Today, a classic movie, "The Sound of Music", is still full of vitality. The classics never die, and the true feelings live on in the hearts of the people forever. The musical "The Sound of Music" was released in the UK in 1965, and it quickly sparked a movie craze, winning the Best Picture award at the 38th Academy Awards the following year. This allowed the musical to win the Best Picture Oscar for two consecutive times, once again proving the strong narrative and lyrical capabilities of musicals. "The Sound of Music" has thus become a household name in the world's representative music and dance.
This musical is based on the 1959 Broadway musical "The Sound of Music". It was created by the musical's signature "R&H" factory, and it was composed by Rogers and Hammerstein II, who were very good partners in the musical's "Golden Age". This was their last collaboration, and "Edelweiss" became the last song Hammerstein II left in the world. Nine months after the premiere of the musical version of "The Sound of Music," Hammerstein II passed away, and the production came to a close for the "R&H" musical DreamWorks. At the same time, the musical "The Sound of Music" also saved the 20th Century Fox Corporation, which was on the verge of bankruptcy. The script is adapted from Maria von Topp's autobiography - "The Singer of the Top Family", which establishes the authenticity of the story in the film and immerses the audience in the plot of the film and is fascinated by this beautiful and touching story .
The long shot at the beginning shows the audience a lively and quiet Austrian natural scene with bright colors, giving the audience an immersive feeling. With the soothing and melodious sound of "Prelude", the long-range camera slowly zoomed in, and the protagonist Maria appeared. Standing on the distant mountains, she sang "The Sound of Music", and created a lively, cheerful, optimistic and nature-loving character in a lyrical way. Cooperate with "Suite" to introduce the title content and enter the main part of the story. Next, multiple sets of shots introduce the interior and exterior environment of the church, and show the images of the group portraits in the church. Using medieval church music to create an atmosphere, the nuns naturally talked about Maria, leading to the song "Maria", which tells the multiple personalities of Maria through his oral side. At the same time, the nuns throw questions about how to solve the difficult problems that arise in Maria, move the plot forward, and set the stage for the story that follows. Maria then sings "Faith" on her way to the Colonel's house after being told by the Abbot to be tutor to the Colonel's seven children. Through the lyrics expressing her inner activities, she shows Maria's inner transformation from fear of entering the unknown world to optimistic face of reality after regaining her confidence.
At dinner time, the eldest daughter Lisa went to the garden to meet Rove after learning that it was Rove who sent the telegram to the colonel. After telling each other how they missed each other, the two sang "Seventeen Years Old", which was a successful clip from a musical adapted into a musical. It enters the lyrical part from a gentle narrative melody, and the sense of melody gradually increases. As the two expressed their feelings to each other, the thunder began to rise and the rhythm of the music accelerated, and the two entered the pavilion for shelter from the rain. The two people's love is beginning, and the love is sincere, and they naturally enter the dance part. At this time, the rhythm of the music is clear and tense, the content of the lyrics is romantic and true, and the theme melody is integrated with the sound of rain. Clever use of the building structure in the pavilion, with dance movements, express the strong love between the two. The color of this section is soft and the editing is smooth and natural, which conforms to the stage picture of the original musical and follows the basic requirements of theater stage scheduling.
On the rainy night, the thunder roared, and the frightened children ran to Maria's room. To soothe the children, Maria sang "My Favorite Thing" and mingled with the children. The children's original vigilance against Maria also dissipated. The joyful atmosphere inside the house contrasts with the thundery and rainy weather outside, highlighting the warmth and beauty inside the house.
A few days later, the children sang "The Sound of Music" to greet the Baroness, the second time it has been sung by a character in the film, and one of the colonel's character-changing arias. After hearing the children's singing, the colonel recalled the life scene when his wife was alive, and couldn't help singing "The Sound of Music" with the children. This is a real dialogue between father and children, expressing father's love with singing, eliminating the estrangement between children and father, and radiating the beauty of family affection that transcends time and space.
At the dance, the seven children bid farewell to the guests present and sang "Good Night, Goodbye". The charming children's chorus sang into the hearts of every audience present, and the audience was also immersed in this touching good night song. Then, realizing that she might have fallen in love with the colonel, Maria left a letter in a panic and left. The still bright light and hilarious dance music in the room could not relieve Maria's conflicted and overwhelmed mood at the time. Entering the intermission with the dance music of the band, this is in line with the two-act setting of the original musical and has the same dramatic rhythm as the musical.
After Maria left, the children sang the theme melody of "The Sound of Music" again, and the tempo of the music was slowed down to express the children's lost mood. This clip is a link between the previous and the next, pulling the audience back to the plot of the film.
After learning about Maria's difficulties, the dean sang "Climbing the Mountains" in order to solve her problems. The music uses a solemn wide beat, reflecting its seriousness, and the melodious melody depicts the inner monologue that Maria is relieved. The film is dark, with high contrast, and uses colors that are close to black and white to express Maria's inner struggle. The composition of the picture is balanced on both sides, one bright and one dark, reflecting the inner struggle of the characters' contradictions.
The children went to the monastery and didn't see Maria, very disappointed, and sang "My Favorite Things" together, because it made Maria happy, but it didn't work. Cut to the distant view, Maria walks towards the children and sees her children running towards her to sing a chorus to welcome Maria back.
Ensemble, in the film by variation, pitch, adding or modifying the harmony, etc., so that the same melody or theme repeated in the film, can play a unique role in empathy. "The Sound of Music" appropriately uses this technique, and in the second half of the plot, the ensemble music appears many times. "Doremi (Ensemble)" was used as part of a concert performance. "Maria (Encore)" shows that Maria has grown up, experienced the true feelings of the world, felt the world with her heart, and finally changed. "Seventeen Years Old (Encore)" shows the disappearance of the eldest daughter's love. Because of Maria's comfort, the eldest daughter is still full of yearning for love, willing to give her true feelings, and welcome the summer of seventeen with an optimistic attitude. Edelweiss (Ensemble) is the one with the strongest emotion and the most successful effect. The theme is sublimated from a small family to everyone. Love for family, hometown and motherland can conquer everything. "Good Night, Goodbye (Encore)" provides the Top family with a chance to escape. This is a farewell to the audience, as well as to their hometown and the motherland.
Musical films often set important arias to focus on dramatic conflicts, accelerate the transformation of characters, and enhance the audience's interest in watching movies. The musical "The Sound of Music" has four important arias, which are the most classic and have been sung to this day.
First, the fragment of "Duo Laimi". The content of the song is easy to understand, and Maria's purpose is to teach seven children to sing in a fun, simple way. The song is structured into three sections, using the method of connecting two melody through solo, chorus, turn singing and duet singing, from shallow to deep, from slow to fast. In terms of character building, it shows Maria's kind and friendly image, and the children's lively and simple image. This dramatic contradiction is resolved in stark contrast to the children's mistrust of Maria, the need to tease her, and Maria's first-time tutor's strangeness and apprehension about a repressed home environment. The pictures in the film are extremely simple, which strengthens the unique attraction of nature and highlights the humanistic feelings of Maria and her party in nature. The street scenes in the city also take long-range and panoramic views as the main scenes, showing the lively atmosphere of life in the city. It is intended to reflect the peaceful and peaceful environment in the city before the war, and to pave the way for the following plot.
Second, a fragment of "The Lonely Shepherd". The most outstanding part of this aria is that it adopts the yodel singing method with rich changes, distinct layers and strong drama to interpret this song, which has extremely high requirements for the singing and performance ability of the actors. Yodel's singing is relaxed and happy, and the tune is lively and lively, a puppet show with national characteristics is presented, which is a successful attempt in the history of musicals and musicals. This performance can advance the plot at the same time, win the colonel's family a chance to participate in the concert, and provide a reason for the colonel to sing next.
Third, the "Edelweiss" fragment. There are two arias of "Edelweiss" in the film, which are set in the middle and end of the film and play an important role in different positions. In the first part of "Edelweiss", the dramatic motivation is to shape the characters and promote the development of the plot. First of all, in this aria, the colonel's character change is the most obvious, he relieved the pain caused by the death of his deceased wife; secondly, he brings joy to the children, assumes the role of father, and shows the greatness of father's love; finally, The Colonel's growing affection for Maria is revealed in this clip. At the same time, Maria also gradually fell in love with the colonel before. When the colonel sang, she felt this emotion and laid the groundwork for the follow-up. In addition, the baroness also observes that Maria's feelings towards the colonel have changed, she is jealous and enriches the character. The latter part of "Edelweiss" plays a major role in the sublimation theme. In the context of Austria's annexation by Germany in World War II, the Austrian people were suffering from the pain of subjugation. After the Top family sang "Edelweiss" expressing their deep love for the motherland at the concert, the Austrian people and the Top family ignited sincerity of patriotism. It is precisely because of the support of the people that the Top family can escape the clutches of the Nazis and start a new life. The composition of the pictures in the two paragraphs of "Edelweiss" before and after is clever, the interior lighting is natural and delicate, the composition highlights the subject, but it does not lose the warm atmosphere of a family. The back stage uses a stage light on a darker stage to accentuate the subject. During the colonel's singing, the scene was constantly changing, from panoramic to medium shot to close-up and finally to medium shot, showing the emotional changes in the colonel's heart, expressing emotions with music, and making the audience empathize.
Fourth, the clip of "Some Good Things". Under the hazy filter, the light mostly uses top light and side light to show the romantic scene under the moonlight. The camera uses a lot of close-ups and close-ups to express the lingering and beautiful love scenes of the hero and heroine. Although the picture is relatively cool in tone, in order to show the mysterious and quiet feeling in the forest, it does not lose the warm atmosphere. The two face each other and form a silhouette, trying their best to render the sweetness and happiness of love.
The story of the musical "The Sound of Music" takes place during World War II, when the domestic political situation in Austria was turbulent, the German Nazi forces penetrated into Austria, and the people were powerless to resist. The Colonel's political stance is clear, he always supports the national honor of his country, and tells us to keep our hearts on our homeland and love our motherland. The familiar classic melodies in the film still reverberate in our ears, and the real and moving stories, lively and kind characters, and beautiful and profound themes remain in our minds endlessly. I believe that the musical "The Sound of Music" will move audiences from generation to generation, "We lift our eyes to the mountain and hope to come from there!"
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