Craig Zadan: We used digital video to great effect on “Chicago.” In 1993 when Neil and I did “Gypsy” with Bette Midler we said, How do you do this on a schedule and shoot musical numbers that seem impossible to do. What we did figure out during the process was if you have the choreographer rehearse with a skeleton crew and then bring in a DP with digital video and shoot all the rehearsals – shoot them from a ladder from above, by lying on the floor, the director puts his hands on the DPs shoulders and moves him around like a Steadicam and you shoot tons of digital video. You edit that together. You then can look at your musical number completely shot before you go to the floor and make the movie. You can make changes you can fix it you can figure it out. It’s like an electronic storyboard. I don’t know how you can make a musical without doing this today.
From: Hollywood Reporter, 03/07/03
