Filming

The last few weeks have been taken up filming again...another session with Mya this time in the Dundee Rep Theatre (with great lighting)...and more recently Leila in the dance studio at Dundee Rep with 2 lights on stands.( She left for Germany on Monday). Both sessions provided very different results. The theatre space was great to work in and I felt very at home here reminding me of creating work for stage. I used a different camera here but one I know really well. There seemed to be a little problem with focus and I could not adjust this camera cleanly so left it on automatic focus which meant it was sometimes a little fuzzy however I like the result and think it will really work with the animation. There is an abstract quality to it which is emotive even tho not perfect. It seems ironic, having worked so hard to have perfection...in camera technique and lighting...to find the most emotive piece is the one which has faults. Why should that surprise me? Life is not perfect and we feel numbed at times by perfection...it can be a little boring!


 But as write I am reminded that when I performed as a dancer, the moments the audience appeared to be moved most were when, because I knew the dance piece so well, I could let my self...spirit...whatever you want to call it...go, and release something beyond the technical into the performance. This is the quality I know Nuryev achieved...an otherness which really moved audiences.( although he was also the most technically perfect dancer!!) So in a way it does not surprise me that the most emotive film is one which I shot very instinctively.

I talked to a few people about this. One suggested that the big powerful cameras create very clean lines...maybe too perfect?Another raised the possibility that I was no longer thinking about the camera and just reacting more naturally. Whatever the reasons, I like this piece best out of all my films.
These are a few rough stills as the film is still a final cut project!!

The footage with Leila is to record her movements. I am not sure this will find its way into my final film, but I was always drawn to her dance style most when drawing at Scottish Dance Theatre class. I was pleased that for this session the film process happened so much faster. Finding and booking space, procuring camera and lights, organising timetable for the dancer, then running through the material to film.


Staging where in the space to work and film. Rigging lighting and setting up camera. All this went really smoothly and we managed to film some great clips. Leila responded brilliantly to the themes I set her and I will use the footage to practice edit and effects. When the degree show is over I will send her an edit of the footage with her dancing.