``Les Misérables'' was a huge success because it ``recorded live singing while filming,'' which is unusual for a musical movie.

"Les Misérables" synopsis

Jean Valjean is paroled from prison after serving 19 years for stealing bread, but is at a loss and starts stealing again. Touched by the sincerity of the bishop who overlooked his sin and forgave him, he decides to be reborn both physically and mentally, throws away his past, and becomes the person he became as mayor. At that time, Valjean meets Fantine, a woman connected by a mysterious thread of fate, and she entrusts the future of her beloved daughter Cosette to Valjean, evading Javert's pursuit and fleeing to Paris. He pours endless love into her and raises her to be a beautiful daughter as a father. However, an incident occurs in downtown Paris where students aspiring to revolutionize uprising. Everyone is being swallowed up by the turbulent waves...

Index

• The use of singing during filming, a rare example in the past
• Leave everything to the actors and let them sing the entire song in one take
• It is unique even in musicals that all lines are said in song.

The use of singing during filming, a rare example in the past

The real thrill of watching a musical on stage. Needless to say, it has a live feel. Actors actually sing and dance right in front of your eyes. No matter how much a movie tries to recreate it, it is impossible to surpass the stage in this respect. Dances aside, the songs are obviously recorded and the audience will be listening to them.

For musical movies, it is essential to record the songs before filming. The actors perform according to the sound source. However, in `` Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound '' (1919), it was revealed that Barbra Streisand actually sang during the filming of `` Funny Girl '' (1968) and requested that her sound be used. As mentioned above, there are cases where pre-recording is avoided. In Barbra's case, she seems to have stuck with it because it was a role she had played on stage (she ended up winning the Academy Award for Best Actress for this role), but she also appeared on music programs on TV and other general audiences. In recent years, people have come to understand lip-syncing, and the approach of filming and recording at the same time can be considered a legitimate method.

2012's ``Les Misérables'' became a groundbreaking musical film that put this idea into practice. With the exception of the opening scene where ambient sounds such as a large amount of water get in the way, almost all of the songs were recorded live during filming, and the sound sources were used as they were in the film, making it into the soundtrack album.

"Les Misérables" preview

Of course, this method is not easy. It is clear that recording in a recording studio will yield a higher quality result. On the set of Les Misérables, actors wore small earpieces (wireless earphones) and sang to the accompaniment of a piano played outside the set. The piano was used to keep the key constant, and the tempo of the song was left up to the actors. The piano accompaniment matched the tempo. In post-production, a full orchestral accompaniment was added to the vocal recordings recorded in the set.

``Can an actor remember the emotions they felt when recording in the studio, say, three months ago? That would be difficult,'' says director Tom Hooper, who did a test shoot with Hugh Jackman and said, He was confident that the method would work.

Leave everything to the actors and let them sing the entire song in one take