To understand why this is a big deal, one must first be given a brief history of movie musicals. Are you ready? Here we go!

A long time ago, movies didn’t rerecord or dub their audio for better and easier listening. Watching a movie before WWII was more similar to watching a play except that you watched people perform on a screen rather than perform on a stage. Whatever the actors said when the camera was rolling eventually made it into the film. This is best illustrated in the classic bush scene from Singin’ in the Rain.

Early musicals were the same way, often requiring the actors to sing, dance and act without the aid of “Hollywood magic” to make them sound better. The actors proved that they were up to it, and many of the classic musical stars of the golden age of film were born this way.

Enter the 1960’s and musicals were still being devoured by society, but technology had evolved to the point where it was deemed easier to just dub a perfect studio recording over the image of the actor singing the song. All the actor had to do was dance perfectly and lip-sync during filming, sing perfectly during the studio recording, and their work was done.

Since the process proves to be much more practical for modern film-making (not to mention much easier on the actors), basically every movie musical since the 1970’s has used this technique, even ones that are considered the best of their era like Fiddler on the Roof and The Sound of Music (although Julie Andrews demanded that she sing on camera whenever possible instead of having a dubbed recording).

Yes, it’s nitpicky, but take this scene from Fiddler on the Roof as an example. It’s a gem to be sure, but the translation from timeless musical to classic film is garbled slightly when the actors lips don’t match their words.

It’s not just the un-matched lips that diminish the magic either.

Way back when Moulin Rouge was being filmed, self-declared “insane” director Baz Luhrmann decided to have all of the actors sing live on camera for the big choral numbers. He wanted just a touch of the humanity that the songs evoke during the scenes and filming the performances live was able to properly communicate that. It also gave a larger sense of excitement since the environment in a recording studio is much less exciting than a room full of dancing can-can-ers.

Sure enough, even though the final cut is edited and messed with beyond recognition, there is something about the background chorus that evokes emotion on a primal level.

Most films have the actors lip-sync during their dance moves, or just they simply choose to not record the audio entirely, so when The Sun (via Slashfilm) reported that director Tom Hooper might choose to film his retelling of Les Miserables in the same way, fans of traditional musicals and movie musicals alike rejoiced.

Now, if you’re picturing Les Miserables as a beacon of hope in a dismal world of dubbed recordings you might be airing a little more on the dramatic side. Some numbers are recorded live on camera and then mixed with a studio recording for crispness. The result ends up feeling and sounding just as real as it would in the audience of a Broadway show. Compare this clip from Easter Parade with the above clip from Fiddler.

Notice the difference? How about this clip from Chicago?

For whatever reason, the accompanying breaths that Velma takes when she’s singing helps to ground the viewer into the experience. This is the result of a mixed technique, you can see this when she belts her final “alooooooone” line and it just doesn’t look right. It becomes even more evident when she launches herself (pregnant, mind you) belly first onto the table and her voice doesn’t waver for a moment. As reviewer RedLetterMedia put it, you may not have noticed it, but your brain did.

You see, even having a mixed recording makes the scene feel way more genuine. Your ears and eyes can usually tell when they aren’t experiencing the same thing, but your heart notices these things on an almost unconscious level.

Having the cast of Les Miserables sing during the filming would help to ground the film and give it a sense of scope. Keep in mind, this is only classified as a rumor for right now (it was sent into The Sun by an anonymous tipster, so the validity is in question). We cannot, however, deny that it would be an excellent move on Tom Hooper’s part to make live-camera singing a reality since the extra work from the actors and extra audio work would go a long way in communicating the power that is Les Miserables.