Leonard Bernstein’s West Side story of 1961 is a modern musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. However, it focuses on the conflict between New York Street gangs instead of Montagues and the Capulets. On the other hand, the Anchorman, The Legend of Ron Burgundy, is a comedy that centers on Ron Burgundy, a legendary top anchor in San Diego in the early 1970’s. Will Ferrell and Adam McKay wrote it. By considering the release date and the technical aspect of filmmaking, there are several contrasting factors.
First, West Side story film is a romantic story adapted from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, while The Legend of Ron Burgundy is an original comedy. The Westside story was released in 1961 in the United States, distributed by United States Artists, and produced by Seven Arts Pictures and Mirisch Cooperation. The West Side Story is one hundred and fifty-two minutes long, with the final length of the scene in the last edit being eight minutes. Although The Legend of Ron Burgundy was also released in the United States, it was released several years later in 2004 and distributed by DreamWorks. The film is ninety-four minutes long and extends to one hundred and four minutes, with the length of the scene in the final edit being four minutes.
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The west Side Story begins with a birds’ eye capture of Manhattan's Landmarks above New York. The cameras survey the Colombia University campus, Empire State Building, Columbus Circle, and a series of leftward aerial tracking shots. The audience is introduced to a million potential stories in the city's collaborative album that might never be told through aerial tracking shots. The aerial view of the city presents the viewers with a dull rumble of high attitude air. The sound and the initial aerial vision are combined with the far-off yet instantly recognizable whistle sound. The whistle sound comprises a three-note call containing a short note, a higher elongated second a sharp, still higher third. As the focus moves across the city, the whistles become more repeated, overlapped, and augmented, although they are not attached to any particular source. The whistle sounds are later joined by low sound drums, rising horns, and a rhythmic snap of fingers. This combination of sounds echoes over the Manhattan vistas.
The film adapts from the 1957 Broadway show of a similar name that features Leonard Bernstein and lyricist Sondheim, the directors Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins. The directors fill their 70 mm printed super Panavision format and 16mm and 35 mm with ecstatic movements, operatic emotions, and Technicolor ( Connor,2018) . The film did not rely on image size or color sharpness like other high-budget Hollywood films like Anchorman; The legend of Ron Burgundy. Anchorman; The legend of Ron Burgundy, had a printed film format of 35 mm Koadk vision and a Technicolor. The West Side Story's negative format is 65mm ( Eastman 50T 5251) with a broad high-resolution film gauge for motion picture photography and a negative area three and a half times superior to the 35mm motion film format used in The Legend of Ron Burgundy. The Legend of Ron Burgundy is 35mm, which means that the camera captures the image onto the film strip by the negative 24mm by 36 mm frame. The film strip advances so that the following picture is projected onto the unexposed film.
The excellent characterization of West Side Story is compensated for despite the film being a low budget compared to The Legend of Ron Burgundy. The West Side Story starts with canonical tropes such as rivalry, star-crossed lovers, ethnic and young abandon that works its way outward, making the audience feel the emotional weight of the film's conflicts. The film also has cinematic flourishes notable from the scene transitions that use optical effects and filters to develop sudden overlapping imagery and color. The film has an aspect ratio of 2.20:1, which corresponds with the standard 35-mm film. In contrast, the Legend of Ron Burgundy has 1.85:1, which depicts modern cinema's modern aspects currently regarded as the standard widescreen format.
The Robin’s choreography made up modern dance with well-edited speeds and many close-ups, which replaces the lengthier shots and takes that facilitated the motion's admiration. Horizontal frames are used to highlight the exciting oppositions that make up several of the vital dance numbers ( Lesser,2018) . The film uses vibrant stylistic choices to showcase the characters' town space frames during passion or prose moments, for instance, when focusing on Tony when he tries to forge a less chaotic life as a storekeeper's assistant. The legend of Ron Burgundy is a comedy that lacks choreography.
In conclusion, West Side Story and Anchorman; The legend of Ron Burgundy has a few similarities, but there are differences in the film's technical aspects that are more prominent. The contrast between the two films is mainly in aspect ratio, print film format, length of the completed movie, and the length of the scene in the final edit.
References
Connor, J. D. (2018). 6. The Modern Entertainment Marketplace, 2000–Present: Revolutions at Every Scale. In Directing (pp. 137-154). Rutgers University Press.
Lesser, W. (2018). West Side Story. In Jerome Robbins (pp. 85-103). Yale University Press.
