Dance Academy: The Comeback is a spin-off movie of an Australian TV series I watched over winter break, called Dance Academy. The

film takes place a few years after the show leaves off (as the movie was filmed in 2017, and the show ended in 2013). In the television series, Tara Webster (the main character) was destined to become one of the greatest dancers of all time. Between the show and the movie, Tara suffered a catastrophic injury which rendered her unable to dance. The scene I chose from the movie is one of the most important, because it shows how Tara came back from the injury (after trying to go to college to write, and realizing that her only true dream was to dance) and worked hard for months to be able to try out for a certain role. This scene displays an air of hope to the reader, that if Tara works hard enough she can, again, become one of the most influential dancers of her time. This scene displays the rigor of her training, her failures, successes, and the different types of relationships Tara has with her previous classmates at the Dance Academy. 

To me, one of the most interesting parts of this scene is the audio, and the layering the editors did in post-production. The first moment

of audio layering is when Tara is etching her shoes. As Abigail is giving her notes, instructing her on how to move her legs and how to hold her body, there's a scratching noise over part of it. This then creates an easy pathway to the next shot, where the movie actually shows Tara using a razor to carve the bottom of her pointe shoes. The next part when audio that is not shown on screen is layered over the shot on screen is at 0:24, where Abigail's instructions are over shots of Tara hitting her shoes, there's even a point where Abigail's own dialogue layers over itself. The only time when Abigail's audio does not have a presence is when Tara is practicing with her boyfriend. His style of training seems very different, more calm, relaxed and slow, compared to Abigail's use of yelling, force and strong will. This tactic of NOT using her dialogue over these scenes seems to create a barrier, and show the two distinct styles of Tara's training. Another important aspect of sound production for this scene was the music. There seemed to be two halves to the music choice for this scene. There was one half, which was piano, and another which was more techno. The piano represented Tara's frustration, as some points (when she's with her boyfriend) seemed more peaceful, and it only began as the scenes started to pick up the pace. The techno represented Tara's determination to get back into shape, which never faded or changed. The music and layering of dialogue helped the montage flow, and feel cohesive. 

The lighting in this movie as a whole was actually really cool, which is also represented in this three-minute scene. There was a variety of

lighting used, such as darkening out Tara to transform her into just a silhouette, a single spotlight when she is practicing with her boyfriend (I presume to represent darkness, or when she is practicing late into the night), simple white lighting when she is working on her shoes and warming up to dance, as well as pretty magenta colored lighting when she is working with Abigail. These changes in lighting are so drastic, which helps demonstrate that all these scenes are happening at different times, in different places, during different days/months. 

Camera angles, quick shots, and varying camera movement give each individual shot a distinct feel. There were some wide angle shots of

Tara dancing (showing action), close-ups of her tying up her shoes (showing action), and medium shots of conversations between Tara and Abigail or Tara's boyfriend (showing emotion). There was also a variety of camera movements, such as a pedestal up-shot of Tara's body as she's dancing, a tracking shot of Abigail as she was instructing Tara, a pan of Tara's feet moving across the floor, and still shots. There was also a factor of timing. The longest a single shot stayed on screen was 12 seconds, which was the last shot of Abigail leaving and Tara being left alone. This scene was a montage, and because each shot has its own feel, the viewer never felt bored, and it helped the montage feel like it was made of clips from a variety of months. This distinct feel allows this three-minute scene to accomplish what it was supposed to, display Tara's hard work over the course of many months of training, and to display how her relationships grow with not only dance but her boyfriend and one of her best friends as well. This three-minute clip was able to cover a very important aspect of the film and show the passage of a large chunk of time without forcing the film to be 3 years long. 

After watching this movie, I had a lot of questions about how to film dancing. With varying camera angles, is it easier to have multiple

cameras, or to just have the dancer perform the dance a multitude of times? Because of this, I watched a few behind the scenes videos. I think a movie is good when it helps you ask questions, whether it be about society and the actual point of the film, or how the film was made, which would help cinema students become better and more resourceful. Overall, I thought this movie was really good and I was in awe of the sound production team, lighting team, and the director of photography because they were able to use all those factors to pull this movie, and this scene, together to create a very interesting and cohesive story. I'd recommend this movie, even if you don't understand dance because the story line is something relatable.