Full Stage view during the Bells of Notre Dame King’s Academy Hunchback of Notre Dame
The stage that the King Academy used for their production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame is divided into a few parts. The lowest level is used for dance number and one could say it represents the streets of Paris and a few of the principle cast use this level. Then there is a ramp to the next level with is sort of like Sanctuary of Notre Dame as well as other setting like Square of Notre Dame. Then you have the upper most level which is the Bell tower. There is also the sides which the ensemble uses but Esmeralda appears there during the Esmeralda song.
At first I thought the fact that most of the action takes place at the upper level would impede the viewing experience for an audience but I think I was wrong. From a video vantage point that could be true, if you are watching it from the camera’s angle but just in a wide shot the action in the bell tower would look remote. However from the audience they would be able to see the action clearer as they have to look up and there would nothing to block their view. I sort of recall seeing a play that had a similar height presentation and I’m pretty short so it worked out for me.
Otherwise the staging is fairly straightforward there are not too many surprises, a character sings and they pretty much stand still while the ensemble does a little choreography while singing and the dancers dance at the lowest level. Well, there was one surprise, the gargoyles are suspended and swing around a little bit but still pretty much in one spot but it was a nice touch.
Also before I end this, the Notre Dame set was really great.
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and its complete lack of style. So what do I mean when I say lack of style. I mean the angle of the framing or the camera angles. Almost every single shot in this film has exactly the same angle: straight-on or flat angles. Straight-on angles have their place in cinema but when nearly the entire film in made up of them it get very, very, very dull. Every now and then they do a shot-reverse-shot (two people talking) but even that is considered boring. This movie doesn’t hide the fact it was shot in the most efficient way possible. It was most likely shot this way because they shot it twice, a French version and an English version. This dual version prove detriment to the final product as it’s an 1 hour 49 minutes of straight-on angles with an occasion pan or zoom. It feel like they recorded a play and not a movie.
