Burst Drummer was directed by Damien Chazelre and shot by Miles Teller, J. Starring K. Simmons and Paul Reiser, the film tells the story of an ordinary teenager, trained by a devil mentor, who became an excellent jazz drummer, the film is extremely clever in the way of music films, the film's narrative structure and the pursuit of dreams are linked at once, this article will analyze its success as a musical film from both the rhythm processing and theme portrayal of the film.
First, the rhythm processing of the film
For musical films, rhythm is the combination of multiple audiovisual elements arranged by the creator according to the dramatic conflict and emotional state, which is an artistic technique that can be perceived and acted on the audience. The rhythm of "Burst Drummer" is very fast, plus a variety of close-ups and fast editing, telling the story of the tutor Fletcher and the students communicating with each other, because the training process is paranoid and crazy, the tutor uses an extreme method to cultivate students' infinite desire and pursuit of success, the penetrating sound and the instructor's angry cheeks, the blood during the training process and the extremely penetrating and faster and faster drums, so that the rhythm of the film is upgraded in training again and again, and also makes the audience increase the psychological impact with the increase of students' ability.
"Burst Drummer" can win the best acoustics award, the choice of drum kit is indispensable, the film as a kind of musical film, different from the soothing of other musical films, but with a fast rhythm to impress the audience, with a large number of rapid editing, vigorous drums with the film's musical narrative, let the music this background version of the story, the supporting role is directly promoted to control the medium that controls the rhythm of the entire film, and the expression medium of "drum kit" selected in the film is also very exquisite. From the director's subsequent interview, it can be seen that the choice of drum kit is because the director had the experience of learning drum kit when he was a child, but on the other hand, it is also because of the choice of the medium of drum kit, which made the film. In the music film, the narrative structure is directly subject to the development of the rhythm of the music, and the students who appear in the film wander in the door of the piano room, from the initial apprehension, to later borrowing a drum kit to quickly throw the camera directly and quickly to the door. As an instrument that can master the rhythm of the entire band, the drum kit cannot be rushed or dragged, because the practice drum kit breaks up, because the practice drum kit is scolded, because the practice drum kit bleeds, when the drum kit and the students are integrated, when the teacher chooses to use another person to motivate Neiman to tell him that he is not unique, it is two clear teacher-student game processes. The first time was when the instructor told him to go to the rehearsal room at 6 o'clock, but when he came to the rehearsal room, he was alone, and this time he trained in a completely different attitude than when the two first met, almost "Liwei" way, showing his strictness. He is forcing the drummer to forget his former self. The second round of persecution is the appearance of another student, on the one hand, his appearance makes the student feel that he is not as good as he imagined, and in anger, he begins to mix blood with ice water, and the ice red two heavens mean awakening. The pace of the narrative gets faster and faster, and finally the film ends with Neiman who is eager to participate in the race, and is injured in a car accident while driving, but he still insists on the race. It ended with the mentor's apology to the audience, but he portrayed success more vividly.
Second, the theme of subtlety and meaning inspiration
"Referential" is the musical portrayal of the music film itself, in the film, we mobilize emotions because of the referent, so as to be more deeply attracted by the story of the film. Music is like a line, linking the scattered and beating elements in the film, so as to make the narrative of the film smoother, for example, in many Indian films, the people in the film will dance with the rhythm at key moments, and seem to withdraw from the content of the film, but because of the addition of music, our subconscious will think that the film is for the theme service, not only will not feel separated because of the dancing actors, but add movement to the film.
Of course, the discussion of "Burst Drummer" is completely different from Indian song and dance films, and the music in "Burst Drummer" does not focus on the referent of the music like other song films, but focuses on the signifier, beyond the referential, discussing the topic of dreams and efforts. What is rhythm, for drummers is a very important point, the film also from the portrayal of musical characters, with the rhythm of the slap gives the answer. This kind of music portrayal can be glimpsed from "Dance Out of My Life", which is also a song and dance film about the portrayal of dreams, "Dance Out of My Life" is a small way, telling the story of the workers' reform behind it, while "Burst Drummer" seems to be just a single story of dreams, and does not involve more social background, in fact, it introduces the film to a philosophical discussion about success. What is success, in previous films, there will always be an image that hard work will be rewarded, just like the dance of the final ending in "Dance Out of My Life", the happy ending is the reward for successful efforts, including "When Happiness Knocks", and finally against the applause of the crowd, it is also telling us that success must be rewarded.
But "Burst Drummer" actually chose a not very happy ending, although he stood on the stage, but because of the car accident, the physical condition is not the best, the film wants to tell that without hard work, there will be no success, just like Mr. Wang Guowei talked about the "realm" in "Human Words": the first realm, "last night the west wind withered the green tree, went to the west building alone, and looked at the end of the world." In the second realm, "the belt gradually widens and finally does not regret it, and it makes people haggard for the sake of Yi." The third realm, "the crowd looked for him a thousand degrees, and looked back, but the man was there, and the lamp was shining." The same. But the point of the film is that when we really achieve the double realm of "gradually widening the belt and never regretting, and making people haggard for Iraq", can we really usher in the success of the third realm?
Music maestro Talasti said: "Listening to music gives us the universal illusion that transcends time. Just as every moment reminds us that time is irreversible and irrevocable, it also reminds us that destiny moves in the course of time. "In "Burst Drummer", the drum sound is not only an auditory symbol, but also a unique form of the director's packaging and showing his ideological content, the fast-paced drum sound, the pursuit of success, can make the audience have an emotional resonance in the movie, with fighting spirit. This is unified with the individualism and pursuit of useism pursued by the United States, and to some extent, it is a typical Olympian film in terms of theme.
However, entering a deeper discussion, the drum sound in the film is the packaging, and the director cleverly uses the dream pursuit of the drum kit as a package, but in fact, he is talking about the philosophical topic of success, the drum sound is the first layer of the film "signified", we are attracted by the "signified" when watching the film, but after turning off the movie, what can not be recalled for a long time is the signifier of the film. "A thousand Hamlets in the eyes of a thousand viewers", and the same is true for this film, for whom everyone sees the end differently. , there are people who gain strength from this and think that we should work hard to the extreme, so that we can be successful; Some people think that they should slow down appropriately, and that being too extreme may eventually miss out on success. The double meaning of the signifier of the film constructs the film.
Using music to tell about success, the discussion of successful people, is very common in movies, represented by dancing out of life through music, pursuing life dreams, dream mentors plus their own efforts, and eventually change their way of survival, enter the temple of dreams, many movie discussions about music dreams use this method. But the opposite of the film, the way of poisonous chicken soup, poured in the context of today's quality education, is more worthy of discussion.