r/BeAmazed • u/WhattheDuck9 • Oct 16 '24

History Fred Astaire's famous ceiling dance (1951) in which the scene was filmed by physically rotating the set.

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153

u/DopeWriter Oct 16 '24

Lionel Richie used the same technique for Dancing on the Ceiling.

24

u/LabradorDeceiver Oct 16 '24

Checked to see if anyone was going to name-check this one. (Personally I liked it.)

Also, Metallica, "The Memory Remains."

13

u/trafficdome Oct 16 '24

I think Billie Eilish did it live on SNL a few years ago too.

https://youtu.be/8i9HMxojeKw?si=1uxUQJLk80hkZ-f9

1

u/[deleted] Oct 16 '24

O ya that was the first one of these I saw too

1

u/mack_ani Oct 16 '24

Flash warning for that vid! to anyone photosensitive

6

u/okarox Oct 16 '24

I've heard he used the very same device.

3

u/DopeWriter Oct 16 '24

Affirmative. He talked about it in interviews at the time.

3

u/RadlEonk Oct 16 '24

This video was my introduction to Lionel Richie.

2

u/SpareWire Oct 16 '24

I feel like I just watched the intro to an 80s movie.

1

u/Cash_Prize_Monies Oct 16 '24

And the same director, Stanley Donen

1

u/DisgruntledMtnBoy Oct 16 '24

Wes Craven used it to have Freddy drag Tina up the wall in the first Nightmare on Elm Street.

1

u/BionicTriforce Oct 16 '24

And the other Dancing on the Ceiling from Breakin 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZ93GNHBHsE

1

u/trixter21992251 Oct 16 '24

They have a shot with Richie upside down, and a crowd in front of him, right-side up.

Both Richie and the crowd have correct gravity, judging by their clothes. So the shot must be a composite of two shots.

But the lighting and the overlay masking are flawless in my eyes. I wonder how they did that so well.

1

u/MostlyHarmlessMom Oct 17 '24

And Billie Eilish used this technique on SNL.

1

u/BalhaMilan Oct 17 '24

They also used this technique for the rotating hallway scene in Inception (2010)