Skyscraper is a 1959 short film (21 minutes) by documentarian Shirley Clarke.
It is a documentary about the construction of 666 Fifth Avenue
, aka the Tishman Building. The relatively straighforward documentary shows the whole process of making a 41-story building—demolishing the old one, pouring the huge concrete foundation, bringing the steel girders on river barges to the city and then to the construction site by truck, applying exterior cladding panels, wiring, etc. Finally the building is dedicated and the work of commerce goes on inside.
Tropes:
- Big Applesauce: The first line in the movie is a guy bursting into song: "Magic city...flying high." Near the end of the short there's another song where the singer praises "Manhattan...the beautiful isle." Shot of the New York City skyline are featured throughout.
- Character Narrator: Clarke said in interviews that she disliked the pompous style of documentary narration. Instead, we hear construction workers (really actors) describing the construction of the building in casual, conversational tones.
- Disturbed Doves: The first shot of the film is a seemingly For Doom the Bell Tolls shot of a church bell ringing, followed by a flock of pigeons disturbed the tolling bell flying away. After that fake-out opening a peppy musical number establishes the true tone of the film.
- Documentary: The building of 666 Fifth Avenue, NYC.
- Medium Awareness: The construction workers—OK, actors pretending to be construction workers—narrating the film are acutely aware that they're watching a movie."They got everybody in this picture."
- Monochrome to Color: Most of the film is in black and white, in fact everything about the construction of the tower is in black and white. But a shot of the red stripes of an American flag reflected in the building's windows serves as a segue to the last few minutes. That ending sequence, which shows the dedication of the building and the business activities going on inside it, is all in color, culminating in a color shot of 666 Fifth Avenue at night all lit up. The film seems to be drawing a distinction between the blue-collar work of constructing the building and the white-collar office work that goes on inside after the building is finished.
- The Musical: Clarke described the film as a "musical comedy" and there are in fact songs written specifically for the film, jaunty jazz numbers in which the singer actually describes what's happening onscreen.
- Plunger Detonator: They're used in Real Life as well as the movies, as shown when a construction worker uses a plunger detonator to blast some bedrock so they have room to pour the large concrete foundations.
- P.O.V. Cam: Seen when a construction elevator carries materials and the camera up the skeleton of the building.
- Staggered Zoom: The last shot of the film is a staggered zoom out from the building at night.
- Title Drop: The last line of dialogue has one of the "workers" say "Another skyscraper takes its place in the city."
