Film Shooting

Once arriving on set we began to sort out the equipment and the set. We decided to use an area where the floor was covered with safety mats to ensure the dancer’s and crew’s safety throughout the shoot. It was situated next to a plain white wall as we wanted the dancer to stand out against the background to add to the simplicity of the shoot.

We set up the Canon XF100 and tripod in front of the white wall to begin with to capture the long shots and torso close ups of the dancer. After sorting the white balance and changed the frame rate to 50 per second we set to creating a costume for the dancer. Paul and I dressed her in strips of white and black crinkled fabric over her black leotard to create a contrast compared to that of the white wall. We ensured she was able to move and the costume didn't create a tripping hazard.

Setting up the camera

As none of us are choreographers we asked her to improvise the dancing to what she felt fitted with the audio we had created.

Trying to choreograph piece

Oli then conducted most of the filming due to his absence from the creating of the audio itself however we all inputted on angles we wanted the types of shots that were created.

Due to my animal care background I was left in charge of Blim, the dancer’s dog, as he couldn’t be left unattended. Having an animal on set was quite a challenge due to his loyalty to his owner so he would constantly whine for her and at one point broke from his lead to be nearer to her.

Caring for Blim the dog

Other problems that occurred on the set included lighting being quite dark so we were unable to create the bright white colouring that we first wanted so changed our idea to a more contrasting black and white image. Another was that of lack of heating especially due to the dancer not wearing much clothing meaning we took breaks so she could warm up.

Apart from these few problems shooting went well and was followed up by a meeting the following day to look at the video clips.

Filming from above