
I thought for sure that there would be a follow-up scene where Lermontov collects on the bet!
In Powell and Pressburger’s “The Red Shoes”, there was one shot that stood out in my mind. This was the shot of Victoria’s struggle of choosing between a life with her husband Julien, or a life of dancing in Lermontov’s ballet. The shot was set up so that Victoria was in the middle of Julien and Lermontov, with each man on either side trying to convince her to choose him. We can see that Victoria is caught in the middle, torn between her two loves, dancing and her husband. In this shot, Victoria was wearing the red shoes from the ballet. These “magic” shoes made it impossible for the person wearing the shoes to stop dancing. This was a key component to the shot: Victoria, wearing the red shoes, could not stop dancing. She couldn’t give it up because it was her one passion and dream. Dancing “The Red Shoes” ballet made her feel graceful, angelic, and talented. Choosing Julien meant throwing her career away and without the ballet, she would have nothing. I found this interesting as I watched the shot. It was as if the red shoes had taken her over and she was powerless to try and stop them.
I too also found it difficult to pick a sence in Powell and Pressburger's "The Red Shoes," for the fact that this was the first film we watched in color and everything was so vibrant and full of motion. However there is a scene that I enjoyed, that involved the camera angle that was used. This is the scene where M. Craster in conducting the orchestra for The Red Shoes play, the camera is angled from below looking up at him. This shot stood out to me because in earlier parts the camera was always placed higher up looking down on him and now that he finally was recognized and had power to write his own scores people (M.Lermontov) gave him respect.
The shot that caught my attention the most in, "The Red Shoes" was when Vicky was called up to Lermontov's house in Monte Carlo. The shot begins just after the chauffeur drops her off at a gate. The shot is Vicky standing in front of an exceptionally large amount of stairs. She just stands and stares up at them at first. The image of the stairs reflects how much money and power Lermontov really has, and how much control he could possibly have over Vicky's future. At first Vicky seemed very shocked at the amount of stairs she had to tackle, and it took her awhile to move up them. Eventually, she had made it to the top. In my eyes, I see this shot as a foreshadow of the challenge Vicky has to face with choosing her love for her husband, or her love of dance. She can either continue taking the stairs to Lermontov for more money, power, and fame; or she can take a different path to a lifetime of happiness with her husband.
In "The Red Shoes," I would have to say that one of my favourite shots is the one right at the end of the Red Shoes ballet, where the shoemaker is the only one on stage, holding out the shoes. I enjoyed this scene because his smile as he seems to offer the audience the shoes really gave me the sense that the shoes themselves were evil, not just the shoemaker. The shoes could also be considered evil, depending on your perspective, at the end of the film, when the shoes represent one half of Vicky's final choice, her career, or her love.
My favorite shot in The Red Shoes was when Vicky is first dancing the ballet of the same name. This scene was presented in a very surreal way, with Vicky superimposed over a number of painted backgrounds. The limits of the stage seemed to have no bearing on any of the dancers, and they all moved from one place to another on a seemingly endless surface. This gave the scene a very flowing and uninterrupted pace which was very different from the rest of the film. While the dance was in progress, the camera never cut away from Vicky for any reason, not to show Lermontov’s reaction to the performance, not to show any of the backdrops being changed, or for any other reason. It really gave the impression that everything in the surrounding world had vanished and the only thing that was important at that moment was the dance.
A shot that caught my interest in the movie was a little after Vickie had announced she was quitting the group too and Lermontov was alone in his apartment/hotel room. The camera faced a mirror at a diagonal so that you could see the reflection of the mirror and a bit of the space in front of the mirror. As Lermontov approached the mirror, the expression of anguish was intense on his face and he seemed to be in a state of insanity. When he got up to the mirror so that his back as well as his reflection were in the shot he suddenly lashed out on the mirror smashing it with his fist. It was a very tense shot that ended in an explosive burst of emotion.
Appropriately for the movie the shot that I thought was the most interesting occured during the performance of the Red Shoes. Specifically the shot of the shoemaker inside his workshop but the camera is on the outside; we just like Victoria’s character are staring at the beautiful and magical red shoes. We see what Victoria sees which is herself in the reflection of the glass dancing with the shoes on. The shoes themselves dissapear from the screen and then reappear on Victoria’s feet as she begins to imagine herself dancing with the shoes on. There is a visual effect put in that when the shoes appear on her feet the glass brightens in fact it appears as though a glow comes right off Victoria as if to say that the shoes will grant her a stunning brilliance.
The shot that caught my attention the most in Powell and Pressburger’s “The Red Shoes” was the dance sequence of the same name. I found myself forgetting about everything else in the film except for the dance, which strengthens the grasp that the Red Shoes can have on someone. The artistic backdrops on the stage helped to influence the mad, insane mood portrayed through the dancing. The flow of the dance from scene to scene however, was smooth and continuous, almost uninterrupted, which does not mimic the insanity of the dance. It was almost like the stage did not exist, from the way that the backdrops shifted constantly and the movement never ceased. I found this style odd, which is why this shot (or scene in this case) stands out for me.
Like a lot of people who have posted previously, the most stunning shot from the film was the "The Red Shoes" ballet sequence. It is when she sees the shoemaker's shop and looks compelled by the shoes and the powers that will soon possess her from wearing them. She looks into the window then sees a reflection of herself dancing with such grace and finesse. Then her image disappears to darkness with a montage of that very devilish looking shoemaker followed by a quick shot depicting a closeup of the red shoes. I think this scene was very symbolic for the fact that she had seen herself in the window and it portrayed the image she so badly desired since her introduction in the film. But as you find out later in the movie this image is what she becomes and the darkness that follows that shot is a foreshadow of the darkness that will soon engulf her very life.
The whole set in the shot looks amazingly crafted and fits the score perfectly, really giving the audience the feel of the woman who will soon not be able to control her own rhythmic patterns.
This shot i found to be very key part of the climactic point in the film as it foretells the emotional and physical ride these beautiful red shoes are too soon take her on.
I found it quite difficult to choose one shot out of such a visually stimulating movie however one in particular caught my eye. i believe it is right before lermontov reads Victoria Pages letter of resignation.The camera starts off on an ash tray and slowly moves towards Lermontovs face. Before they show his face you are able to see the letter and the ash tray. As soon as you see the ash tray you are aware that it is a letter directed to Lermontov as ciggarettes had become some what of a symbol of him.
I enjoyed The Red Shoes ballet Vicky performed. From the point of where she was dancing alone in what looks to be an eerie dance hall, to the ending of before she went behind the scenes to get ready for the next act. It started with her dancing alone in this scene, then coupled dancers advance in. The backdrop artistic setting provides symmetry, and with the dancers in lines at her sides it makes her the focal point. Eventually all the dancers pair off leaving her alone in the center of the shot. She then exits the dance hall, and she too finds a partner. Once she does we see her partner from the performing half of her life, but we also get to see her partner Julian from her other half conducting the symphony. I thought this was an interesting shot due to fact that we get to see both parts of Vicky’s life at one time, and it’s shot in a way that we are watching from behind the scenes like spectators of someone else’s life and seeing their passions, but also having the thought of what problems may arise. Soon she gets torn away from her dancing partner by the shoes and Julian becomes harder to see also due to the chaos the shoes bring by a visual effect of waves rushing over him. Then she exits the stage. I thought it was good representation of what Vicky would be going though in her life after the performance has been completed. This being the choice between her love for dance and her love Julian. Boris states “You cannot have it both ways. A dancer who relies upon the doubtful comforts of human love can never be a great dancer. Never.” The whole film or story of The Red Shoes brings the audience the idea of choices in life which can cause confusion and discomfort. Within these choices are love’s choices. From whom you love, to what you love, or how you can go about achieving all of what you desire. But trying to avoid or find ways past the breaking points that life may bring causing someone to become insane or even worse case scenarios such as ending life.
the one shot i really enjoyed the most was the point that Lermontov asks Vicky why she wants to dance, and answers with the question why do you want to live but they both must do what they've been asked. this shot was taken right from the deepest will of their hearts desires. Vicky tells him what he wants to hear, her life wants to be in his dance and his dance,later on, takes her "life" in more ways then one without loosing it. the light of this shot, just how they speak, seemed kinda mournful... Lermontov does not take her seriously as if she would clumsily fail in the ballet, as she is not serious about why he has lived for the dance.
For me there were about two shots that stood out for me. Especially for their use of foreshadowing.
The first shot is when Lermontov mentions to Julian that he wants him to create the score for the ballet. When Lermontov mentions "The Red Shoes" there is a close up of Julian’s face in a soft focus. We see Julian staring in a kind of state of disbelief as he slowly repeats to himself "The Red Shoes...?" As the words leave Julian’s lips the focus changes from soft to distorted. It's as if Julian just mentioning the name of the production has cast some kind of magic spell. I see this as the foreshadowing. As it demonstrates the strange hold the "The Red Shoes" production will have on all the characters lives. As well it foreshows the surreal nature of the ballet itself, at least as it’s presented in the film.
I felt there was second instance of foreshadowing in the shot where Victoria is entering the gates of the dilapidated mansion in Monte Carlo to meet with Lermontov and his production team. The mansion looks like something out of fairy tale. It's all overgrown with weeds and looks deserted. You can tell by Victoria hesitation to enter the gates that she is unsure that this could be the actual place where Lermontov wants to meet her. Or perhaps the hesitation was from of a sense of foreboding. For at the end of the scene she will be told that she will dance the lead in “The Red Shoes”, which will eventually cause her death.
The shot that moved me most about "The Red Shoes" was the shot where Victoria was placed in the position to make a choice between what seems like two sides, ballet and her love for Julian.
Victoria was in the room as Julian had come in looking like a villain, Stating he knew she would be there (Victoria looking innocent yet almost ashamed) as though she was cheating on him with the ballet (or maybe Lermontov?).
The Interesting part I found about this (plot wise) was that she was not only forced to choose between ballet and dancing, but as well Lermontov. As she clearly states “I love you Julian, nobody but you”. Instead of nothing almost implying she is not referring to ballet.
Throughout that scene every shot Julian is alone in the frame he is shot from a low-angle shot to make him look bigger then her; almost as though he had the right to live his dream but Victoria not hers.
To the point the shot that caught my eye from this scene was Julian’s composition when he was against a mirror/cabinet and he was very upset looking but next to him you see this great big dark shadow. The two sides letting her live her life or living the one he wants. Notice as well every shot Victoria was framed in this scene; she was shot from a high-angle making her appear smaller and almost more ashamed. It seemed as though when Victoria chose ballet, Julian felt she chose Lermontov as well.
I noticed aswell in this scene the closer Julian got to her the more she chose ballet. And not until he was gone did she choose him.
Although not a shot but..
I think the common quote "you don’t know what you have till it’s gone" is the implicit meaning behind the movie because Victoria always wants the opposite of what she has; She jumps off the balcony because she realizes she cannot have it all.
The shot that moved me was the shot in Lermontov's office in where a miniature stage was on his table. It was a moving shot because when he started by the window with all the lights turned off and then he turned on the miniature stage's lights, it seems that it reflects his life. His life is dark like it's full of sadness and emptiness. However, with the presence of the light of the stage, it seems that's where his life shines like turning girls like Ms. Page into a superstar. In amidst of the darkness that surrounds his life, the stage will always bring him the light he needs. The crowds and the production loves him and thinks he's a genius, while the other part of his life is just a bland and colorless one that needs some work itself.
The shot that really stayed with me was during "The Red Shoes" ballet. It starts with a theatre stage, Victoria starts to dance towards the shoemaker shop, where he is finishing up some red shoes, which Victoria can not take her eyes off, when the shoemaker finally offers her the shoes, a montage is done to create an idea that the shoes were magically strap to her feet. As the dance goes on, It is obvious that the ballet is no longer taking place in a theatre since the stage limits no longer exists and Victoria dances in a much bigger space filled with surrealist characters and scenarios. I really love how the old technicolor touch brings out the surrealistic scenery to life.
The shot that moved me in the Red Shoes was when Lermontov was alone in his room after he has been told Julian and Victoria are in a relationship. This scene stood out from the rest of the other scenes because it showed Lermontov’s different side of himself. Throughout the movie we see Lermontov as the calm, relaxed gentleman, even when situations are in utter chaos, but after we see this scene, we can really see Lermontov’s villainous character.
The scene showed Lermontov’s rage and frustration over Julian and Victoria’s’ relation by putting Lermontov alone in a poorly lit room, wearing a blood red robe. To make the scene more dramatic Lermontov smashes his fist upon the mirrored wall showing his rage and anger. The camera zooms into the shattered wall and all we see are a dozen of Lermontov’s’ evil facial expressions.
Later on as the scene continues, someone knocks on his door and Lermontov quickly changes the mood of the scene by switching all the lights to a brighter setting. By changing the lighting, Lermontov quickly changes to his “normal” personality and appearance.
There is one shot that I found very interesting in "The Red Shoes" is at the very beginning, it is a low-angle shot, an officer walks down from the upstairs in the theater and he is trying to convince the two guards to open the gate. I love how the light goes trough from the window to the wall and the hall way are covered with wounderful colours, purple, red, and yellow.(you can see that the wall is not covered with a sigle colour) In composition, the wall divided the pictures into two parts, the left is the stairs and the right is almost a very dark color which construct a visual balance.
After the two guards opened the gate, peoples are rushing into the theater from ouside, the director gives the crowd a close-up shot to depicte everyone's facial expression, they all look very happy and excting, even a young man sractches the poster off the wall with his shoulder. The sence indicates that "The Red Shoes" must be rich in imagery and it is also shows the audience a very good beginning.
The film "The Red Shoes", had a great deal of shots that were moving in some way that it was hard to pick only one.
The shot that I would have to say moved me, was the shot in which Lermontov punches the mirror in his room. In the shots before Lermontov gets the news that Victoria and Julian have been married. He is completely alone, pacing about his room, driving his fist into his other hand.
Lermontov then catches a glimpse of himself in the mirror, he looks almost surprised. Then pacing slowly forward, he stares into the mirror, you can read the feelings of anger and hate spread across his face. The camera is faced right at the mirror, so when Lermontov is staring at himself, it looks like is is staring at you, which is a most unsettling feeling. Then without warning he releases his anger and smashes the mirror with his fist. The shot itself actually ends before his fist hits the mirror, that is entire different shot altogether.
The shot was very powerful, and an insight into Lermontov's character, showing just how wild and passionate he really was.
"The Red Shoes" was full of shots and great scenes that all stood out equally and throughout my first viewing of the film I tried to find something that really left an imprint in my mind. It seemed as if I would have to write about a plethora of shots until the movie came to the point where Vicky is going to meet Lermontov so that he can tell her he has a very special part for her in his next ballet. On her way to meet him, she is dressed in a very fairy-tale-esque outfit which looks more like something you would expect to see on a princess. This added to the amazing nature of the shot that stood out to me. The shot I am speaking of is the shot of her beginning to ascend the large exterior staircase on her way to the meeting and she looks up almost in wonder. The shot is angled slightly lower making the staircase seem bigger and at first is static. Then as she begins her journey up the fantastically decorated staircase which adds once again to the fairy-tale like nature of the shot, the camera begins to pan upwards showing the viewer just how large and wonderous the staircase is. This shot stood out to me and I couldn't think of any other shot that captured the emotion of the character at that point in the story, the fairy-tale references in the plot and the entire feel of the movie quite as well as this one.
I thought the most interesting scene was in the train towards the end when Lermontov gave the ultamatum "If you wear the red shoes you wear them forever." That sentence was loaded with double meaning. In other words if Vicky chose to dance she would become the character she has portraid so passionatly she would never ne able to stop. But it would eventually kill her. I thought it was very interesting how this 'deal' if you will was so parallel with the ballet of the "Red Shoes." Andrew Kleysen
My favourite shot in the red shoes is the one during "The Red Shoes" ballet, there is one shot where Victoria is doing a solo,and the whole stage was really dark excpet the light on Victoria,Craster is standing at the left conner with a light on his face and looks really bright, Lermontov was on the right with a huge shadow , three characters forming a triangle visually, and Victory is dancing between them, from the left to the right and then back to the left, just like their story, Victory was stucked right in the middle, the choice of dance as a great dancer or live as a normal person
The ballet sequence in "The Red Shoes" stood out to me the most. From that sequence we are given an array of beautiful imagery and colours (seemed almost pastal like)that are the most memorable from the movie. If I had to choose a shot from this sequence that stood out the most to me it would have the overhead shot that we get of Vicky being pulled back from her home by a long shadow to continue to dance. The combination of the music used in this shot along with the image of the long eery shadow seeming pulling at her feet to keep her away from her mother and continueing to keep her dancing makes this a powerful shot. It is almost like she is a puppet to this shadow and she has no control of her movements anymore which drives her to insanity and incidently to her death.
There were a number of shots in "The Red Shoes" that I took notice of, most of them during the artistic portrayal of the ballet being danced for the first time. However one that stands out for me was when Lermontov is told Vikki and Craster are not at the birthday because they are in love and hving a romantic evening. He's surrounded by a crowd of happy, laughing people who are celebrating. Lermontov becomes discernible among the large group because he is suddenly still and unsmiling. The people around him don't seem to realize the importance of the information they've shared. I believe the camera zoomed in marginally but still it was clear Lermontov was alone and among a crowd of people. I thought he looked displaced and uncomfortable which says a lot about his characters loneliness.
The shot that I couldn't take my eyes off of this time was the scene just before Miss Page was given the opportunity to dance the main role in the ballet, The Red Shoes. She was shown, dressed in a beautiful gown and tiara and was standing at the foot of a grand staircase. It was the spitting image of Cinderella just before she arrived at the ball. The lighting off of her dress gave it a faint glow. I thought this moment combined with the movies emphasis on a special pair of shoes really reconnected the story with that of a fairytale.
This movie really had a lot going for it. It had great music and visuals through out and really captured my interest.
The shot that caught my eye was ballet done after Victoria had committed suicide. Earlier we had seen the ballet, "the red shoes", in its entirety. Which had striking visuals, costume, sets and music. The ballet begins without her, but we can still imagine Victoria there.
One thing I do want to point out, is that the actual red shoes are stage as the ballet goes on, but are also on Victoria's feet at the ending. Even though it was already established that there is only one pair of the red shoes. I don't know if it was supposed to be symbolic or was just a mistake. Either way it works.
The shot that moved me in the film, "The Red Shoes", by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, was the shot in which we are first introduced to Lermontov. It is during one of the first ballet scenes that we are shown in the movie. Lermontov is shown almost hidden behind a curtain as he sits up in a balcony, not paying any real attention to the performance beneath him. This shot was moving as it forshadows Lermontov's characteristics that we see later in the film. The shot is close up on half of his hand and fingers. I feel that this shot really portrays, with the help of the darkness of the shot as well as the dim, mysterious mood it creates, helps to predict Lermontov's personality that he later portrays in the film.
The shot that moved me in the film was the shot of the main character dancing the dance of the red shoes. The particular shot that caught my eye was the shot of her dancing in the circus after it becomes dark. I believe that this shot portrays the time that passes because she is dancing in the red shoes. Another aspect of the shot that caused me to believe that it portrays the passage of time is that the shot is shown in slow motion. The scene is also lightened with a blue light this causes the audience to perceive that it is night and and that the world has stopped so that she may continue to dance as we are sleeping. The transparent sheets for me portrayed the changing of the season and the redundant theme of time passing. Through the shot of the character dancing through the circus illustrates to the audience how time is inconsequential when dancing in the red shoes.
ps. sorry if my blog is late, my internet connection was down for some time, and this was the only time that it came back online.
I loved this movie. Everything was so artistically done, especially all the dance scenes. The one that i liked the most was when she first preformed the Red Shoes and started dancing at that festival type things. There was so much going on, so many colors and people, but all you can focus on is her beautiful dancing. The camera gets her whole body and it follows along with her movements from one end of the stage to the other. The spotlight is on her, and although we can see the other activities we are fixated on her. Such a pretty scene!
The shot that moved me the most was the one in the Red Shoes Ballet sequence, when she is dancing in front of the windowshop of the shoemaker, it looks like she is a trophy, not only to the shoemaker, who is desperately looking for a worthy dancer for the red shoes, but to the shoes itself. I loved how the director used the visual effects to create this aspect in the movie, it made the scene much richer. As it gets closer to the end, we start to see that Vick is being treated that way from the men in her life, like a trophy, she can't stand being seen like that, and prefers to throw away her amazing gift, so she can have a "normal" life. And what was supposed to be a nice love story ends up having a tragic ending.
35 comments:
"The Red Shoes" is rich in imagery. Because of this, it was hard to choose a specific scene that stood out; the colours, vibrancy, succinct lighting techniques, and other cinematic devices used throughout the film made it a very artistic one indeed.
One shot that briefly caught my eye was toward the end of the film, immediately after Victoria Page meets Lermontov for the second time one the train and agrees to, once again, dance "The Red Shoes". After this shot, the camera immediately cuts to Vicky's dressing room, and then finally a shot of a double-frame that on the left has a caricature of Lermontov, and on the right, has a romantic picture of her husband and lover. In the middle of the two photos is a radio that sounds.
I found this shot amusing for many reasons: first, caricatures are commonly used to exagerrate or distort certain features of a person, whether they are complimentary or used in a mocking tone. Of course, the caricature of Lermontov is used in an entirely comic way in this situation; this caricature emphasized his demonic and loveless qualities - his notion that art and love must be separated in order for the former to thrive. This caricature, of course, is contrasted (literally) side-by-side with a tender photo of her loving husband, Julian.
Even funnier is that this shot is portrayed to us (the audience) with Lermontov on the left, and Julian on the right - sinisterness vs. goodness, perhaps?
Of course, the shot was filmed in a way that portrayed these photos as left vs. right entities, but what happens when we look at the frame from from a different perspective? What does the director know that the audience doesn't? Is he subtly trying to ask us to dig deeper?
Anyway, I am starting to run off on a silly tangent...
"The Red Shoes" is rich in imagery. Because of this, it was hard to choose a specific scene that stood out; the colours, vibrancy, succinct lighting techniques, and other cinematic devices used throughout the film made it a very artistic one indeed.
One shot that briefly caught my eye was toward the end of the film, immediately after Victoria Page meets Lermontov for the second time one the train and agrees to, once again, dance "The Red Shoes". After this shot, the camera immediately cuts to Vicky's dressing room, and then finally a shot of a double-frame that on the left has a caricature of Lermontov, and on the right, has a romantic picture of her husband and lover. In the middle of the two photos is a radio that sounds.
I found this shot amusing for many reasons: first, caricatures are commonly used to exagerrate or distort certain features of a person, whether they are complimentary or used in a mocking tone. Of course, the caricature of Lermontov is used in an entirely comic way in this situation; this caricature emphasized his demonic and loveless qualities - his notion that art and love must be separated in order for the former to thrive. This caricature, of course, is contrasted (literally) side-by-side with a tender photo of her loving husband, Julian.
Even funnier is that this shot is portrayed to us (the audience) with Lermontov on the left, and Julian on the right - sinisterness vs. goodness, perhaps?
Of course, the shot was filmed in a way that portrayed these photos as left vs. right entities, but what happens when we look at the frame from from a different perspective? What does the director know that the audience doesn't? Is he subtly trying to ask us to dig deeper?
Anyway, I am starting to run off on a silly tangent...
The shot that moved me most was "The Red Shoes" ballet scene, because of the wonderful use of colours, and artistic vision. You could clearly tell that the sets were done by a painter, at some points it looked like Victoria was dancer who had come to life inside of a painting. They way the portrayed the shoes making her go insane was amazing. How the news paper turned into the shape of a man, transformed into a man, they flashed back to her dancing just with a paper. It showed how she was going insane because her mind created a man to dance with to convince her to keep going. Why should she stop if she is not alone in the matter?
Another thing that I found really interesting was, in the end of the ballet the girl had the man take the red shoes off before she died. Then at the end of the film Victoria had Julian remove the red shoes as well. The shoes seem to represent the struggle between what your passionate about and who you are passionate about. If the worlds don't always fit, you have to choose. Victoria's worlds didn't fit together to the ballet took on a real life meaning and drove her mad.
The shot that moved me in Powell and Pressburger's, "The Red Shoes" was the ballet scene with the very first performance of the Red Shoes Ballet. This scene was so capturing, the colors and scenery, paintings and the camera/lighting techniques were astonishing. The specific shot that caught my attention was when Vicky Paige appears on stage and the ballet takes off, she seems to dance towards the shoemakers shop with her partner. She keeps looking at the shop where the red shoes sit and wait for her. You get the idea from the back-and-forth camera shots that she just can't keep her eyes off of the red shoes. The shoemaker notices her curiosity and approaches her with the shoes eventually with the help of early technology he manages to magically place the red ballet shoes standing straight up on their toes as if Paige was going to dance, jump and slip right down into them. Then the film-makers create the animated illusion that she does just exactly that by appearing on her feet. While this is happening the music (Julian's orchestra) intensifies and she starts to dance more frantically symbolizing the main idea that the red shoes are "taking over" her and driven her mad. The idea of the main conflict of the film in this scene was portrayed very well by Powell and Pressburger. They used many cinematic devices that made the film as artistic as it was. Great film!
The shot that moved me most in The Red Shoes was during the ballet performance scene, when the audience's premature applause was represented by a montage of waves on a beach.
It became apparent early in the presentation of the ballet that the intended audience was not the diegetic <-vocab word! patrons attending the theatre, but the external movie audience. The use of trick shots (such as Victoria jumping into the red shoes when in an actual ballet there would have been a costume change required) made the the whole sequence a spectacle deliberately aimed beyond the world of the movie.
Yet Lermontov had wagered earlier on that the audience would not wait until the end to applaud. To acknowlede that he had won his bet would require acknowledging the audience... so the crowd is replaced by waves on a beach, and suddenly we are forced into Victoria's perspective. Julian is vivid, the orchestra is absent, and the crowd an indistinct yet powerful organic presence simultaneously feeding on and being fed by the performance. Anyone who has performed on a stage knows this feeling!
Victoria is shown alone, dancing on the bare wooden floor of the stage. There are no props or set pieces to distract her, or to mar the image of the floor-as-sand. Julian is almost in the center of the screen, conducting the dance directly. The audience starts out as a black mass that slowly fades into waves.
I thought for sure that there would be a follow-up scene where Lermontov collects on the bet!
In Powell and Pressburger’s “The Red Shoes”, there was one shot that stood out in my mind. This was the shot of Victoria’s struggle of choosing between a life with her husband Julien, or a life of dancing in Lermontov’s ballet. The shot was set up so that Victoria was in the middle of Julien and Lermontov, with each man on either side trying to convince her to choose him. We can see that Victoria is caught in the middle, torn between her two loves, dancing and her husband. In this shot, Victoria was wearing the red shoes from the ballet. These “magic” shoes made it impossible for the person wearing the shoes to stop dancing.
This was a key component to the shot: Victoria, wearing the red shoes, could not stop dancing. She couldn’t give it up because it was her one passion and dream. Dancing “The Red Shoes” ballet made her feel graceful, angelic, and talented. Choosing Julien meant throwing her career away and without the ballet, she would have nothing. I found this interesting as I watched the shot. It was as if the red shoes had taken her over and she was powerless to try and stop them.
I too also found it difficult to pick a sence in Powell and Pressburger's "The Red Shoes," for the fact that this was the first film we watched in color and everything was so vibrant and full of motion. However there is a scene that I enjoyed, that involved the camera angle that was used. This is the scene where M. Craster in conducting the orchestra for The Red Shoes play, the camera is angled from below looking up at him. This shot stood out to me because in earlier parts the camera was always placed higher up looking down on him and now that he finally was recognized and had power to write his own scores people (M.Lermontov) gave him respect.
The shot that caught my attention the most in, "The Red Shoes" was when Vicky was called up to Lermontov's house in Monte Carlo. The shot begins just after the chauffeur drops her off at a gate. The shot is Vicky standing in front of an exceptionally large amount of stairs. She just stands and stares up at them at first. The image of the stairs reflects how much money and power Lermontov really has, and how much control he could possibly have over Vicky's future. At first Vicky seemed very shocked at the amount of stairs she had to tackle, and it took her awhile to move up them. Eventually, she had made it to the top.
In my eyes, I see this shot as a foreshadow of the challenge Vicky has to face with choosing her love for her husband, or her love of dance. She can either continue taking the stairs to Lermontov for more money, power, and fame; or she can take a different path to a lifetime of happiness with her husband.
In "The Red Shoes," I would have to say that one of my favourite shots is the one right at the end of the Red Shoes ballet, where the shoemaker is the only one on stage, holding out the shoes. I enjoyed this scene because his smile as he seems to offer the audience the shoes really gave me the sense that the shoes themselves were evil, not just the shoemaker. The shoes could also be considered evil, depending on your perspective, at the end of the film, when the shoes represent one half of Vicky's final choice, her career, or her love.
My favorite shot in The Red Shoes was when Vicky is first dancing the ballet of the same name. This scene was presented in a very surreal way, with Vicky superimposed over a number of painted backgrounds. The limits of the stage seemed to have no bearing on any of the dancers, and they all moved from one place to another on a seemingly endless surface. This gave the scene a very flowing and uninterrupted pace which was very different from the rest of the film. While the dance was in progress, the camera never cut away from Vicky for any reason, not to show Lermontov’s reaction to the performance, not to show any of the backdrops being changed, or for any other reason. It really gave the impression that everything in the surrounding world had vanished and the only thing that was important at that moment was the dance.
A shot that caught my interest in the movie was a little after Vickie had announced she was quitting the group too and Lermontov was alone in his apartment/hotel room. The camera faced a mirror at a diagonal so that you could see the reflection of the mirror and a bit of the space in front of the mirror. As Lermontov approached the mirror, the expression of anguish was intense on his face and he seemed to be in a state of insanity. When he got up to the mirror so that his back as well as his reflection were in the shot he suddenly lashed out on the mirror smashing it with his fist. It was a very tense shot that ended in an explosive burst of emotion.
Appropriately for the movie the shot that I thought was the most interesting occured during the performance of the Red Shoes. Specifically the shot of the shoemaker inside his workshop but the camera is on the outside; we just like Victoria’s character are staring at the beautiful and magical red shoes. We see what Victoria sees which is herself in the reflection of the glass dancing with the shoes on. The shoes themselves dissapear from the screen and then reappear on Victoria’s feet as she begins to imagine herself dancing with the shoes on. There is a visual effect put in that when the shoes appear on her feet the glass brightens in fact it appears as though a glow comes right off Victoria as if to say that the shoes will grant her a stunning brilliance.
The shot that caught my attention the most in Powell and Pressburger’s “The Red Shoes” was the dance sequence of the same name. I found myself forgetting about everything else in the film except for the dance, which strengthens the grasp that the Red Shoes can have on someone. The artistic backdrops on the stage helped to influence the mad, insane mood portrayed through the dancing. The flow of the dance from scene to scene however, was smooth and continuous, almost uninterrupted, which does not mimic the insanity of the dance. It was almost like the stage did not exist, from the way that the backdrops shifted constantly and the movement never ceased. I found this style odd, which is why this shot (or scene in this case) stands out for me.
Like a lot of people who have posted previously, the most stunning shot from the film was the "The Red Shoes" ballet sequence. It is when she sees the shoemaker's shop and looks compelled by the shoes and the powers that will soon possess her from wearing them. She looks into the window then sees a reflection of herself dancing with such grace and finesse. Then her image disappears to darkness with a montage of that very devilish looking shoemaker followed by a quick shot depicting a closeup of the red shoes. I think this scene was very symbolic for the fact that she had seen herself in the window and it portrayed the image she so badly desired since her introduction in the film. But as you find out later in the movie this image is what she becomes and the darkness that follows that shot is a foreshadow of the darkness that will soon engulf her very life.
The whole set in the shot looks amazingly crafted and fits the score perfectly, really giving the audience the feel of the woman who will soon not be able to control her own rhythmic patterns.
This shot i found to be very key part of the climactic point in the film as it foretells the emotional and physical ride these beautiful red shoes are too soon take her on.
I found it quite difficult to choose one shot out of such a visually stimulating movie however one in particular caught my eye. i believe it is right before lermontov reads Victoria Pages letter of resignation.The camera starts off on an ash tray and slowly moves towards Lermontovs face. Before they show his face you are able to see the letter and the ash tray. As soon as you see the ash tray you are aware that it is a letter directed to Lermontov as ciggarettes had become some what of a symbol of him.
Adam Sawyer
I enjoyed The Red Shoes ballet Vicky performed. From the point of where she was dancing alone in what looks to be an eerie dance hall, to the ending of before she went behind the scenes to get ready for the next act. It started with her dancing alone in this scene, then coupled dancers advance in. The backdrop artistic setting provides symmetry, and with the dancers in lines at her sides it makes her the focal point. Eventually all the dancers pair off leaving her alone in the center of the shot. She then exits the dance hall, and she too finds a partner. Once she does we see her partner from the performing half of her life, but we also get to see her partner Julian from her other half conducting the symphony. I thought this was an interesting shot due to fact that we get to see both parts of Vicky’s life at one time, and it’s shot in a way that we are watching from behind the scenes like spectators of someone else’s life and seeing their passions, but also having the thought of what problems may arise. Soon she gets torn away from her dancing partner by the shoes and Julian becomes harder to see also due to the chaos the shoes bring by a visual effect of waves rushing over him. Then she exits the stage. I thought it was good representation of what Vicky would be going though in her life after the performance has been completed. This being the choice between her love for dance and her love Julian. Boris states “You cannot have it both ways. A dancer who relies upon the doubtful comforts of human love can never be a great dancer. Never.” The whole film or story of The Red Shoes brings the audience the idea of choices in life which can cause confusion and discomfort. Within these choices are love’s choices. From whom you love, to what you love, or how you can go about achieving all of what you desire. But trying to avoid or find ways past the breaking points that life may bring causing someone to become insane or even worse case scenarios such as ending life.
the one shot i really enjoyed the most was the point that Lermontov asks Vicky why she wants to dance, and answers with the question why do you want to live but they both must do what they've been asked. this shot was taken right from the deepest will of their hearts desires. Vicky tells him what he wants to hear, her life wants to be in his dance and his dance,later on, takes her "life" in more ways then one without loosing it. the light of this shot, just how they speak, seemed kinda mournful... Lermontov does not take her seriously as if she would clumsily fail in the ballet, as she is not serious about why he has lived for the dance.
For me there were about two shots that stood out for me. Especially for their use of foreshadowing.
The first shot is when Lermontov mentions to Julian that he wants him to create the score for the ballet. When Lermontov mentions "The Red Shoes" there is a close up of Julian’s face in a soft focus. We see Julian staring in a kind of state of disbelief as he slowly repeats to himself "The Red Shoes...?" As the words leave Julian’s lips the focus changes from soft to distorted. It's as if Julian just mentioning the name of the production has cast some kind of magic spell. I see this as the foreshadowing. As it demonstrates the strange hold the "The Red Shoes" production will have on all the characters lives. As well it foreshows the surreal nature of the ballet itself, at least as it’s presented in the film.
I felt there was second instance of foreshadowing in the shot where Victoria is entering the gates of the dilapidated mansion in Monte Carlo to meet with Lermontov and his production team. The mansion looks like something out of fairy tale. It's all overgrown with weeds and looks deserted. You can tell by Victoria hesitation to enter the gates that she is unsure that this could be the actual place where Lermontov wants to meet her. Or perhaps the hesitation was from of a sense of foreboding. For at the end of the scene she will be told that she will dance the lead in “The Red Shoes”, which will eventually cause her death.
The shot that moved me most about "The Red Shoes" was the shot where Victoria was placed in the position to make a choice between what seems like two sides, ballet and her love for Julian.
Victoria was in the room as Julian had come in looking like a villain, Stating he knew she would be there (Victoria looking innocent yet almost ashamed) as though she was cheating on him with the ballet (or maybe Lermontov?).
The Interesting part I found about this (plot wise) was that she was not only forced to choose between ballet and dancing, but as well Lermontov. As she clearly states “I love you Julian, nobody but you”. Instead of nothing almost implying she is not referring to ballet.
Throughout that scene every shot Julian is alone in the frame he is shot from a low-angle shot to make him look bigger then her; almost as though he had the right to live his dream but Victoria not hers.
To the point the shot that caught my eye from this scene was Julian’s composition when he was against a mirror/cabinet and he was very upset looking but next to him you see this great big dark shadow. The two sides letting her live her life or living the one he wants. Notice as well every shot Victoria was framed in this scene; she was shot from a high-angle making her appear smaller and almost more ashamed. It seemed as though when Victoria chose ballet, Julian felt she chose Lermontov as well.
I noticed aswell in this scene the closer Julian got to her the more she chose ballet. And not until he was gone did she choose him.
Although not a shot but..
I think the common quote "you don’t know what you have till it’s gone" is the implicit meaning behind the movie because Victoria always wants the opposite of what she has; She jumps off the balcony because she realizes she cannot have it all.
The shot that moved me was the shot in Lermontov's office in where a miniature stage was on his table. It was a moving shot because when he started by the window with all the lights turned off and then he turned on the miniature stage's lights, it seems that it reflects his life. His life is dark like it's full of sadness and emptiness. However, with the presence of the light of the stage, it seems that's where his life shines like turning girls like Ms. Page into a superstar. In amidst of the darkness that surrounds his life, the stage will always bring him the light he needs. The crowds and the production loves him and thinks he's a genius, while the other part of his life is just a bland and colorless one that needs some work itself.
The shot that really stayed with me was during "The Red Shoes" ballet. It starts with a theatre stage, Victoria starts to dance towards the shoemaker shop, where he is finishing up some red shoes, which Victoria can not take her eyes off, when the shoemaker finally offers her the shoes, a montage is done to create an idea that the shoes were magically strap to her feet. As the dance goes on, It is obvious that the ballet is no longer taking place in a theatre since the stage limits no longer exists
and Victoria dances in a much bigger space filled with surrealist characters and scenarios. I really love how the old technicolor touch brings out the surrealistic scenery to life.
The shot that moved me in the Red Shoes was when Lermontov was alone in his room after he has been told Julian and Victoria are in a relationship. This scene stood out from the rest of the other scenes because it showed Lermontov’s different side of himself. Throughout the movie we see Lermontov as the calm, relaxed gentleman, even when situations are in utter chaos, but after we see this scene, we can really see Lermontov’s villainous character.
The scene showed Lermontov’s rage and frustration over Julian and Victoria’s’ relation by putting Lermontov alone in a poorly lit room, wearing a blood red robe. To make the scene more dramatic Lermontov smashes his fist upon the mirrored wall showing his rage and anger. The camera zooms into the shattered wall and all we see are a dozen of Lermontov’s’ evil facial expressions.
Later on as the scene continues, someone knocks on his door and Lermontov quickly changes the mood of the scene by switching all the lights to a brighter setting. By changing the lighting, Lermontov quickly changes to his “normal” personality and appearance.
There is one shot that I found very interesting in "The Red Shoes" is at the very beginning, it is a low-angle shot, an officer walks down from the upstairs in the theater and he is trying to convince the two guards to open the gate. I love how the light goes trough from the window to the wall and the hall way are covered with wounderful colours, purple, red, and yellow.(you can see that the wall is not covered with a sigle colour) In composition, the wall divided the pictures into two parts, the left is the stairs and the right is almost a very dark color which construct a visual balance.
After the two guards opened the gate, peoples are rushing into the theater from ouside, the director gives the crowd a close-up shot to depicte everyone's facial expression, they all look very happy and excting, even a young man sractches the poster off the wall with his shoulder. The sence
indicates that "The Red Shoes" must be rich in imagery and it is also shows the audience a very good beginning.
The film "The Red Shoes", had a great deal of shots that were moving in some way that it was hard to pick only one.
The shot that I would have to say moved me, was the shot in which Lermontov punches the mirror in his room. In the shots before Lermontov gets the news that Victoria and Julian have been married. He is completely alone, pacing about his room, driving his fist into his other hand.
Lermontov then catches a glimpse of himself in the mirror, he looks almost surprised. Then pacing slowly forward, he stares into the mirror, you can read the feelings of anger and hate spread across his face. The camera is faced right at the mirror, so when Lermontov is staring at himself, it looks like is is staring at you, which is a most unsettling feeling. Then without warning he releases his anger and smashes the mirror with his fist. The shot itself actually ends before his fist hits the mirror, that is entire different shot altogether.
The shot was very powerful, and an insight into Lermontov's character, showing just how wild and passionate he really was.
"The Red Shoes" was full of shots and great scenes that all stood out equally and throughout my first viewing of the film I tried to find something that really left an imprint in my mind. It seemed as if I would have to write about a plethora of shots until the movie came to the point where Vicky is going to meet Lermontov so that he can tell her he has a very special part for her in his next ballet.
On her way to meet him, she is dressed in a very fairy-tale-esque outfit which looks more like something you would expect to see on a princess. This added to the amazing nature of the shot that stood out to me. The shot I am speaking of is the shot of her beginning to ascend the large exterior staircase on her way to the meeting and she looks up almost in wonder. The shot is angled slightly lower making the staircase seem bigger and at first is static. Then as she begins her journey up the fantastically decorated staircase which adds once again to the fairy-tale like nature of the shot, the camera begins to pan upwards showing the viewer just how large and wonderous the staircase is.
This shot stood out to me and I couldn't think of any other shot that captured the emotion of the character at that point in the story, the fairy-tale references in the plot and the entire feel of the movie quite as well as this one.
I thought the most interesting scene was in the train towards the end when Lermontov gave the ultamatum "If you wear the red shoes you wear them forever." That sentence was loaded with double meaning. In other words if Vicky chose to dance she would become the character she has portraid so passionatly she would never ne able to stop. But it would eventually kill her. I thought it was very interesting how this 'deal' if you will was so parallel with the ballet of the "Red Shoes." Andrew Kleysen
My favourite shot in the red shoes is the one during "The Red Shoes" ballet, there is one shot where Victoria is doing a solo,and the whole stage was really dark excpet the light on Victoria,Craster is standing at the left conner with a light on his face and looks really bright, Lermontov was on the right with a huge shadow , three characters forming a triangle visually, and Victory is dancing between them, from the left to the right and then back to the left, just like their story, Victory was stucked right in the middle, the choice of dance as a great dancer or live as a normal person
The ballet sequence in "The Red Shoes" stood out to me the most. From that sequence we are given an array of beautiful imagery and colours (seemed almost pastal like)that are the most memorable from the movie. If I had to choose a shot from this sequence that stood out the most to me it would have the overhead shot that we get of Vicky being pulled back from her home by a long shadow to continue to dance. The combination of the music used in this shot along with the image of the long eery shadow seeming pulling at her feet to keep her away from her mother and continueing to keep her dancing makes this a powerful shot. It is almost like she is a puppet to this shadow and she has no control of her movements anymore which drives her to insanity and incidently to her death.
There were a number of shots in "The Red Shoes" that I took notice of, most of them during the artistic portrayal of the ballet being danced for the first time. However one that stands out for me was when Lermontov is told Vikki and Craster are not at the birthday because they are in love and hving a romantic evening. He's surrounded by a crowd of happy, laughing people who are celebrating. Lermontov becomes discernible among the large group because he is suddenly still and unsmiling. The people around him don't seem to realize the importance of the information they've shared. I believe the camera zoomed in marginally but still it was clear Lermontov was alone and among a crowd of people. I thought he looked displaced and uncomfortable which says a lot about his characters loneliness.
The shot that I couldn't take my eyes off of this time was the scene just before Miss Page was given the opportunity to dance the main role in the ballet, The Red Shoes. She was shown, dressed in a beautiful gown and tiara and was standing at the foot of a grand staircase. It was the spitting image of Cinderella just before she arrived at the ball. The lighting off of her dress gave it a faint glow. I thought this moment combined with the movies emphasis on a special pair of shoes really reconnected the story with that of a fairytale.
"the red shoes"
This movie really had a lot going for it. It had great music and visuals through out and really captured my interest.
The shot that caught my eye was ballet done after Victoria had committed suicide. Earlier we had seen the ballet, "the red shoes", in its entirety. Which had striking visuals, costume, sets and music. The ballet begins without her, but we can still imagine Victoria there.
One thing I do want to point out, is that the actual red shoes are stage as the ballet goes on, but are also on Victoria's feet at the ending. Even though it was already established that there is only one pair of the red shoes. I don't know if it was supposed to be symbolic or was just a mistake. Either way it works.
The shot that moved me in the film, "The Red Shoes", by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, was the shot in which we are first introduced to Lermontov. It is during one of the first ballet scenes that we are shown in the movie. Lermontov is shown almost hidden behind a curtain as he sits up in a balcony, not paying any real attention to the performance beneath him. This shot was moving as it forshadows Lermontov's characteristics that we see later in the film. The shot is close up on half of his hand and fingers. I feel that this shot really portrays, with the help of the darkness of the shot as well as the dim, mysterious mood it creates, helps to predict Lermontov's personality that he later portrays in the film.
The shot that moved me in the film was the shot of the main character dancing the dance of the red shoes. The particular shot that caught my eye was the shot of her dancing in the circus after it becomes dark. I believe that this shot portrays the time that passes because she is dancing in the red shoes. Another aspect of the shot that caused me to believe that it portrays the passage of time is that the shot is shown in slow motion. The scene is also lightened with a blue light this causes the audience to perceive that it is night and and that the world has stopped so that she may continue to dance as we are sleeping. The transparent sheets for me portrayed the changing of the season and the redundant theme of time passing. Through the shot of the character dancing through the circus illustrates to the audience how time is inconsequential when dancing in the red shoes.
ps. sorry if my blog is late, my internet connection was down for some time, and this was the only time that it came back online.
I loved this movie. Everything was so artistically done, especially all the dance scenes. The one that i liked the most was when she first preformed the Red Shoes and started dancing at that festival type things. There was so much going on, so many colors and people, but all you can focus on is her beautiful dancing. The camera gets her whole body and it follows along with her movements from one end of the stage to the other. The spotlight is on her, and although we can see the other activities we are fixated on her. Such a pretty scene!
The shot that moved me the most was the one in the Red Shoes Ballet sequence, when she is dancing in front of the windowshop of the shoemaker, it looks like she is a trophy, not only to the shoemaker, who is desperately looking for a worthy dancer for the red shoes, but to the shoes itself. I loved how the director used the visual effects to create this aspect in the movie, it made the scene much richer. As it gets closer to the end, we start to see that Vick is being treated that way from the men in her life, like a trophy, she can't stand being seen like that, and prefers to throw away her amazing gift, so she can have a "normal" life. And what was supposed to be a nice love story ends up having a tragic ending.
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