Shooting Days (Blog Post 13)

A blog post by: Darleen Klug & Kelsey Reid

Day 1 at Pump And Grind

At the start of the shoot, much of our time was spent setting up the equipment, adjusting the lighting and going through rehearsals with the actors. This was extremely necessary to do because once all of this was in place we were able to go through the planned shots rather quickly, so much so we even had time to add a few more shots in before packing everything away. 

The day's schedule 
08:00 - Meeting to discuss plan for the day and shot list
09.30 - Kit pick up and travel to location

09.50 - Cafe opens

10:30 - We were ready to turn over around 
12 -12:30 - Had a small coffee/food break around 
13:00 - Back to filming at 13
14:15 - Atmos/room tone before we left 

Day 2 at Prime 1

This filming day was spent focusing on our abstract scene. We were in prime studio 1 from about 10am until 4.30pm. We carried out a similar set up to the one we tried out during our ‘tester day’ and from here we experimented with a range of different food colours: black, yellow, blue, red and green. These colours were chosen specifically as they all carry specific connotations whether they be good or bad, but nevertheless, when put next to one another, the colours clash and contrast to create a sense of confusion, disruption and struggle which are the main themes of this film.

It is stated that “dance is a mode that allows innumerable areas of thematic exploration, from the abstract to the narrative, from the metaphorical to the didactic” (Porter, 2016), which is what we aimed to achieve with our food colouring scene as a way to add another layer of imagery to our film that is more abstract yet holds important meaning in line with our films theme. In addition, when reading this quote, we didn’t limit our imagination to the physical human body when it referred to ‘dance’, but imagined the colours filmed in this scene to almost appear as if they are dancing. That was our intention when filming this scene, but obviously a lot of that will come together in post-production when we edit the footage to the beat of the music. 

Moreover, when filming the food colouring as it was dropped into the water we had three separate camera set ups in place. This was so that we could capture the scene from different angles to offer a range of perspectives, which we could then experiment with in post-production. In addition, it allowed for a greater breadth of coverage that again would give us more footage to cut in between when editing. 

Camera set up 1 – We used the Canon 600D DSLR with a 45mm Lensbaby lens that is tilt shift, which created a subtle bouche effect on the image that we were capturing. We positioned the camera at 45 degrees as a quite wide shot of the jug so we could see most of what was happening in the middle.

Camera set up 2 – We used a Canon 750D DSLR with a zoom lens. This focused on the lower section of the water jug we were using and showing it from the front. 

Camera set up 3 – We used a GoPro camera which we placed underwater, at the bottom of the vase and captured the food colouring from below as it dropped from the top of the vase.

This set up was probably the most immersive out of all of the one’s used simply because the food colouring was actually able to touch the lens of the camera and we were able to capture the movement of the colouring as it glided above and around the lens.

We used the last part of the day to set up the studio for the next day ready for when our dancer, Louis, was coming in. From inspiration in ‘Tarantula’ as explained in the blog post titled ‘Preparation’ we wanted to black out all the walls to create a feeling of constraint and restriction to mirror the internal space of our character’s mind who is experiencing a sense of internal struggle. Therefore, we used black cloth to cover all of the walls, which was stuck down with black tape.

Day 3 at Prime Studio 1

Our third filming day was used to film Louis’s dance sequence. One of our main priorities of the day was to ensure that Louis felt as comfortable as possible. This was because when choreographer and dancer, Trevor, reflected on his time as a dancer in a screen dance film he was “very aware of being surrounded by a film culture” also mentioning “I was influenced by the aura of the institution and I was influenced into making quite conservative decisions really” (Mitchell, 2016). Taking this on note, we didn’t want Louis to feel uncomfortable to the point that he too made ‘conservative decisions’ when dancing, especially as much of his dance was improvised. Therefore, it was more important than ever to create an environment that ensured Louis was comfortable and thus able to execute an optimum performance and feel safe enough to try out new things and be expressive as possible. 

It helped that he had met all of us a few times prior to this so he was already relaxed around us and the fact we were all around the same age made conversation really easy. In addition, we provided him with a bottle of water, snacks and food throughout the day and necessary breaks in between takes to ensure he was well looked after. By the end of the day, Louis added us all on social media, so it’s safe to say that we all got on really well.

During his dance sequence we again had three different camera set ups, in order to capture Louis from different angles. We used a Black Magic Pocket, Canon 600D and a Canon 750D and rotated the set ups during the shoot due to difference in the video files on the separate cameras.

We had a camera set up above the set attached to a tripod that was attached to a C Stand, another camera was placed on the floor at a 45 degree angle to capture Louis' moving feet and one more camera was placed on a tripod at a higher level on the opposite side of the set. 

Apart from these set ups during several takes we also covered some close ups of the dance by setting up the Black Magic Pocket on a Feiyutech gimbal. This helped massively as it allowed the operating to be smooth but in touch with the dance and allowed the camera to come closer to the performer.

During the rest of the shoot in regards to shots of the head banging, the camera (Black Magic Pocket) was kept on the gimbal and later placed on the floor for the shots of the feet. 

We lit the whole set with Dedo lights, one placed at the back of the set used as a spotlight, the second as a fill light on the side and a third one as a key light on the other side. This was very simple and created a nice "spot" for Louis' performance. Find the lighting plan for this set up bellow. For the shots that weren't his performance we simply used only one dedo placed opposite him, dimmed. 

It’s stated that “the position of the camera can construct spectatorship positions that could not easily be achieved outside the film or television context” (Dodds, 2001). Therefore, we made sure to capture close up shots of Louis when dancing, focusing on different parts of his body. This will offer the audience a different perspective compared to if they were sitting down watching a live dance performance on stage, as these shots cause the audience to be uncomfortably close to the dancer and the movement of their body. In addition, we also had a camera set up that offered a bird’s eye perspective, which created Louis to appear in almost a quite vulnerable state, thus emphasising the theme of our screen dance film. 

Behind the scene footage:

References:

Dodds, S. 2001. Dance on Screen: Genres and Media from Hollywood to Experimental Art.UK: Palgrave Macmillan

Rosenberg, D. 2016. Dance with camera (a curator's POV). In: Mitchell, T. The Oxford handbook of screen dance studies. OUP USA: Oxford University Press, pp. 635-656

Rosenberg, D. 2016. Dance with camera (a curator's POV). In: Porter, J. The Oxford handbook of screen dance studies. OUP USA: Oxford University Press, pp. 23-44