When you want a character who has been talking and walking normally to burst into song and dance as emotion overflows, giving the feeling of reality turning into a stage. Use it for an ad jingle, the opening of a music video, or the 'burst' moment of a campaign video.
In The Sound of Music, an aerial shot flying over the mountains approaches one person in a meadow, and the song begins. The director hesitated because it was an aerial opening similar to West Side Story, but he couldn't find a better idea and used it as is.
To recreate it: Write just one movement: 'aerial shot gliding over mountains, descending toward a lone woman'.
Dance has to be seen down to the toes for the movement to read, so when the song spreads into dance, widen to a full-body shot. Most of the tap dance scene in the rain is also seen full-length.
To recreate it: Always include 'full body in frame, feet visible'.
When the emotion peaks, the camera rises, creating a picture of the character having an empty street all to themselves. In Singin' in the Rain, too, the camera appears to go higher as the dance grows.
To recreate it: Use the crane up only once, on the last phrase of the scene.
The story that milk was mixed into the rainwater is a mistaken belief. What made the raindrops visible on screen was backlighting.
To recreate it: Rain, snow, and dust come alive on screen only if you write the backlight with them, like 'backlit rain'.
If the accompaniment starts first under the end of the dialogue, the threshold from speech to song gets lower.
To recreate it: In editing, start fading the music in quietly 2 to 3 seconds before the first phrase.
If you line up the points where the cuts and camera movements change with the beat, the editing itself feels like choreography.
To recreate it: In the dance section, cut down the number of shots and change shots only on strong beats.
The Sound of Music was shot in Todd-AO, a widescreen large-format film system, to fit huge mountains and a tiny person into one frame.
To recreate it: Generate wide landscape openings at 2.2:1 or wider, or fit them in editing.
Cinematic multi-shot sequence, 15 seconds total. Shot 1 (3s): static medium shot of a cheerful young man in a gray suit and fedora saying goodnight at a doorway on a rainy night street, stepping back under a glowing street lamp. Shot 2 (3s): slow push-in as he lowers his umbrella and tilts his grinning face up into the backlit rain. Shot 3 (4s): the camera tracks sideways beside him in full shot as he tap-dances along the wet sidewalk swinging his closed umbrella. Shot 4 (5s): crane up as he stomps through a flooded gutter in the empty street, arms flung wide. Consistent man, suit and umbrella, backlit rain, warm street lamps, saturated vintage color.
A musical has to make the audience accept 'the moment speech turns into song' without it feeling awkward. So the accompaniment seeps in under the dialogue first, and the camera takes the character in a wide full-body shot so the whole body can sing. The opening of The Sound of Music is an aerial scene written by the screenwriter that the director kept after much hesitation. It was shot on Mount Melleck in Bavaria, and the aerial scene was filmed with the MCS-70 camera.
Medium shot of a cheerful young man in a gray suit and fedora on a rainy night street, waving goodnight at a doorway and stepping back under the glow of a street lamp, smiling to himself. Static camera, backlit rain, saturated vintage color film look.
Medium close-up of the young man lowering his umbrella and tilting his face up into the falling rain, eyes closed, a wide grin spreading. Slow push-in, backlit raindrops sparkling, warm street lamp glow, saturated vintage color, joyful release.
Full shot with feet visible as the young man tap-dances along the wet sidewalk past glowing shop windows, swinging his closed umbrella and splashing through puddles. The camera tracks sideways with him, backlit rain, warm street lamps, saturated vintage color.
Wide shot as the camera cranes up while the young man stomps joyfully through a flooded gutter in the middle of the empty rainy street, arms flung wide. Crane up, backlit rain, pools of warm street lamp light, saturated vintage color film look, euphoric.
Fade the accompaniment in softly as a sound bridge before the greeting line in Shot 1 ends, and have the first phrase begin on the face shot in Shot 2. When the dance starts, cut down the number of shots and change shots only on strong beats. Let the final crane up run to the end, timed to the phrase where the music swells open the most.
AI video can't do lip sync and tap-dance footwork well in the same clip. So make the singing shots mostly about the face, make the dance shots with movement only and no singing, and add the music in editing. Rain shows up well only if you include 'backlit rain', and lock the suit and umbrella colors with the character sheet. Feet often slide on the ground, so first check in a 480p draft that the feet touch the floor.
Wikipedia — Singin' in the Rain · Wikipedia — The Sound of Music (film)