There is a specific scene that stood out to me as one of the most impressive aspects of the film.
Around the 40-minute mark in the movie, Ally (Lady Gaga) joins Jackson (Bradley Cooper) on stage to sing the song they wrote together “Shallow.” Before she joins him, it takes Jackson a lot of convincing for Ally to come on stage, but once she does “Shallow” is considered to be Ally’s breakout performance in the movie.
What is done so differently in this scene compared to the rest of the movie/ movies I have watched, is a lot of concert movies film from the audience’s perspective, focusing more on the stage show. But this scene of Ally and Jack singing was shot live at an actual music venue in front of a real audience (shot at Greek Theater), thereby creating the real concert feel. The camera focuses on Ally and Jackson’s performance from a backstage point of view instead of from the audience’s point, giving an authentic and intimate feel to the viewer. This seems as it allowed the film to stay subjective with the characters, Jackson and Ally, giving the audience a feel of what it would be like to be on stage as a person, like the viewer is really there being able to connect and focus on this experience of Ally and Jackson.
One of the film directors’ comments in an interview saying “We needed to make (Cooper’s) Jackson Maine a real character, especially leading up to that performance of ‘Shallow” where Lady Gaga comes on stage for the first time. I wanted that to be a moment that propels us into the story, and so I created an arc visually for that. It is a mix of colours, and then it becomes a sort of magenta. And then I wanted to go to white light at the very end because it would be a metaphor for sobriety.
Sounds and colors are very important to detail in movies, colors are able to show meaning without having to express any words, just like the director used a white light to show a metaphor for sobriety. Sounds have the ability to put the viewer in place. When it comes to a movie, even the tiniest sounds can have big impacts. In this particular scene, there is sound behind the stage, on the stage, and also into the audience. The sounds were layered, mixed and edited to allow movie theater viewers to feel they were a part of a live audience. The depth and echo added into the vocals sounds brought the audio mix to life, allowing the viewers to actually feel as they are at the show.
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