Workshop #3
The film musical in the history of technologies
June 9-11, 2016
University Paris 8 and Fondation des Etats Unis (Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris)
Many thanks to Anne Crémieux, Claire Demoulin, Jean-Baptiste Hennion, Aurélie Ledoux, Delphine Rives and Pierre-Olivier Toulza for their assistance in planning this event.
The use of technologies has often been the way for Hollywood to distinguish itself from its Broadway sources. Cinema thus invented its own technological attractions to compensate the fact that it is deprived of live performances and it had to invent its own type of mediatized performance. The periods of transitions in technologies have been times of redefinition of the musical genre (for example the introduction of color, wide frames, special effects, etc.). They brought both spectacular "improvements" but also difficulties : with Cinemascope, the lack of depth required a change in movement organization in dance numbers.
This workshop considers the Hollywood musical as a privileged ground for technological experiment. We will tackle 3 majors issues : 1) the links between performance and technology : what are the assets and restrictions of cinematic techniques in modeling a screen performance ? 2) Do technical choices or experiments (re)define aspects of the musical genre, and what are their aesthetic consequences ? For example, do the changes in sound technologies influence the forms and structures of film musicals ? Does color drive an evolution from a “classical” style towards a more exuberant conception of the genre ? 3) What are the connexions between technological innovations and the recycling of pre-existing stereotypes ? How much are technological effets used to reinvent the tropes of musical theatre or other media ?
9h45 Accueil
10h-12h15. Table ronde : l’expérience de la 3-D / Roundtable : Experimenting with 3-D
Animée par/ led by Caroline Renouard (Labex Arts-H2H)
Avec/ with Marguerite Chabrol (Univ. Paris 8), Patricia Dolambi (CRR Aubervilliers), Kira Kitsopanidou (Univ. Paris 3), Pascal Martin (ENS Louis Lumière)
With analysis of 3D clips
12h15. Déjeuner/ Lunch Break
13h45-15h45. Session 1 : Les espaces construits par la technologie / Technology-defined spaces
Présidence/ Chair : Hélène Fleckinger (Univ. Paris 8)
Gaspard Delon (Univ. Paris-Diderot) : « Wider and deeper : l’espace du musical à l’épreuve du Todd-AO »
Caroline Renouard (Labex Arts-H2H) : « Le double espace attractionnel des numéros hybrides (prise de vues réelles et animation) »
Réjane Hamus-Vallée (Univ. Évry Val d’Essonne) : « Mouvement et trucage : la caméra dans l’espace d’Un Américain à Paris »
16h-18h. Session 2 : La couleur comme nouvelle norme / Color is the new black
Présidence/ Chair : Emmanuel Dreux (Univ. Paris 8)
Céline Ruivo (Cinémathèque française) : « La rétention des couleurs chez Minnelli »
Pierre-Olivier Toulza (Univ. Paris-Diderot) : « Le Technicolor des ‘Good Neighbor’ musicals »
Karen McNally (London Metropolitan University) : « ‘Love is Nothing But a Racket’: It's Always Fair Weather and the Colour Noir Musical »
18h15. Projection en 3-D / 3-D Screening : Kiss Me, Kate (G. Sidney, MGM, 1953)
10h-12h45. Session 3 : Invention des techniques et des formats (1929-1933) / Inventing technologies and formats (1929-1933)
Présidence / Chair : Joël Augros (Univ. Paris 8)
N.T. Binh (Univ. Paris 1) : « Enregistrement direct, playback, post-synchronisation, mixage »
Noah Teichner (Univ. Paris 8) : « ‘Canned’ Spectators: From Vaudeville to Vitaphone Shorts »
Screening ofNine O’clock Folks (1931, 10 min)
Pause / Break
Doug Reside (New York Public Library) : « Stage Technologies in the 1920s »
Katalin Pór (Univ. de Lorraine) : « Conversion et intensification. Attractions scéniques et modernités technologiques 1929-1930 »
12h45. Déjeuner / Lunch break
14h-16h15. Session 4 : Entre médiation et trucage : l’« authenticité » de la performance / Between mediation and trick: the « authenticity » of film performances
Présidence/ Chair : Anne Crémieux (Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense)
Allison Robbins (University of Central Missouri) : « ‘Experimentations By Our Sound Department’: Dummy Orchestras, Guide Tracks, and Liveness in 1930s Hollywood Musicals »
Todd Decker (Washington University in Saint-Louis) : « Fred Astaire, Captain America, and the Cyborg: The Technological Body of a Musical Star »
Marguerite Chabrol (Univ. Paris 8) : « The Goddess in Mono: Rita Hayworth’s Singing Voices »
16h15-16h45. Pause / Break
16h45-18h15. Atelier Base de données : questions d’indexation / Database workshop : indexing
Animé par / Led by M. Chabrol & P-O. Toulza
Humanités numériques / Digital Humanities
10h-12h30. Présentation du développement de la base de données et de l’outil numérique / Introduction to the database and digital platform
Par/ by Gaétan Darquié (Univ. Paris 8), IGR du projet.
12h30 Déjeuner / Lunch Break
14h-16h Travail sur le thésaurus / Improving the thesaurus
16h-18h. La recherche collaborative avec l’outil numérique / Collaborative research with the digital platform
(parallel session : 16h-18h. Screening ofThe Gang’s All Here (B. Berkeley, Fox, 1943))
18h Discussion / Debate :The Gang’s All Here
Avec/ with Pierre-Olivier Toulza
18h45 Cole Porter Cocktail Party Singalong.
Piano : Todd Decker
Cocktail Party