Dance Video Learning Agreement

Here is my latest  Learning Agreement which I have written. This sets out my goals and aims etc for this Dance Video Project I am currently working on:

Digital Film & Screen Arts Learning Agreement				YEAR:		2
NAME:  Billie Williams			DATE: 27/02/17
Unit Name/No: Innovation and Interference – Dance Video		Deadline for submission: 5/05/17
GROUP PRODUCTION:	YES	INDIVIDUAL PRODUCTION:			NO
DESCRIPTION: A synopsis of the work you intend to undertake in fulfilment of the aims, outcomes and assessment criteria of the unit giving fuller detail in response to each of the five sections below.
I am working as a Director within a small group to create a dance video based on Phobias. The three phobias we have chosen after I researched into them are Arachnophobia, Claustrophobia and Astraphobia. We chose these three because they are common yet explore different types of phobias and visually would all be very interesting. The piece will flow in the order from most common being Arachnophobia to least common yet more severe being Astraphobia. I am personally very interested in this subject because I suffer from phobias myself and I am curious about the psychology behind them and why they don’t always get taken seriously with in society. This is why I want to create a dance which presents some common phobias to people but by 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 therefore making it relatable to the audience. We are going to work with two dancers 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 more.
RESEARCH: (Initial reference material and sources)
-       I physically began researching phobias by recording videos of professional dancers completing tasks our group set them based on potential phobias we wanted to portray. -       I have researched, watched and analysed dance videos, some of my favourites I was most inspired by are ‘Weightless’ by Erika Janunger, 'Abaddon' by Rogerio Silva, 'Elements of Life: Air, Earth, Water, Metal, Fire.' By Momo Sanno. -       I have researched into the Psychology behind phobias in particular the Fight or Flight instinct. -       I researched into our three chosen phobias to gain more knowledge on them and how they affect people. -       I created a survey based on Phobias so that people can fill them out giving us first hand inspiration on how people feel about their phobias and how they react. This will help us inspire the dancers using the language people feed back to us. -       I want to go away and find more visual inspiration linked more specifically to our idea and I also want to research choreographers so I can find interesting ways of working with the dancers.
CONTEXTUAL UNDERSTANDING (How the work relates to your future goals, previous work, work by other practitioners and so on) I feel like this work will fit into the world of contemporary modern dance video however it will be a much more edgy and abstract take upon it pushing it more into the experimental realms of dance video. I feel like this work is informed by a lot of choreography I tried out when working with the actors we used in our Studio Shoot project this year. As I directed the actors in our very movement orientated piece I was able to adapt and develop my language and skills when it comes to effectively directing such a movement based piece. This Dance Video Project is a way for me to develop and move those skills on even further. I have always been interested in working in Music Videos in the future and I feel like this is a chance to really experiment with my skills as a Director in trying to make a piece which is based to music and trying to make it visually exciting. It gives me experience which will be really useful if I do go on to make music videos.
TECHNICAL AND CREATIVE SKILLS (Propose specialisms, resources required, relate to the above) My role within the team is Director: I have so far and will carry on to be involved in the conceptual side of the Dance Video idea leading up to the shoot. This means choreographing the dance with the dancers and making sure that all visual and technical elements of the piece link back to the idea and concept in a relevant and structured way. For preproduction as a Director I will be helping DOP with the shot list and lighting plan. I will also help create the shoot schedule and the storyboard etc as we have a smaller team and I will be taking on AD roles as well as Directing. Onset I will be directing which is my main role. However, I am not afraid to if needed get hands on when shooting as well such as helping move the lighting around and look at camera shots etc. I want to try and be a very proactive director and I feel like I can really achieve something here. In post-production I will be working with the Editor (as editing is also a passion of mine) to make the piece as visually exciting as we can and to match our aims as best as possible.
COMMUNICATION (How you will communicate with the staff team and collaborators/How the work communicates with an audience, crowd funding, dissemination etc) We will communicate with staff in equipment hire at the university to make sure we get the right equipment booked and the studio space we need booked as well. We may seek help from the studio technician to ask how would be best to move all the overhead photography lights out the way and set up. I may be running my Choreography past the tutor Rachel if I need any help or if I find myself stuck. We will be seeking Anne (tutor) to ask to borrow her lighting equipment such as gels and diffuser, safety gloves and pegs. If not, we will get this ourselves. I have communicated with members of our class and have a crew consisting of 4 individuals who will help on shoot and know what roles they will be taking. We will need to keep them in the loop leading up to the shoot. We want our finished piece to communicate effectively how scary and truly terrifying these phobias and also phobias in general can be for the sufferers of them. We want the audience to feel intimidated and hopefully understand why these phobias are effecting people the way they are. Therefore, making them take it more seriously and be more aware.
SELF MANAGEMENT (Work plan, schedule cross referenced with timetable, assessment deadlines etc) We are excepting video submissions from dancers till the 6th of march when we will choose our Dancers. This is also the date where we will receive a rough cut of our music track. Then we will have hopefully three rehearsals with our chosen dancers fitting into their schedule and have the choreography finalised before pre-light. I will be creating scores for the dancers, task for the rehearsals and a storyboard in the next 2 weeks. Our Pre-light is the 17th of March. Our shoot dates are the 27th to 30th March. We will then be booking time to edit in the Avid suite following the shoot dates.
STUDENT SIGN:		DATE:
TUTOR APPROVAL:
TUTOR SIGNED:		DATE: