Dance work shop.

Last week we attended the dance workshop with Rachel. It was a amazing opportunity to learn more about dance and how to make the most out of your dancers whilst filming them. We set a small exercise for three of the dancers to perform a constricted set of movement and improvised dance. We set this task because we want the start of our dance to contain a similar style of dance. Here are some stills from our workshop. Asll as being incredibly helpful the work shop gave us a chance to network with the dancers. At the moment we are in contact with one of the dancers we worked with and will potentially hire her as one of our dancers.

Music

Submotion Orchestra-Hard to stay

 

Further Ideas

Building history

one of the places we looked at for a possible location was whitely manor in surrey. This building is a key example of the history and stories that old buildings hold. This one stood out for me as it has a extensive history of conspiracy, money laundering, murder and suicide

Dirt and dust 

We are very interested in trying to work with the elements of a derelict building such as dust, broken objects and structure of the building. Due to the condition of these buildings we hope there will be a layer of settled dust in the location we chose. We want to use the dust to accentuate the dancers movement and gestures. Along with a large spotlight on the set we feel dust mixed with the dance will work really well. After doing some research I found a photographer that has done some experiments with movement and dust.

http://www.fotocommunity.de/pc/pc/mypics/1852566/display/32867025

Location Hunts

Stage 1

Our initial idea for a location is a abandoned theater. We are fully aware of the many risks a derelict building can pose so we will carry out extensive research of different locations to try and find the perfect location that has minimal risk. To start with we looked through some of the derelict location blogs. After looking through the vast selection of derelict buddings and locations we cretin we want to use one of the locations but not necessarily a abandoned theater.

Stage 2

After looking further into derelict sites I came across another more useful location blog. I browsed the vast variety of buildings on the website and combining some of the previous locations I have found we have devised a plan/route to visit all of our desired locations. Below there are links for all found locations and a map showing our rough journey

1st locations
http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/showthread.php?t=26986#.Uvf9rfbBlX0

http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/showthread.php?t=26612#.Uvf-F_bBlX0

http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/showthread.php?t=22400#.Uvf-ivbBlX0

http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/showthread.php?t=22297&goto=nextnewest#.Uvf_B_bBlX0

Final locations

http://www.theurbanexplorer.co.uk/breakwater-fort-portland-harbour-dorset/

http://www.theurbanexplorer.co.uk/royal-naval-cordite-factory-holton-heath-dorset/

http://www.theurbanexplorer.co.uk/portland-underground-hospital-dorset/

http://www.theurbanexplorer.co.uk/west-park-mental-hospital-mortuary-epsom-surrey/

http://www.theurbanexplorer.co.uk/st-peters-mortuary-chertsey-surrey/

we are also trying to gain access to a abandoned train yard and abandoned theater through our own connections.  

Outside Work

Along side my course I have been working on some outside projects, mainly music video and documentary. My most recent job is based around a young boy trying to find his niche in life. He has a great passion for skateboarding but is unable to buy a skate bored due to his family's financial situation. On the young boys birthday he is given a guitar. Having shown little interest in guitar the boy is displeased with his gift but still attempts to learn the instrument. With little success the boy gets frustrated at his lack in progress and tries the throw the guitar in anger. In doing so the boy finds a new way in which he can use his guitar. He decides to take this new found skill to the streets and skate parks to practice. As the boy is interested in skateboarding he combines his love of skating and movement to create a very unique style of urban movement called "Choreo". This newly created sport involves various types of movement and practiced choreography. If I had attended the workshop prior to filming and editing the video I feel I would of had a much better understanding of shooting and working with extreme movement. 

FX
To show the boys progression and skill I was asked to create a type of motion graphic. The screen shots show some of the final stages of the FX. Once the video is approved for publishing I will post a link on my blog.

SHIFT K3Y Touch-Promotion video. 

Another project I have recently compleated was a promational video for Recdording artist, producer and DJ Shift k3y. Recently Khift k3y has reached number three in the UK charts with his latest single Touch. Ben and I were commissioned by Sony Columbia to film Shift k3y's set at Village Underground in Shoreditch. The aim of the video was to create a short one to one and a half minute compilation of shift keys set to attract potential fans. We were ask to feature a unique concept that would compete with the vast variety other promotional videos on the internet. Knowing Shift k3y gave us an opportunity to show a personal side to a recording artist that I feel some videos of a similar nature lack. Using inspiration from our first term project Maps and journeys we decided to fix a Go Pro to Shift k3y's chest and film his journey to his gig to use for the intro to the video.

 

Dance Inspiration

This is a video I was worked on back in 2012. Even tho it dose not contain any specific type of dance I feel the slow elegant movement of the geisha girl has a dance quality to it. 

We would like the dancer to portray raw emotion such a pain, anguish and suffering.
 These are the same emotion that we tried show in this music video. 

Pina 2011

  screen shots 

 

Working With Dancers notes

• Have water equipped. And tea and coffee.

• Not more than 2 hours of work without a break.
• Proper floor and space for dancers (Preferably a stage)
• Decent footwear/clothing
• Room temperature needs to be cool roughly less than 18 degrees.
• Make sure that dancers have enough reversal time

Improvisation Task

the opening scene to our film consists of a emotional dance using only small gestures such as facial expressions and movement of the hands and feet. The dance should portray the feeling of being abandoned and helplessness We would like a improvised dance lasting roughly 2-3 minutes

Emotions:
Pain, Sad, Sorrow, Rejection, Worry, Distress

How:
Restricted, Small, Shy, wanting to break out

Camera angles:

Close-up
Back-shot with spotlight

Links For Project as Research into Abandoned Theatre Dance

Research on abandoned theatres and small local theatres closing:

6th Jan 2014:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-25618650

1st Jan 2014
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/local-news/outcry-plans-shut-down-muni-6457159

9th Jan 2014
http://www.ipswichstar.co.uk/news/features_2_511/it_s_time_to_get_on_and_finally_knock_down_the_spa_pavilion_1_3187939

Rough Idea For Dance Video

- Abandon Theatre Dance

Due to many local theaters across England closing there doors because of lack of finances or interest from public i think using an abandoned theatre as a stage for the dance piece would create increased relevance as Farnham itself no longer has its theatre.

Shot Rundown and Basic Story:

- Starts with sound of theatre generator and lights turning on with a small section of the stage spot lit roughly a full body shot

- Dancer moves into shot from right of screen into the spotlight and central as if he is about to perform

- As the dancer begins the dancer is self conscious and restricted this will relate to the camera as we go to closeups of small "shy" actions

- Gradually as the camera tracks out dancing becomes grand as the dancer becomes lost in the dance lost so much that he thinks a crowd is watching him and music is playing

- Sudden realisation at the end as dancer realises that the theatre is empty and closing down and that it might be harder to get a job or even get started in this industry

- Generator and light click off and fade to black.