Since I am eleven years old, Anna Karenina has been one of my favorite romances in film. Even though the Anna Karenina did not have one of the best relationships, the story is unforgettable and incomparable, all due to their chemistry. Vronsky and Anna Karenina first meet in the train station, and since then there was tension between the two, as they go to a party, they get to dance with each other as if no one else is watching, when actually everybody in the party is since Anna was married.
The chemistry between the two characters is interesting due to the appreciation both have for each other; even though they do not know much about each other, they are intensely attracted to one another. This attraction is developed from the point they dance in the party, this scene is pivotal to the story and is one of my favorite scenes in film due to its mise en scene, choreography, camera movement, etc...the reason why this scene is so essential is due to the expressiveness of the dance. No word is spoken nor there are much facial expressions but the fluidity of the hand movements and choreography of how as they start to dance all the couples around them stop dancing until Anna and Vronsky pass through; this technique gives the effect of time stopping as Anna and Vronsky started to dance; and when the dance gets more intimate the scene transitions from Anna been risen to them dancing in the same ballroom but empty under the spotlight, demonstrating how the moment felt for the couple and how they were the center of the attention in the party, since it was a forbidden attraction due to Anna's marriage. Even through the colors, this message of attraction, or as forbidden is transmitted due to how Anna's dress is black and Vronsky's suit is white, showing as if opposites attract. In addition, within the story Vronsky was expected to propose to a younger woman, Ekaterina; whom in the dance scene is anxious by Vronsky connection with Anna; and is demonstrating by how agitated and fast the camera movement becomes as Ekaterina notices the couple's chemistry; and it is also implied as agitated breathing is included within the soundtrack, implying Ekaterina's anxiety and madness against Vronsky and Anna's passion. Consequently, the couple notices their impact at the party, and Anna decides to allow Ekaterina to dance with her possible fiance; as Vrosnky and Ekaterina start to dance, the dance movements are more exaggerated and the color of the dress and suit match as they both are white, and seem to be more "pure", when it actually seems to be more pretended.
All these details and techniques transmit the message of forbidden love, chemistry, sexual appeal, and anxiety; all within the expressiveness of the choreography and its fluidity; as a result, I WANT my film introduction to possess such expressiveness within the music and composition of the choreography.
As I've developed my idea for the film introduction, I have come to the conclusion of creating the story of how a teenage Latin boy idealizes the idea of love as he falls in love with a girl of his school. The film's major element is going to be the music specifically of the salsa genre, in order to express the protagonists's attraction to the girl, and perspective on love and attraction. Consequently, as I said before, the film introduction is going to be a dance scene of how the time stops (as in Anna Karenina) but expressed in a different manner by the moment becoming only focused on the girl of the protagonist's dreams, when it is actually his day dreaming of him getting to seduce the girl while dancing salsa. The target audience of the film will be Latinos of the ages 40 to 60, and teenagers due to how the era will attract the generation that did experience their adolescence in such era, and the modern audiences are also interested on the vintage film making. This is my target audience for the film since the time era in which the story is going to be developed on is during the 70s to the 80s in South America, where salsa was the music for dirty dancing back then. As a result, for my film intro, the choreography will be focused on demonstrating chemistry within the dance, and also intensity within the attraction, contrasted with the protagonist's perception of the love of his life dance moves as they seem more fantasized, as in American Beauty's scene of Lester Berman looking at Angela dance "for him".
(American Beauty 1999)
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