After having a think about where my work will be heading after this degree is finished I decided that this old blogger just isn’t cutting it anymore. I will be adding examples of my work to my online portfolio and needed a better system to document my thoughts. The new portfolio is a tad ‘minimal’ at the moment but it will be full of information and examples very soon. My new blog can be found at semai.wordpress.com.
Enjoy!
Tuesday, 19 August 2008
Monday, 11 August 2008
It's been too long...
A lot has happened in the month since I last blogged; filming for Project Y and Under the Same Sky, both for YDance, designing the website for the masters show, finishing Anne Whitaker's website, fine tuning the details for As the sparks fly upwards... and getting back to work on itch.
Project Y
I was approached by YDance, the national youth dance agency for Scotland for whom I have worked as a freelance dance tutor for many years, to produce documentation and a short introductory documentary to promote their performance project, Project Y. I spent a few afternoons filming rehearsals and getting short interviews with the choreographers and some of the dancers, which I chose to conduct as group interviews rather than one on one to ensure a more relaxed feel to the footage. I then got a team of 2 camera operators and a boom mic operator together for the multi-camera performance shoot. So far, looking through the footage as it's captured, it's looking good. I may need to crop in on the wide angle camera slightly but I had a feeling that would happen as it was difficult to set up in advance due to different lighting states in the theatre.
Under the Same Sky
Also for YDance, this is a short promotional video aimed at young people and those who work with them to promoto YDance's new project, Free to Dance. Free to Dance targets young girls who may be school refusers, exercise refusers or excluded from regular activities for some other reason. For this reason, it was important to YDance to film girls dancing who have not had years of experience and to chat to them about their developments so far. Again I chose to shoot the interview with both girls at the same time to relax them get better material.
Masters Show Website
I decided to use a similar format to my own website for FireBox as it makes use of an iframe thus minimising the amount of parts which need to load for each page, keeping the design a simple grey on white allows the work to speak for itself. The main problem has been getting all the information I needed from people in a short amount of time. It seems that deadlines often fall on deaf ears, even when they are reasonable and take dissertation deadlines into account. Eventually I got it altogether but am now waiting on the server details so I can upload it. Typical.
Anne Whitaker
www.anne-whitaker.com is now up and running. The website was fairly simple to put together as Anne was keen to use a blog template that she could add to gradually. We decided that the best way forward would be for me to meet with her on a weekly(ish) basis and teach her the basics of blogging. She started with almost no knowledge but proved to be a quick learner and within 10 sessions is now happy to go it alone.
As the sparks fly upwards...
The film clips have been finalised and I'm constantly adding to a music playlist so that the room is filled with a full range of tracks that will be shuffled and on a loop. I'm still in the process of making the hanging screen but part of this needs to be done at the installation so that the size is perfect for the projection. I'm keen to get the screen as accurately sized as possible to give the piece a feel of things floating in space visually.
itch
It's been a long slog for itch, one that seems to go on the back burner as soon as another project raises its head so I'm determined to get this finished within the next week. I think the problem is that I'm so clear on what I want the finished project to look like I've convinced myself it'll be a five minute job that can be done at any point. In reality I know it'll take a little longer than that.
Project Y
I was approached by YDance, the national youth dance agency for Scotland for whom I have worked as a freelance dance tutor for many years, to produce documentation and a short introductory documentary to promote their performance project, Project Y. I spent a few afternoons filming rehearsals and getting short interviews with the choreographers and some of the dancers, which I chose to conduct as group interviews rather than one on one to ensure a more relaxed feel to the footage. I then got a team of 2 camera operators and a boom mic operator together for the multi-camera performance shoot. So far, looking through the footage as it's captured, it's looking good. I may need to crop in on the wide angle camera slightly but I had a feeling that would happen as it was difficult to set up in advance due to different lighting states in the theatre.
Under the Same Sky
Also for YDance, this is a short promotional video aimed at young people and those who work with them to promoto YDance's new project, Free to Dance. Free to Dance targets young girls who may be school refusers, exercise refusers or excluded from regular activities for some other reason. For this reason, it was important to YDance to film girls dancing who have not had years of experience and to chat to them about their developments so far. Again I chose to shoot the interview with both girls at the same time to relax them get better material.
Masters Show Website
I decided to use a similar format to my own website for FireBox as it makes use of an iframe thus minimising the amount of parts which need to load for each page, keeping the design a simple grey on white allows the work to speak for itself. The main problem has been getting all the information I needed from people in a short amount of time. It seems that deadlines often fall on deaf ears, even when they are reasonable and take dissertation deadlines into account. Eventually I got it altogether but am now waiting on the server details so I can upload it. Typical.
Anne Whitaker
www.anne-whitaker.com is now up and running. The website was fairly simple to put together as Anne was keen to use a blog template that she could add to gradually. We decided that the best way forward would be for me to meet with her on a weekly(ish) basis and teach her the basics of blogging. She started with almost no knowledge but proved to be a quick learner and within 10 sessions is now happy to go it alone.
As the sparks fly upwards...
The film clips have been finalised and I'm constantly adding to a music playlist so that the room is filled with a full range of tracks that will be shuffled and on a loop. I'm still in the process of making the hanging screen but part of this needs to be done at the installation so that the size is perfect for the projection. I'm keen to get the screen as accurately sized as possible to give the piece a feel of things floating in space visually.
itch
It's been a long slog for itch, one that seems to go on the back burner as soon as another project raises its head so I'm determined to get this finished within the next week. I think the problem is that I'm so clear on what I want the finished project to look like I've convinced myself it'll be a five minute job that can be done at any point. In reality I know it'll take a little longer than that.
Thursday, 26 June 2008
As the sparks fly upwards...
As the sparks fly upwards... is really on it's way now. The piece, which uses Isadora to bring live dancers and film clips together, had it's first showing last Friday with very positive results.
Lights are attached to dancers' bodies which are then tracked in the space by a camera and used by Isadora to trigger specific pre-recorded film clips. The movement is the same for the live and filmed dancers but the order is completely different. Sometimes in unison, sometimes in canon, sometimes completely out of sync.
Initial feedback includes comparisons to photographic dark rooms watching images develop, appraisals of the dynamic, fluid movement and claims of 'this is the future of screendance'.
View the Isadora output...
Or mobile phone footage from the performance...
Lights are attached to dancers' bodies which are then tracked in the space by a camera and used by Isadora to trigger specific pre-recorded film clips. The movement is the same for the live and filmed dancers but the order is completely different. Sometimes in unison, sometimes in canon, sometimes completely out of sync.
Initial feedback includes comparisons to photographic dark rooms watching images develop, appraisals of the dynamic, fluid movement and claims of 'this is the future of screendance'.
View the Isadora output...
Or mobile phone footage from the performance...
Friday, 13 June 2008
Interact with Us
FireBox will be spending next week at the UK Theatre School courtesy of the Dance House working on new material for an interactive dance performance. The exciting part is...
that as well as being able to watch the FireBox dancers performing, you will also be able to get involved and get interacting with the piece. Don't worry you don't need to dance if you don't want to, you just have to be willing to hold a light and move around the room. Easy.
Come along on Friday 20th June at 6pm for your chance to watch it, try it out or both!
UK Theatre School - opposite the old Odeon cinema
4 West Regent Street,
Glasgow
G2 1RW
that as well as being able to watch the FireBox dancers performing, you will also be able to get involved and get interacting with the piece. Don't worry you don't need to dance if you don't want to, you just have to be willing to hold a light and move around the room. Easy.
Come along on Friday 20th June at 6pm for your chance to watch it, try it out or both!
UK Theatre School - opposite the old Odeon cinema
4 West Regent Street,
Glasgow
G2 1RW
Wednesday, 11 June 2008
The Practice Room, The Poles and The Paper
It's been a busy time for FireBox recently with a few breakthroughs in terms of my degree project, the first draft of my masters due in and working on a dance film with some contemporary/pole dancers.
Isadora is starting to behave herself in the Practice Room at The Arches just in time for my Dance House creative lab at the UK theatre school next week. I've got nice LED lights to use as a trigger and the dancers have been working on some great sequences that will be used as the basis for their improvisations. I'd asked them to choreograph their own combos as I'd wanted something different from my usual style and they ended up creating 4 different combos that are very much my style - perhaps we've all been working together too long!
I still need to get all my extra dancers together one weekend to film the movie clips for the piece and, as always, I'm expecting that to be a logistical nightmare.
Two of my dancers, Gill Smith and Suzi Kelly, have been going to pole dancing classes recently and were keen to combine it with contemporary dance so we got together and made a film with them showing off their new skills. The first edit is done and as soon as they've signed off on it I'll be punting it around different events and getting it shown.
Finally, the dreaded paper. The first draft is in and I'm waiting on some feedback before I get stuck in to completing it. There are some things I already know need to be expanded upon and clarified but the basis is there so I just need to get my head down and get on with it.
Isadora is starting to behave herself in the Practice Room at The Arches just in time for my Dance House creative lab at the UK theatre school next week. I've got nice LED lights to use as a trigger and the dancers have been working on some great sequences that will be used as the basis for their improvisations. I'd asked them to choreograph their own combos as I'd wanted something different from my usual style and they ended up creating 4 different combos that are very much my style - perhaps we've all been working together too long!
I still need to get all my extra dancers together one weekend to film the movie clips for the piece and, as always, I'm expecting that to be a logistical nightmare.
Two of my dancers, Gill Smith and Suzi Kelly, have been going to pole dancing classes recently and were keen to combine it with contemporary dance so we got together and made a film with them showing off their new skills. The first edit is done and as soon as they've signed off on it I'll be punting it around different events and getting it shown.
Finally, the dreaded paper. The first draft is in and I'm waiting on some feedback before I get stuck in to completing it. There are some things I already know need to be expanded upon and clarified but the basis is there so I just need to get my head down and get on with it.
Thursday, 22 May 2008
"The universe picks the right time for things to happen"
My second session with Annie today led to this blog's title. After a few problems trying to purchase a domain name for the site and with Annie keen to record the exact dates and times of each important point along the way it was decided that "The universe picks the right time for things to happen".
Other than that things are progressing nicely. We went through the pages and gave each one a little teaser to keep people interested until articles are uploaded, agreed on a site design and decided on the way forward for the next session.
I've left Annie organising her articles so she can learn to upload them next time we meet and I've got the task of pointing the domain name to the site, something I've done before but not for a while so I'll need to get my thinking cap on and concentrate on it.
Generally things are going well.
Other than that things are progressing nicely. We went through the pages and gave each one a little teaser to keep people interested until articles are uploaded, agreed on a site design and decided on the way forward for the next session.
I've left Annie organising her articles so she can learn to upload them next time we meet and I've got the task of pointing the domain name to the site, something I've done before but not for a while so I'll need to get my thinking cap on and concentrate on it.
Generally things are going well.
Wednesday, 21 May 2008
What Goes Up...
FireBox dancers and friends, Gillian and Suzi, have been going to pole dancing classes recently and have really got into the whole thing. As well as being the source of endless anecdotes about clammy palms and upside down spins they have also decided that pole dancing, combined with contemporary, would be a good subject for a dance film.
The idea came to them a while ago and they asked me to get involved in the filming/editing part of it which is scheduled for Monday (26th May). I plan to work with high end and low end cameras to create an interesting quality to the film which will reflect the perceived differences in the dance forms.
The idea came to them a while ago and they asked me to get involved in the filming/editing part of it which is scheduled for Monday (26th May). I plan to work with high end and low end cameras to create an interesting quality to the film which will reflect the perceived differences in the dance forms.
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