Strictly_Ballroom

The glamorous dance floor, the glorious attire, the elegant music and the precise body manoeuvres are just some of the factors which inspired Australian director, Baz Luhrmann to create an absolute flamboyant masterpiece of his own, Strictly Ballroom (1992). The strength to fight for what one believes in becomes evident throughout this film and therefore the heart of the production lives by the line “A life lived in fear is a life half lived”. Strictly Ballroom is an ebulliently comic celebration of dance which invites its audience to take up particular positions and react in a prescribed manner as determined by Luhrmann, who incorporated meaningful film techniques which highlighted the effectiveness of the film through non-verbal signifiers such as camera, lighting and costuming. Strictly Ballroom uses satirical techniques and hyperbole to depict a spectrum of issues denoting false personalities, self expression, courage and love. The romantic comedy is about Scott Hastings (Paul Mercurio), an elite ballroom dancer who infuriates the ballroom dancing establishment because he refuses to follow the accepted rules of ballroom dancing and creates his own style of choreography. His dancing partner, Liz Holt (Gia Carides), deserts him because his newly made-up dance moves causes them to lose at the Southern Districts Waratah Championship. After very little choice, Scott makes the difficult decision to accept Fran (Tara Morice) as his new partner, a beginner who initially does not seem promising. With Fran’s courage, determination and the strength to overcome her fears, she turns into a glorious dancer, at which point Scott develops a strong love for her. Barry Fife (Bill Hunter), chairman of the Australian Dancing Federation, engages in some shady dealings in an attempt to cling to power and disqualifies them when performing at the Pan-Pacific Grand Prix. However, with the crowd’s support, Scott and Fran persist on dancing the Paso Doble. Scott and Fran dance to the music of Love is in the Air and are joined on the ballroom floor by the whole crowd. A meaningful non-verbal signifier used to position the audience in this production is the camera techniques. This is particularly evident in the dance sequences because the dynamic camera movement enriches and highlights the dance routines of the main characters. The first dance sequence shows the camera tracking and panning which emphasises the flawless and elegant flow of the waltz being performed. After the waltz, as the music beat increases, so does the camera as it is seen to pan much more rapidly and quickly cut to several different angles. This technique enhances the steps and makes the scene as lively as possible for the viewer. Scott’s new choreography style is similar to freestyle, where his heart just moves him to the beat. The camera also “dances” with him, in a freestyle manner, capturing long continuous shots of Scott spinning and it almost looks as if he will hit the camera. It moves around the room freely and spontaneously, which reinforces the sense that neither Scott nor the camera is following any specific ballroom routine. Camera techniques are also used to represent the authority level of the characters. Being chairman of the Australian Dancing Federation, Barry Fife is seen to be a man who thrives on power. The camera angles mirrors this representation by shooting him with a low angle shot when first introduced. Another example was backstage at the Pan-Pacific Grand Prix, where Shirley is lecturing Fran about Scott and how he isn’t meant to end up with her because, after all, she is just a janitor. The camera shoots Shirley at a low angle, showing she is important and mighty, whereas Fran is shot at a high camera angle. This signifies Shirley talking down at Fran who was losing confidence due to the scenario she was in. Lastly, a very creative camera technique is used after Barry tells Scott the fabricated story about his father. Scott studies the photos of his dad from when he used to dance, and afterwards the camera went into a spinning shot; spinning around Scott’s head, signifying emotion such as confusion. The spinning shot then fades into the dance floor, so it is also a good trick as if Scott is “spinning though time”, similar to travelling in a time machine. Through the ingenious usage of camera techniques, the viewer is given a heightened awareness of motion, emotion and action in the dancing scenes, as well as the characters’ levels of authority. Lighting is another non-verbal signifier which Luhrmann uses in order to get the audience to take up particular positions. Lighting is one of the most important tools a director can use to transform the implications of a scene. An important scene is the one in which Scott and Fran are dancing backstage. The background is a pink lit curtain. The music playing is Doris Day's “Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps” and the lyrics discuss how a lover is not telling another about their feelings. The lighting in this scene is dim. Automatically the audience is positioned to see this scene as romantic. Afterwards, this romantic scene is interrupted by shots of overdramatic dancing by Tina Sparkle on the dance floor juxtaposing genuine dancing from Scott and Fran backstage. This scene has very little dialogue but the lighting and music do the talking so the audience is encompassed within the scene, experiencing the emotions of Scott and Fran. Another great scene is when Scott is shown alone at the Pan-Pacific Grand Prix, head down, in the spotlight. This makes the audience think about the kind of stress and crowd Scott opposes to overcome his fears. Lighting is a deep and meaningful non-verbal which is essential in Strictly Ballroom because it gives an in-sight on another deeper perspective on every scene. Costume is a very significant non-verbal signifier used to position the audience in Strictly Ballroom. This is displayed significantly with the highly glamorous and false personalities of the ballroom dancers such as Liz and Shirley, juxtaposing the natural beauty and casual attire in which Fran is usually displayed in. Shirley always wears pink, cakes on the makeup and wears a lot of jewellery. This tells the audience that she is “over the top” and maybe insecure about herself or her past. The glamour, costumes and make-up worn by the ballroom dancers position the audience to see the ballroom dancers as wearing a mask to hide the fact that they are not being themselves, but living their life in fear; in fear of having to go along with conformity, being captured and caught in Barry Fife’s strict approved rules of ballroom dancing. However, the natural uncovered faces of Scott and Fran when practising, allows the audience to understand they are open people with free personalities. In the beginning of the movie, Scott and Liz were costumed in yellow attire; yellow representing the two characters are still scared, cowardly and trapped in the social influence of conformity. During one of the mockumentary style interviews, Liz is interviewed in her bedroom which was full of yellow items. Apart from that, her bedroom is seen as childish because of her stuffed toys and her messy dresser, which gives the audience the impression of Liz being too immature for Scott. During the same period, their dance floor rival, Ken Railings, is dressed in pure white. Ken is notorious among the dance community as being a drunk, and later on in the movie, he is seen to be wearing the same costume except coloured grey. This signifies the way that alcohol affects his life, as if his reputation is being tarnished. Contrary to this, in the later part of Strictly Ballroom, Scott Hastings is dressed in white, which signifies the audience to believe he is now open, confident and released from conformity. On the other hand, Barry Fife is represented as a dictator due to his position as chairman of the Australian Dance Federation. He is a strong believer in conformity and his sinister plan is to brainwash all ballroom dancers, enforce conformity and eliminate anyone who doesn’t believe in it. His blue suit represents power and greed, and many people are too scared to argue with Barry, especially about the rules of ballroom dancing. The sound, camera and lighting combined always made Barry look evil or corrupt, like a sinister figure. This is due to the shadows, which always covers one side of his red face and usually when doing close ups, the camera focuses on his decayed and uneven teeth, sometimes it zooms to an extreme close shot. One of Barry’s notorious lines is, “Well, of course, you can dance any steps you like! But that doesn't mean you'll... win.” This shows that Barry is unfair in all aspects especially in the way he treats people. Proper costuming is a vital component in creating a movie which positions the audience via non-verbal signifiers. Strictly Ballroom is an Australian classic. Luhrmann uses non-verbal signifiers throughout Strictly Ballroom such as camera, lighting and costuming in order to get its audience to take up particular positions and react in an intended manner. It is a wildly off-beat comedy which, in time, the fashion might be out of style but the messages in this movie, such as “to live in fear is a life half lived”, will never outdate.