February 28, 2012
Dance Moms
I just watched an episode of Dance Moms titled "The Runaway Mom ". At the very beginning of this episode Abby Lee reveals her weekly rankings of her students. As each photo is revealed the camera darts to each photo individually, an extreme close up happens on each head shot, and a piercing sound is played. All these techniques work together to heighten the drama that the show thrives on. Sound also plays a huge role as Kendall is placed on probation and her mother begins to argue with Abby. As the argument heats up, the loud drumming in the background gets louder and faster- again to heighten the drama. Sound is also used to reinforce the mood of the show when the girls are practicing their competition dance in which they will dress as brides. Pretty music resembling a music box is played to highlight the dance the girls are going to perform. Recently, the American entertainment industry has seemed to go down every possible avenue in search of some sort of entertainment. We watch shows about couponing, shows about hoarding, and now a show completely based on a dance class full of eight year olds. This recent trend has caused producers to rely on making these things a lot more exciting than they really are through the use of film techniques. Dance Moms is one of these shows which end up being overly dramatic and somewhat ridiculous. A dance class full of little girls should not be broadcast worthy. It should be a place where little girls can make friends, gain confidence, and find out if dancing is something they have a passion for. Abby Lee has turned her studio into a place where girls worry about their classmates replacing them. The girls are bred to be insecure and dissatisfied with almost every one of their performances. While I agree that girls should be taught to take criticism constructively, I also believe that eight years old is too young to be belittled and bearded about not pointing your toes enough. Dance Moms is a crystal clear image of the pathetic places our entertainment industry is looking in for some sort of wow factor.
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I also watched an episode of Dance Moms this week. One of the scenes features Brooke talking to Abby about wanting to join dance classes again. The music during this whole scene is very significant. At the beginning of this scene Brooke is talking to the audience, expressing how she hopes that Abby will be ok with her wanting to join again. The music is some comfortable notes on what seems to be a piano, setting the mood and expressing the hope that Brooke has. After, as soon as Abby begins to talk, the music switches to low, sad, and depressing notes because she is telling Brooke that she was very upset and disappointed when she quit. This is supposed to make the viewer sympathize with Brooke. The scene then cuts to a flashback of Brooke quitting, reminding the viewers how upset Brooke was and Abby yelling at her and her mom. Then, when they are talking again, Abby begins to realize the talent that Brooke possesses and how she would be missing out on it if she didn’t allow her to dance again. The music changes to a higher, more comfortable pitch and joyful notes in the background. The camera zooms out on them clinking glasses in their agreement. In the final shoot of the scene, Brooke is talking directly to the audience again expressing her gratitude for Abby allowing her to join again and how happy she is. As it transitions to the next scene, the music finishes out with a cymbal clasping together, meaning everything was settled, they both are happy and the discussion is over.
ReplyDeleteMy family is a HUGE dance family as sad as it is to say. My little sister is in about 20 different classes and my older sister goes to school for dance. Unfortunately my sister has gotten me hooked. Each week the show starts off with Abby telling the girl who technically did the worse and who did the best. As Abby shows the girls and their mother there is "music" played in the back round to show that its a surprise and that it is important to these people. Threw out the show there is panning and tracking of the girls dancing. There is also, close ups of everyone interviews as they talk about what is going on. There is a lot of flashbacks to show everything the girls go threw each week with Abby yelling at them about how the screw up, or how well they are doing. Every episode is like the same thing Abby beats the girls down in trying to make them better dancers and have the right confidence. Abby screams and yells and then the moms yell back. Its like they live for the drama. By the end of each episode everything turns out great and then starts all over in the next one.
ReplyDeleteDance Moms
DeleteI also watched Dance Moms this week, and Taylor, I know first-hand what it’s like being in a dance family. I didn’t start dance until I was nine but my teacher was a lot like Abby so that’s why I’m hooked on this show because I know some of it is all for the camera I mean, come on its T.V but a lot of it is real; the tears the sweat and the injuries. Anyway, this week when Jill, Kendal’s mom forces Kendal to leave Reign Dance Studio and Abby Lee’s Dance Company Jill makes a phone call to duh…duh…duh, Candy Apples Dance Center. No really I’m not being silly with the duh…duh…duh right before the viewer’s find out whom Jill is talking to a dramatic music begins in the background. We also get a close up on Jill’s phone, hand and face. Then the camera flashes to Kendal’s pouting face because she didn’t want to leave the Abby Lee Dance Company and be on Abby’s bad side. The next scene I want to look at is the wedding gown shop. Yes, the children are preforming a dance number about a wedding however, there is absolutely no way the children would fit into women wedding dresses. In fact the dancers ended up wearing crop tops and booty shorts with a little extra bling and some poof so that makes me 100% sure that there was only one reason for this scene; to add drama. The viewers are just finding out that Melissa (Maddie and Mackenzie’s mom) is engaged. The scene was used for drama which means a lot of work went into filming it. As in any wedding shop there are flood lights but the director has added the use of dimmer spot lights to the dresses the mothers analyzed the most. With the use of camera work drama can be added to anything.