These Things Happen

These Things Happen when three dancers and one dancer/film maker follow instructions given by choreographer, Angus Balbernie at a Dance House research lab. Spontaneous, textured and very low-tech.



Following another failed attempt to hire any equipment I ended up using my own Mini DV and mobile to film improvisations at Angus' research lab. Angus had agreed to let me use the footage anyway I decided but I wasn't sure how to put it all together with it being on different formats and still make it look like one cohesive piece. After a lightbulb moment last weekend I decided to embrace the low-tech aspect and only use the footage from my mobile. The only editing I chose to use was to rotate some of the sections which had been captured in portrait to give the feeling of the camera rotating but the dancers remain standing.

I'm quite pleased with the results and am now thinking of ways this can be combined with my final project.

First Week Back

Tutorial with Katrina

We discussed my practical work and agreed that if I am to produce a successful, accurate account of my performance for the assessment panel I must stage it in advance to give myself enough time to document it fully. I'd like to create a single screen work out of the performance piece as opposed to just a documentation of the work so will need to consider how to do this and what it will entail.

She also suggested I look at some Cunningham work to reference my theme of 'no fixed front'. It seems it's time to dig out the old books from my BA.

SDT

4-5 min promo for the Interactive programme plus documentation of their latest piece. We need extra bodies to help with filming and boom mike operating but people seem reluctant to get involved, hopefully the 4th years will be more proactive. We need to consider how to mike up Janet and how to ensure we cover all the material for maximum editing options.

DVD Pro Authoring

Fairly straightforward and probably best to try with a project in mind.

Feedback from Gair and Course Meeting

Everything seems to be on track for the year ahead. I have lots of projects planned and just want to get started. My feedback was pretty positive from both Gair and Katrina but I am conscious of not resting on my laurels and keeping the momentum going. I really want to get more practice editing and would like a proper intro to Final Cut as I missed the first one. We have the option of requesting workshops and there is money for library books so we'll need to make the most of it.

Creative Lab Prep

This is turning into a nightmare.

I've decided to make use of the projector at The STAND during my Dance House Creative Lab to hook up a camera, film the dance and project it live onto the screen. Because this is part of my course I thought it'd be a good idea to make use of the equipment and get a decent camera out to film, that way I could use my own camera and tripod to document the whole thing which would be fine if the uni had any equipment available.

The main reason I applied for this course was for it's facilities and the fact that my work would improve just by using more sophisticated gear and now I've ended up using my own stuff anyway. All because students hire stuff out over a weekend to save them bringing it back on a Friday afternoon. The most frustrating part of it all is that I approached the techies numerous times this week and they kept assuring me that I'd be able to get stuff out. If they'd had the proper sheets out at the proper time I might have been able to approach whoever already had the equipment and see if I could collect it from them.

So. I'm annoyed and disappointed but I can still try things out with my own camera and, if the idea works, I can see about getting more space to develop it properly.

I've also downloaded the demo version of Isadora but the tutorials aren't working. It isn't my day.