Looking to Ballet to make better films
Griffin Sendek
05/27/2022 |What Happens Next Blog
The Ballet tells enthralling stories of love and death, kings and magic, romance, and heartbreak. It does so without any dialogue, only through dance and music.
On my latest trip to the ballet, watching Pittsburgh Ballet Theaters’ stunning performance of Swan Lake, I couldn’t help but notice how it tells a story and keeps an audience captivated without any words to guide them.
My first thought upon leaving the theater was how much filmmakers could learn from the way stories are told in the ballet—looking into the facets of what makes the ballet work and Incorporating elements into their next projects could make for stronger films.
There are four key takeaways film can take from ballet
Understandable without any dialogue.
Emphasis on music to guide the audience.
The plot isn’t the main point.
Giving lead characters opportunities to shine.
Film is not a singular medium but rather the coalescence of several different art forms. The best films are the ones that fully embrace this fact and incorporate a multitude of artistic sources deep into the core makeup of the film.
If the best films draw inspiration from other art forms, I believe more filmmakers should start taking from ballet.
1. LACK OF WORDS
I’ll be the first to admit I love well-written, snappy dialogues. All my unfinished scribblings of screenplays start with a contentious or emotional conversation between two people and often never materialize. These nameless characters are doomed to a life as conversation fragments strewn across several notebooks.
I doubt I’m alone in my knack for unfinished work.
Looking into how ballet makes simple story structure and characters and interprets it through choreographed dancing demonstrates an entire three-hour performance cannot only be captivating without holding the audience’s hand. And it’s been doing so for hundreds of years.
Hate to admit it, but dialogue never was as important as we thought. Us writers could likely learn a thing or two from divorcing ourselves from the firm clutches dialogue has over our scripts.
When it comes to storytelling, the Ballet embodies the phrase “show don’t tell” Due to the fact there physically isn’t the capability to tell.
Done well, it works; the audience isn’t lost as to what is happening, and there is no need for a narrator to explain every scene or for the main characters to endlessly monologue about how they feel.
Whether it’s the cinematography, the music, the scenery, sound design, or the actors silently expressing emotion, there is so much to appreciate without a single line of dialogue.
I’m not arguing that every film now should be silent; however, if the story or character details can be conveyed without explaining or said explicitly, why not try doing it silently and trust the audience to put together the pieces. If it’s worked for the ballet for centuries, it could work for a few minutes in your next film.
2. DON'T NEGLECT MUSIC
So much of what makes a wordless story work is the wonderfully composed music.
Nearly all classical ballets were written for the music, not the other way around. Music is a critical component of ballet; so much of the medium’s artistry is lost without it.
Music can often be an afterthought in films, especially for young filmmakers making their first shorts who don’t have the means to hire and composer and record original tracks. It’s perfectly understandable, nothing about making films is easy or cheap, and it’s no mystery why music is often first on the chopping block.
Music compliments our emotions the same way it complements the dance numbers. It’s the starting point and guides us through everything. It motivates how the characters feel and how we, as an audience, should be feeling.
Guide the audience’s emotions with the proper music, and they’ll come away feeling more in touch with the film. It’s a cheat code of sorts; it’s vital to how the ballet works and often unknowingly leads you through every movie you’ve watched. Don’t neglect the importance of music.
3. PLOT ISN’T THE POINT
For all the arguing I did about how the Ballet excellently crafts an understandable story, I will be the first to admit that not every single detail of the story or who the characters are is perfectly gathered from dance and music alone. It is not to undermine my prior statements but rather to express that it isn’t essential because the plot isn’t the point.
A seasoned balletgoer who can follow every detail of the story and a first-timer without a clue what’s going on can appreciate it all the same.
It’s not why people attend the ballet; it’s not why they enjoy it.
And for that matter, I argue the plot should never be the sole reason you watch a film.
I love a twisting and turning narrative, a mystery that pays to inspect every detail before it all falls together at the end. However, there’s something very calmingly pleasant about enjoying the ballet for simply its beauty and the skill of everyone involved, even with little to no understanding of the story. There should be more films where beauty takes precedence over the story — films that exist as art rather than just another piece of media.
Short art films are nothing new; however, I think they have the potential to sit alongside more traditional cinema as something built around beauty and enjoyment and less perfect understanding and clarity.
It opens the doors to more artful interpretations and suspension of disbelief that is welcome in the theater.
Short, silent films could be on the cusp of a major renaissance. The world is more interconnected than ever before. Why limit every film to an English audience? Remove the language barrier, increase the audience and create something that stands alone on sight and sight sound.
3. LET YOUR LEADS SHINE
Ballets operate with a hierarchy of roles with their dancers: Principal, Soloist and Corp de ballet. Not unlike roles in films — Principals are the leads, soloists are the main supporting cast and Corp de ballet are the ensemble or background characters.
There is a reason why you cast them as the lead in the film; make sure the audience knows that too.
In a good Ballet is no question of who the principals are, they are given the floor and focus of the audience far more often, but most importantly, their skills far exceed the rest.
Ballet dancers spend their whole lives for the opportunity to be a principal, working their way up through the hierarchy. Once they reach that point in their career, the ballet rewards them with solos and duets and the most beautiful, awe-inspiring choreography of the entire show.
Is that not so different from actors working their way through background and supporting roles to one day be the lead on a big production?
Show the audience why you picked them to lead, give them their own film interpretations of solos and duets, put the actors in situations in which they can perform at their very best.
Don’t let audiences leave your film with a middling feeling that your leads never got their chance to truly shine and couldn’t display their full potential as an actor.
Every art form has the power to inspire others. Don’t limit yourself to drawing from books and films. I implore you to reach further than what you know, take a look at history, research the classics, and understand what’s worked in the past. Utilize the art of old to construct something new.
An entire world of art and storytelling exists to spark creativity for your next project, and ballet is just one of many.