YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pdqf4P9MB8
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La La Land Single Film Study: Part 2
Contexts
Context of Production
Damien Chazelle had initially conceived of the idea of making a musical that was ‘grounded in real life where things don’t exactly work out’ (Anderson, 2016) while still a student at Harvard University. He and his roommate Justin Hurwitz (who would eventually become the musical composer for La La Land) tested out their ideas in their low budget senior thesis film Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench, shot on 16mm b/w film stock and featuring a non-professional cast. Combining a gritty French New Wave influenced documentary style with the conventions of a Hollywood musical, the film premiered at the 2009 Tribecca Film Festival and went on to gain significant critical attention when Variance Films theatrically released it later that year.
Chazelle wrote the script for La La…
