Tradition!: Fiddler on the Roof

  Another musical brought from the stage to the screen, Fiddler on the Roof won an award for Best Cinematography. As a classic musical, making it into a film probably just makes it more enjoyable.

     Once upon a time, a poor milkman by the name of Tevye is about to face revolutionary changes that were occurring at the time. He also has to find husbands for three of his five daughters in their village of Anatevka. Are the changes going to break the Jews' and Anatevka's traditions, or will they remain an untouched corner of the world?

     
And look at my daughter's face. She loves him, she wants him. And look at my daughter's eyes, so hopeful. While those lyrics are said by Tevye, we get a closeup of the daughter's face, and then her eyes alone. This shot is seen twice in the film. We can see the daughter's emotion in her expression. With the close up with the eyes, the film makers wants us to try and see the same feeling in her eyes. A shot of the eyes is not as common.
    

     During the wedding ceremony, the camera is the height of everyone's face. This can us a feeling of standing and watching the ceremony ourselves. In this scene we also get facial close ups of individual people, such as Tevye, Lazar Wolfe, and Hodel. They all have different emotions. Aside from the song being sung during the scene, the close ups help us understand what those different people are feeling.
   
       Little bird, little Chavaleh. I don't understand what is happening today. Everything is all a blur. One of the rarest color styles is the scene where Tzeitel, Hodel, and Chava are dancing while Tevye is singing "Chavaleh." The girls are dancing under a scarlet color. This makes the girls look a little shadowy. This affect can go with Tevye's line, "everything is all a blur" since the girls' faces can't that clearly. Another deep aspect of this scene is when Chava is seen standing between Fyedka and the fiddler. This a reference to Chava's choice to marry Fyedka, who is not a Jew like her, and abandon her traditions, as represented by the fiddler.
   
       In cinematography, we learn that there's more to a film than what the actors are saying and doing. They are affected by the sounds, camera angles, lighting, etc. When you learn elements of cinematography, you see some things in a film that you would previously overlook.

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