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Need some descriptive help from sighted Phans with parts of the 2004 movie? Thanks!

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Need some descriptive help from sighted Phans with parts of the 2004 movie?  Thanks! Empty Need some descriptive help from sighted Phans with parts of the 2004 movie? Thanks!

Post  Blind Phan Mon Nov 16, 2015 9:58 pm

Hi all! I'm wondering if/hoping some one can tell me what you're seeing during certain scenes? In particular, I'm wondering about the first part of Angel of Music (before Raoul arrives), the mirror, the "notes" scene, I'l Muto from the Phantom's interruption to the "croak", and Wandering Child?

In the first case, the beginning of AOM, I've heard something about you seeing a sort of flashback to when Christine was turned over to Mme. Giry and came to the Opera House? In the case of the mirror, "notes" and Il Muto, I've heard that, rather than just hearing the Phantom's disembodied voice as you do in the stage-show (at least in the original staging), you actually see him hiding behind walls working his tricks, and actually see at least his hand switch Carlotta's spray thingy to make her croak? In the case of Wandering Child, I'm not sure. Can Christine see the Phantom on top of/coming out of/whatever he does from the mausoleum before he leaps down to sword-fight with Raoul?

:-) If you guys could explain some of this stuff to me, I'd really appreciate it! I've been doing a comparative analysis of the stage-version vs the Gerik on one of my blogs, and, squee!!, I'm actually going to get to rework that analysis into a paper for one of my courses! :-) I love my prof for that! But it occurs to me that these details would make a big difference in some of the things I want to argue, either on my blog or in the paper (:-) I won't be able to cover everything I want to in said paper due to length limits, so some of it will have to be saved for the blog". So you guys' help would be hugely appreciated!

:-) Thanks!

Blind Phan

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Post  MarySkater Thu Nov 19, 2015 10:01 pm

I must admit, this movie is not my favourite version of Phantom!  However, a couple of years ago, I watched it through and made some notes for my own interest.  They don't answer all your questions, but I'll tell you what I can from my notes, and (if nobody else chips in) then when I have time I'll go back to the DVD and clarify things.

Blind Phan wrote:In the first case, the beginning of AOM, I've heard something about you seeing a sort of flashback to when Christine was turned over to Mme. Giry and came to the Opera House?
I don't remember how, visually, the info on Christine's background is presented.  But what the movie tells us is that Christine was orphaned at age 7 and brought to the Opera House ballet dorm by Giry, who regards her as a daughter.  

My personal comment on this is that Christine's childhood acquaintance with Raoul must have been when she was less than 7, meaning he must have a remarkable memory to recognise her again as an adult.

Blind Phan wrote:In the case of the mirror, "notes" and Il Muto, I've heard that, rather than just hearing the Phantom's disembodied voice as you do in the stage-show (at least in the original staging), you actually see him hiding behind walls working his tricks, and actually see at least his hand switch Carlotta's spray thingy to make her croak?  
We do see the Phantom switching the throat spray.  Again, that's all my notes say, and I can't remember if we just see his hands, or if he's fully in shot.  Something else to check.

My notes say, "After Carlotta's first croak, Buquet is searching the high gallery.  The Phantom stalks him through the flies.  Buquet sees the Phantom and there is some dodging around.  The Phantom strangles Buquet before dropping his body into view."

I made another personal comment, this time equally relevant to the stage show and the movie;  at this point, it has already been announced that Christine is to sing the lead, so the Phantom has already got his way about that.  Killing Buquet must have had another motive.  Maybe he was tired of Buquet's snooping.  Or maybe it was also to express annoyance because Raoul used Box 5 that night.

I know this doesn't answer all your questions, because at the time I wrote it, I was more interested in the story elements than the visual presentation.  But I'll try and do better next time I post.

Mary
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Post  Blind Phan Fri Nov 20, 2015 2:51 am

Thanks Mary! Much appreciate, especially your offering to watch it again! That's awesome of you! And, while it doesn't answer all my questions, it's definitely a start and a help!

Blind Phan

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Post  Irina de France Sun Nov 22, 2015 3:48 am

I have to say your post gave me at first a good reason to re-watch the movie again. Yeah, I do that from time to time because I’m waiting for the day I’ll grab my computer and smash it on the wall because of the film’s awfulness (It still didn’t happen, I can still bear the movie. I know, I can hear your groans from here, I know I’m a disgrace)

But I ended up thinking finally sitting down to watch Elisabeth das Musical was a better idea, so I just skipped to the scenes you asked for, hehe. (Who’s going to blame me! I did my homework!)

Angel of Music:

Well, basically, while Christine is talking about her past and everything, we see at the same time little Christine with Madame Giry arriving at the Opera house, and then little Christine praying in the chapel in front of lighted candles, and suddenly lifting her head up curiously. Afterwards, we see little Christine in the dormitory (and I can see little Meg in the bed just beside hers!) waking up and lifting her head up. We then go back in the time in the flashbacks, and we see them Ramin – um, sorry, Christine’s father who in bed dying, while Christine is at his bedside with Madame Giry. Then the flashback fades away, and that’s pretty much it.

There’s no mention of her age when she first arrived at the Opera house, unless I missed something.

The Mirror:

I assume you need information on absolutely everything in this scene, so here we go.

Immediately after Raoul leaves, a gloved hand (the Phantom, of course) turns the key and removes it, locking Christine in her dressing room, while Madame Giry sees everything (I’ll let you interpret yourself Giry’s intentions here, since it pretty much stayed in the blue and her face was kind of undecipherable, though I’d be happy to give you my take on this aspect if it can help). We see lights in the theater and the hall lighting out, and cameo of two men (the managers?) leaving the Opera house.

Back to Christine, we see her coming out of behind a folding screen wearing what looks like a nightgown – or is it some sort of undergarment? Maybe she’s not done changing, considering her initial plan was to go out with Raoul? Anyway, it has a corset, so it can’t be some sort of nightwear. The candles mysteriously light out, we get a cameo of the lights on the stage in the theater lighting out, then we go back to Christine who tries to get out of her dressing room, but of course, the door is locked.

The Phantom starts singing his thing, Christine sings her cue while looking up at the sky because of the angel thing, and well, you know, mist starts appearing everywhere, we see the Phantom in the mirror, and Christine goes towards him. End of scene.

Notes:

So, when Firmin’s voice fades away and is replaced by the Phantom’s voice, we see the Phantom in his lair, playing with a Barbie Dream House – okay, it’s some sort of remake of the theater with little figurines representing everyone in Il Muto, including Meg in her maid costume, Christine as a pageboy, Carlotta in the Countess dress and all, because I guess since there was no wifi back in those days you had to keep yourself somehow occupied.

When he announces who he wants to be cast as the Countess and the pageboy, he takes off both the Christine and Carlotta figurines’ heads and switches them. So the Christine head ends up on the Carlotta figurine’s body, and the Carlotta head ends up on the Christine figurine’s body. We get a nice shot of prettyboy Phantom putting his letter in an envelope and putting some wax to close it, which of course gets stamped with the trademark skull. And once the Phantom is done singing, we get back to Carlotta who throws a fit about Christine getting cast in the main role. I think that’s all you need to know for this scene, right? Wink

Il Muto:

Basically, when the Phantom comes in and interrupts the scene, he’s sort of… standing in the ceiling? Well, there’s a door integrated in it and a sort of catwalk after that, maybe for those who need to do some maintenance on the chandelier or something. He’s sort of hiding himself behind the chandelier and has his cape all draped around him, so I guess people from below only see a shadow. Anyway, everyone seems to be looking towards the ceiling but not seeing much since the Phantom is projecting his voice everywhere. After insulting Christine, Carlotta goes towards a stage wing where her maid brings her her throat mist (which the Phantom swapped at some place in Il Muto with something of his own concoction). When she comes back all smiling, we see the Phantom leaving the catwalk and into the entrance he used to come there before, and goes into some sort of secret passageway between the walls, and he seems to be cracking up. And we come back to the show, and there comes the croak.

Wandering Child:

When Christine arrives in front of the mausoleum, we don’t see the Phantom at all: instead, the inside of the mausoleum lights up, the doors open, and Christine, while singing her part, climbs up the stairs, seemingly hypnotized. Raoul arrives, “waking” Christine, who turns towards him, he says his line “This man, this thing…”, and Christine gasps as the Phantom leaps down the mausoleum’s roof.

That’s pretty much it. If you need anything else, don’t be afraid of asking! Wink
Irina de France
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Post  MarySkater Mon Nov 23, 2015 9:21 pm

Irina's post is very informative, but it made me go back to see where I got Christine's age from. It's earlier, when the new managers asked Giry first about Meg, then about Christine. After one of them asks if Christine is related to the violinist Daaé, and is told she's his daughter, Giry adds, "Orphaned at seven, when she came to live in the ballet dormitories. I think of her too as a daughter."

In the conversation between Christine and Meg in the chapel, just before Angel of Music, Christine says, "Meg, when your mother brought me here to live, whenever I have come down here alone to light a candle for my father, a voice... from above. And in my dreams, he was always there."

This places the Phantom in the Opera House right from Christine's childhood, which is one of the (many!) things I don't like about the film.

Mary
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Post  Blind Phan Tue Nov 24, 2015 7:34 pm

Wow! Thanks people! Irina, your detailed descriptions were awesome! LOL And don't worry, I can't entirely bring myself to hate the Gerik either, just because it *is* a version of POTO, even if I, like, never watch (well, listen to) it because I find it just way too problematic. And Mary, thanks for filling stuff in! You guys are both life-savers! I really appreciate the help!

Blind Phan

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