Billy Elliot

Chelsea Barron
Mrs. De Gagné
ENG3U1-14
October 17, 2014
Billy Elliot: Close Analysis Assignment The “angry dance” scene takes place after Billy’s brother spent the night in jail and Billy missed his audition. The camera angles in this scene are used to in a very interesting way. Everyone starts off in the kitchen where the camera is on all of them and moving around the room every now and then. Tony lifts Billy onto the table and tries to make him dance, however, Mrs. Wilkinson tells Billy not to. When the argument between Mrs. Wilkinson and Tony Elliot intensifies the camera angle change. The angle changes to give the audience Billy’s point of view. This is achieved with the camera looking down on Tony and Mrs. Wilkinson and Jack. As the argument continues the camera shifts to close ups on Tony and Mrs. Wilkinson showing the audience the amount of anger and emotion that is being displayed on their faces. This also shows that Billy is almost starting to ignore the argument around him, trying to find an escape in his mind. The scene then shifts to Billy doing his “angry dance” outside. The camera angles constantly change throughout his dance starting at birds eye view and changing to close ups on his face. The close ups are used in the same way as before-to show emotion. The camera angles allow us to see different aspects of his dance specifically when the camera does a close up on Billy’s feet. This shows the audience how talented Billy is and how precise his dance moves are. The most interesting part about the close up is the fact that it is when Billy is dancing on the stairs. This angle allows the audience to notice that Billy takes two steps forward and one step back. Sound plays a major role in setting the “angry dance” scene. In the beginning of the scene the argument between Tony and Mrs. Wilkinson starts off a little bit loud and then escalates to very loud. Tony’s swearing seems to make the argument louder. After Tony lifts Billy onto the table and Billy stands there while they yell at each other, the music starts to overpower the argument, causing the argument to fade away as the scene shifts to outside. Once outside the music is the loudest noise the audience can hear. Along with the music Billy’s dancing, footsteps, and noises of frustration are the only other noise in the scene, causing the audience to focus solely on Billy and his dancing. The “angry dance” scene also gives the audience a huge insight into Billy’s character. The majority of insight comes from Billy’s dance moves. Billy starts off his “angry dance” angry and as he dances he gets lost in the dance and becomes less angry, even though Billy is not completely calm at the end of it. His dance moves show how much Billy wants to escape from his family and just dance. Since the actual dance was not on the same day as the argument between Tony and Mrs. Wilkinson it allows the audience to see that dancing is the way that Billy releases his anger whenever he is angry or frustrated. The audience knows the dance is on a different day then the argument because Tony looks through the window at Billy dancing. The fact that Tony seems calm when Billy is dancing could also show that Tony is starting to support his little brother. The “angry dance” scene contains many dance moves that can be symbolic. The scene starts off with Billy being extremely frustrated and attempting to relieve that anger and frustration. Billy’s dance moves start off looking painful. He scraps his hands along the brick walls and has his hands covering his ears, almost as if he is trying to block out the noise and beat the anger out of his life. When Billy is in the bathroom it could symbolize that he feels that his life is crap. Billy then kicks open the door and “escapes.” His kicking the door could symbolize Billy attempting to escape his family and all of their judgment. Billy dances towards the wall and stairs but keeps being pulled back towards the bathroom. This could symbolize the fact the his family tries to keep him home but eventually he pulls harder and dances his way to the stairs and attempts to climb them. The stairs could symbolize the obstacles in his life, especially in his dance career. Billy is dancing up the stairs two steps forward and one step back which seems to be difficult, however, he continues climbing the stairs and seems to get frustrated that he cannot make it to the top faster. Near the top of the stair Billy shows his frustration by kicking the bar on the stairs and eventually reaching the next level of the roof. He continues to dance but seems looser and freer on the top of the roof. On the roof Billy pulls his shirt over his face to symbolize the mask that he wears when he dances, and he roughly removes the shirt from his face meaning that Billy may want to take the mask off and be himself. At the very end of the scene the audience sees Billy jumping off the roof. This is at the end of his dance which makes the jump appear to be his “leap of faith.” Overall the dance moves show that Billy wants to escape his life and will do whatever it takes to get to where he wants to be. Billy will take his “leap of faith.”