Billie Williams DFSA: Dance Video Finished Pre-Production Work

In order to get signed off for our Dance Shoot we had to put together a Production Pack. Katherine as Producer did a lot of this and Sugini did a lot of the Visual parts of it however I did more of the creative parts to it as Director of the Group. Here is all the finished paperwork which I completed:

Dance Video Synopsis

Our Piece will be a Contemporary Dance Video exploring Phobias and will represent and show the true fear behind them. We will go on a journey through three phobias which are Arachnophobia, Claustrophobia and Astraphobia. The piece will flow in this order from most common being Arachnophobia to least common yet more severe being Astraphobia. We will build up the fear and tension as the piece progresses and this will hopefully make the viewers feel vulnerable and therefore more understanding of these phobias. The Dancer will embody the phobias to portray the particularly scary elements of them therefore making it relatable to the audience. However the Dancer will also be showing elements of fear when people react to their phobias. As this is a very conceptual piece this will all take place in a blank black space which we will create in a studio using spotlighting in the empty dark space. The piece is going to be experimental in the way we are incorporating the camera into the dance to try and make the audience feel more immersed and therefore more vulnerable. We have taken inspiration from modern contemporary dance videos but also from techniques used within horror films such as camera movements. The soundtrack will also develop as we move from phobia to phobia to also help represent the themes and elements of each phobia and to help build the piece. Overall we want a very intense and immersive contemporary dance video which experimentally represents certain phobias to the audience making them feel vulnerable and therefore more understanding to the sufferers of these.

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Proposal and Treatment

For

‘Phobia Dance Video’

(Working Title)

Group:

Sugini Nageswaran, Katherine Whetton and Billie Williams

07/03/17

Treatment

Programme title: (Untitled Currently) Phobia Dance Video

Duration: 6:00 minutes

Genre: Experimental Contemporary Dance Video

Production Staff: Katherine Whetton (Producer) Billie Williams (Director) Sugini Nageswaran (DOP & Gaffer Planner)

Production Date:

Rehearsals: Tuesday 14^th March & Wednesday 15^th March (5pm – 8pm)

Prelight: Friday 17th March (1pm – 8pm)

Filming: Tuesday 28^th March (9am – 4:30pm), Wednesday 29^th March (9am – 8pm) and Thursday 30^th March (9am – 4:30pm).

Editing

Monday 3^rd April – Wednesday 5^th April 2017

Monday 24^th April – Friday 28^th April 2017 (only if needed)

Final submission & Final Outcome Presentation:

Thursday 4^th & Friday 5^th May 2017.

Outline Production:

We want to make a Contemporary Dance Video, which is based on Phobias. We will show people how it feels to experience these Phobias and the fear behind them. The three phobias are; Arachnophobia, Claustrophobia and Astraphobia. We chose these three because they are common, yet exploring these types of phobias will be interesting and visually pleasing. The piece will flow in the order from most common being Arachnophobia to least common yet more severe being Astraphobia. We want to present these phobias to the audience in a way which makes them vulnerable and therefore showing them the true fear felt by people suffering from them. The Dancers will also embody the phobias to portray the particularly scary elements of them, but making it relatable to the audience as well. We are going to work in a contemporary style with an original sound track which is being made for us. We plan to shoot within the studio using spotlighting to create a conceptual headspace as this idea is abstract and conceptual. We hope to have an edgy final outcome which makes the viewer feel vulnerable but also then allows them to understand these phobias and think into the effect they have on people.

Target Audience:

This piece will probably appeal and be aimed more towards a younger demographic because of the modern experimental angle we are taking on Dance Videos.

However this is not exclusive, as it could be viewed and interpreted in a number of ways.

Phobias can affect anyone, so we would like it to be relatable to these people.

Visual Elements:

Lighting- We have agreed the set should be dark and lit with one or two strong lights, this is to create a dramatic lighting effects. We have booked out 2K Tungsten lights (x2), our Gaffer planner (Sugini) will bring 800W Red Heads lights (x3) as back up. These strong lights will be used to create strong one and 2 point lighting on our dancer. We consider using different ways of using light as well, such as back light for silhouette effects and, low key light to emphasize dancer’s emotions/ status. We also would like to try moving one point light around the subject. For Astraphobia,(fear of thunder and lightning), we aim to create the lighting effect by manually controlling the light to flicker on and off to a decent extent. The black out moments caused by the lighting effect will create a moment of suspense for the audience, we would like to create such techniques to get the audience engaged.

Camera Movement- As this is a movement piece we would like the dance to be filmed with movement. We are using the camera as an important element of the dance video. The camera will not only be used to film the subject from a side, it will also be used to interact with the dancer. We would like the camera to become a character its self and be involved in the choreography. Our shot list consists of many meaningful shots which are suited for the content to tell the story. Shots such as birds eye views, high and low angles, close ups/ extreme close ups and tilted angle shots will be used. For movement we will do tracking/ panning, handheld and orbiting shots. Throughout the dance video our shots will vary between still and moving shots.

Editing- During the postproduction process, I am to highlight the themes from filming. By keeping entwined with the edgy, conceptual feel, I shall cut in the narrative, linear fashion. However, I shall cut in-between angles to create the true aspects of the phobias. Depending on the quality of footage taken, I may add effects via Avid, to adapt the footage, to create the correct atmosphere.

Setting- Due to our piece being conceptual and abstract we are filming the Dance in a blank blacked out studio to represent the headspace. It will have the lighting set up how we have described meaning it will look like she is dancing in an massive empty space making it fit the Phobia theme and fear well.

Dancer- We are using a female contemporary trained dancer who has submitted a show reel to us. We are confident in her ability and she also really likes the theme of our video meaning she will happily be involved. We want her to interpretively embody the phobias but also show the fear felt by suffers of these. We have some basic choreography set out but we want to develop this further with her.

Costume- Again due to this being a Conceptual piece we want to keep the costume plain but versatile to allow the dancer full movement and to give the audience full attention on the actual movements with no distraction. We will discuss this further with the dancer to see what she feels comfortable wearing as well so we can fulfill her needs.

Audio Elements:

Music-

We are having a music tracked made for this piece by a musician in London. We have written him a brief, which states that we need 6 minuets worth of music and we want 2 minuets dedicated to each phobia in the order of Arachnophobia, Claustrophobia and then Astraphobia. We want each phobia to be styled slightly differently and build up the tension as the pieces moves along. We are confident that he will be able to achieve this for us.

Requirements and Resources:

GH4 Camera Kit, Extra Camera Battery, Shoulder Rig, Slider, 2 Tripods, Jib, Steadicam, Lenses (Wide angle, Standard, telephoto), 2 Tungsten 2K lights, 3 Redhead 800W lights, 2 Extension Cables, Diffuser Sheets, Colour Gel Filters, Pegs, Gaffer Tape, Gaffer Gloves.

Constraints and Contingency:

We have a budget to stick to which we will need to spend on the Dancers expenses. We also have a time schedule to stick to as we need the dance fully choreographed before the shoot dates. We also need to work around the Dancers schedule leading up to the shoot to meet with them and have rehearsals when they are available. We will probably only be able to fit in two or three evenings for rehearsals so we need to make sure we are prepared for these to get the best out of them. We also need to make sure that during this process we keep the dance focused upon the original concept of Phobias however we know that people may interpret the finished piece in there own way.

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