Change in Dance Ideas - Dance - to - Pole Dance

Ok so, originally I was going to use a normal Dancer.  I was going to have a contemporary/ballet dancer and have them dance in a dance studio as well as out side on location. This turned into and problem, and was also like a mental block for carrying on the project this way because when I thought about it,  I don't actually know a lot about dance itself and would not be able to tell my dancer what to do, I would just have to advise and see what happens and then ask her to try different 'things', but then I thought about something else that could work =)

I used to be a Gymnast when I was younger and was very good at it, due to being light and flexible, this taught me gymnast ways, which can sometimes be used in dancing.  It certainly gives me a better perspective from once doing the sport myself.  Once you have learnt gymnastics, the simple things like poise and remembering to point toes that are the things you remember.  Before starting University I tried something breaking through in the fitness world ... Pole Fitness.  I had heard of a pole fitness class from a friend and immediately wanted to try it straight away.  The girl I went to was called Claire who had her own Pole fitness business 'Claire's Pole Fitness' and it was a 6 week course, beginners, intermediate 1, and 2, advanced 1, and 2, and advanced plus.

I loved it so much as it was a great way to keep fit, it works almost all over body muscles and is great for toning.  When I went to the classes almost 3 years ago, there was an average number in each class, but today Claire s business has hit the top and she has so many new members joining all the time.  Pole fitness has really come in and a lot of new people want to try it out.

Because her business is such a great success now, the happiest thing about this idea, is that, because I'm such good friends with Claire herself, as the creator and finder of this business she has agreed to all my ideas for this project and is more than happy to help me out. She is fantastic at what she does and really knows what looks good in a photograph.  I've included some of the photo shoots she has been on before below.

THE FINAL IDEA =

Because I have done Pole fitness previously, I know a lot more about this than I do about normal dance.  It would be easier for me to stick with a subject that I way happy and comfortable with and knew what I wanted to do.  I know what moves look good for a photograph so surely they would look good in long exposures? 

My idea is to shoot small clips at a time of Claire on a bright white backdrop, and consider having them all played at slow motion for the final film.  I idea is to use Claire as my model/dancer and bring her to my own studio in which I have my own Pole. 

 I can then set up my backgrounds and lights and make sure there is enough room and shoot some creative bright whit film clips of pole dancing.  I like to look through all these still photographs of each of the nice looking moves so that it can give me an idea of what will look good as a film clip.  It is quite hard to picture what it will look like until I do the first shoot to see. But I personally think the idea of using something I know is better than something I do not.  

I would like to think that a short dance film created in the studio will have some great outcomes of Claire spinning around the pole.  I'm quite excited to try it out as I think it will be quite fun.

Dance Short Films 3 - Ballet & Krump 360

www.danceshortfilms.com/ballet-krump-in-360-degrees

These two films are not on Youtube but on vimeo, but I still really wanted to show them in my work.  I think it is absolutely fascinating how there are the cameras, all around each dancer in a circle, capturing the next image, one camera flash sets of the next and the making of this idea looks very cleaver.  On this link you can watch the making of these short dance 'Adverts' and see exactly how they managed to capture them at every angle. 

The reason why this meant so much to me and my ideas and my work is because i was originally going to create a dance film with three camera's and shoot from each angle.  This was so I could see different sides and angles to the dancer used.  I now have had so many different idea for my dance film and it may change a lot.  I think all of the dance films that I have included within my blog look great and I just need to refine my ideas and make sure that I produce smaller clips.  Would love to be able to shoot on a huge black background on this as well just for testing purposes but as far as my thought on filming, I am still aiming to shoo inside and out on location for now.  

Ballet 360

Krump 360

Here are some images i have taken from the Ballet films above.  They move in beautiful ways and the positions of the body are amazing.  Each camera has captured a different view which ultimately gives a complete different look to  the move.  This is fantastic to look at with regards to what moves to do and you can clearly see what moves look great and what can be used with in filming - I strongly suggest you watch these videos, to get the true idea of what these images below look like as a short film.

Alva Noe on 'Consciousness'

These two videos are of Alva Noe as well, but these two are shorter and more in-depth to answers about what he really thinks about the mind and body.  Here he talks about consciousness and how the body and mind connect.

This video below shows a very short video called "You are not your Brain" 

where he gives the idea to the viewer about what he thinks the difference between both brain and body have.  I found them quite interesting at the time, but now I almost see it as a distraction from the actual points that I am trying to make. 

I think using philosophy within my research is great for such a project because it will prove that I have looked into every option and decided to move on from the work.  I have listened to a lot of ideas by these particular philosopher and think I may be headed off track if I carry on down this path. 

Alva Noe - Philosophy - Dance as a way of Knowing

Alva Noe is a Philosopher who looks into the ways in which we perceive things.
Alva Noe is being interviewed here in a brief visit to NYC.  He explains his line of inquiry on perception and action and why dance and (human movements) is relevant for the understanding and development of consciousness.

He also talks about his experience with Lisa Nelson's 'Turning Scores' joint workshop and how certain approaches to dance training and composition can collaborate with science and philosophy in generating knowledge from an embodied perspective.  Author: 'Action in Perception'.

It is very relevant to my work and will play such a huge part as a strong foundation, but I do think that this is going quite in depth to the mind and body thoeries.  I think that I shall mention a small bit about Alva Noe's work and what he does and then move on to maybe a better more involved strong foundation.

Descartes - The Mind-Body Theory

One of the deepest and most lasting legacies of Descartes' philosophy is his thesis that mind and body are really distinct - a theory now called "mind-body dualism."  He reaches his conclusion by arguing that the nature of the mind is completely different from the body, and therefore it is possible for one to exist without the other.  This argument gives huge debate of the famous mind-body problem and is still debated today; how can the mind cause some of our bodily limbs to move, like raising a hand, and how can the body's sense organs cause sensations in the mind when their natures are completely different?
Descartes has brief comments on how the mind is united with the body to form a human being, but to me, his theory does make sense, and I agree with his theory to a degree.

Rene' Descartes

Descartes describes the relationship between the mind and body as 'special' and explains his fascination as to how two things so different between them, with completely diverse nature, interact so well together being able to give rise to a human being, capable of having voluntary bodily motions and sensations.

My Views so far...
One point to make about the whole mind-body problem is the fact it is quite religious based.  People who do not believe in God would automatically have a different response to the theory. A definition of 'Real Distinction', says that a substance is something that can exist, with only the help of God's concurrence, so straight away, if this is one's theory, that is an argument in itself.  Why look into what 'Real Distinction' is anyway? This question makes me think as to why it is important to find out why the two (mind&body) connect.  For Descartes, it's a religious idea, that it provides basis for a hope in the soul's immortality, but scientifically, its working out the idea that complete absence of mentality from physical things can prove new mechanistic physics.  For me, it is just a wonder circle of how the two connect but is something I do not really mind not knowing the full extent about. I look through Descartes theory as a medium of finding out more about ideas on 'How' it things happen.

Religious vs Scientific
Descartes says that his purpose in showing the human mind distinct from the body is to show to non-religious people who only have faith in mathematics, is about the souls immortality.  The afterlife to Descartes, is that the mind can survive a decay of the body, but doesn't include destruction of the mind.   Because this religious theory doesn't destroy the mind though body decay, it would indicate they are both separate.  The other motive that the body and mind are separate is the scientific idea.  Descartes understood all scholastics to maintain that everything was thought to have a final cause that is the ultimate end or goal for the sake of which the rest of the organism was organised.  Bodies exist and move as they do without mentality,  the scientific theory of eliminating any element of mentality from the idea of body suggests an understanding of the geometrical nature rather than the religious nature.

Descartes Theories
So overall, after looking at exactly what Descartes thinks and the scientific and religious theories, Descartes has two final versions of the difference in the mind and body. The first one comes from the Sixth Meditation:

On the one hand I have a clear and distinct idea of myself. in so far as I am simply a thinking, non-extended thing [that is, a mind], and on the other hand I have a distinct idea of body, in so far as this is simply an extended, non-thinking thing.  And accordingly, it it certain that I am really distinct from my body, and can exist without it. (AT VII 78: CSM ii 54). 

In an easier perspective of what he thinks in this first version, the three statements 1, 2, and 3 include the quote from above split into simple terms of what he thinks.

1. I have a clear and distinct idea of the mind as a thinking, non-extended thing. 
2. I have a clear and distinct idea of body as an extended, non-thinking thing. 
3. Therefore, the mind is really distinct from the body and can exist without it. 

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There is quite a lot to take is here about this theory.  I do agree with the theory as well, but I am on par with ideas about it as iim sure many people are - I wanted to include this in my blog to prove that i have been looking at theory and theory into body and mind.

Building a Strong Foundation for my Practical - ( I )

Still thinking back to the feedback e-mail that I got from my Tutor over christmas, one of the points made was that I needed to build a Strong Foundation for my work and film to sit.  This is for research purposes and to why I will have created the short film I have.

A strong foundation will consist of a background chunk of research as to why I will do what I'm doing and what for.  The background information to the imagery that will be produced.

I have known all along that I wanted to produce a dance video and a short film.   I always had in mind that it was going to be called Body & Mind, it got me thinking about what really happens with our bodies and mind.  and what we actually think about whilst dancing.  It also got me thinking about the dancer as one and whilst filming what goes through her mind. 

For this I was originally going to then interview the dancer/ dancers and record them within an interview talking to me about what they actually think about.  I think it would be interesting to mention and show that I have looked into this a a strong base for my work, even though it may change at a later date. 

Dance Short Films 2 - Lipia

As well as one of the most recent previous blog posts/page film, this film also was found on the Short Dance Films website.  I found quite a few different dance films as inspiration on this website but this short film is the one that struck me the most.  As mentioned before, this website has a number of categories for different types of dance but one of the biggest categories is ballet, because it is so simply beautiful.  This second film that I have decided to look into from this website is called 'Lipia', I high end ballet film.  This short film shows One ballet dancer with all focus on her, the moves seem to be the main focus, as well as her.

This film was posted to the website on 2.February 2012, so is only one year old.  I am glad that I have found this film as it plays a huge part into my ideas and thoughts into a short dance film.  'Lipia' is only 2minutes 23seconds, so is quite short, but I think this is great as it keeps the attention of viewers.  This is a German film therefore I had to translate all of the credits that were at the end.  The Directors and Producers are Kai Stoeckel & Jan Euler, the film is by them two too.  The Dancer is Lisa Breuker.  There are 'Thankyou's' that go out to the State Ballet School in Berlin.  Music by Patrick Schmitz & Rainer Quade and the Sound is by Peter Lorenz and Sound Design by Aijoscha Rorig.

This particular film is not on YouTube therefore I was not able to post the video into my blog post, So I have posted the link straight to the dance short films website here : www.danceshortfilms.com/lipia.
This is one of my favourite short films that  have watched for my research and has had big impacts of my ideas for my film.

What I love about this short film is all of the different camera angles and focus points.  I also love watching the actual Ballet itself because it is so beautiful.  Ballet is elegant and calm, so the moves look so graceful, this film shows that perfectly.  My favourite part of this film is how the dancer is in an inside ballet studio and also outside in a wooded area.  The sun shines a lot throughout which makes it even more beautiful.  The lighting is quite dark in the studio but bright sunlight outside which is a great contrast between the two.  The most of the film is done outside, because it is such a lovely location.  The greens and pinks from the plants in the wooded area look great with the pink skirt she is wearing.  

The depth of field used in the filming aspects is what I was looking for as it is something I am really interested in as I think it gives great effects, it is used a lot outside with the tall trees, and for looking through the long grass to the dancer in the background.  The music for me gives off a quite sad emotion, as it is really slow and calm, truthfully, it makes me look at how skinny the girl is.  There is a clip that shows the bones and spine on her back and you realise how skinny she is but when she is outside in the sun, she smiles a lot and it brings it back to the dancing.  I would to be able to fins a similar location, but the problem i face, is the weather.  A ballet dancer would be ideal but I will keep all aspects of the filming in mind and go back to this whilst filming. 

First Draft Story Board

Story Boards
Story boards are used in every film created in the cinematic world today. They help tremendously with the filming process and are a great way of keeping in track with the filming whilst going along with shoots.  I was told by my tutor as an idea, to create a story board to help with my short film that I was creating.  At this point anything could happen, and the film could change completely, but I have started one anyway.

For my hand in of my Proposal in December, I chose to produce a quick story board of what I wanted my short dance film to be like.  This was handy to do because it was a way of showing what the film might play out like. I wanted to sketch out how the film would play out and what the short clips would be of, to make up the film all together.  This is not the complete idea of the film but is two pages of what I would like to film and what I would like it to look like.  I had most of my inspiration from all the films that I have re-searched for my work so far.

The images on here are quite unclear but in my sketch book I have placed the actual copies. I start with the title, and my brand and move onto how I want it to start, a lot of short focusing, and depth of fields. My ideal dancer for my film is ballet, so I have sketched out a dancer in different motions as to how I want to film them.  This story board shows rough and spaced out film still frames.  Most of my inspiration for movements came from the previous blog post/page including the super slow motion ballet called 'Le Vent', in which the movements are shown extremely well in slo-mo.  From this I sketched out movements I'd like to film and also the on location frames which I also plan to do.

Under each sketch/frame I have a small very short explanation of what that particular screen will be of. Some include close up's of the floor, and the location plants and others, slow movements, and camera angles. I am planning to draw out some more story boards of the possible changes in my work as my project goes on. Location scouting will need to be done if I decide to shoot outside for some of this, but it also depends on the weather, it has been quite bad lately so would probably be a good idea to stay with inside.

As this project goes on, I will include a second and probably final storyboard as I would like to look back at the changes if they happen.  I know that if I draw something out that I want to happen, I may come across difficulties along the way, as in this case, the weather and location shooting, and if I decide to just shoot indoors then this first story board has already change dramatically.  I also might have problems with dancers, models, and equipment, which would also result in big changes, but one thing that is certain is that my short film will stay with the topic of dance.

Dance Short Films 1 - Slow Motion Ballet

Whilst looking for more short dance films, I came across a website that was filled with exactly what I was looking for, the website is www.danceshortfilms.com, and holds as it says 'the best of all types of dance'.  For my ideas for my short film I want to ideally have ballet/contemporary dancers perform movements or routine.  This website has a specific section for ballet short films and they are great for my research. 

This first film from this website is called 'Le Vent' and has dancers 'Marina Kanno' and 'Giacomo Bevilaqua' from Staatsballett in Berlin.  The short dance film shows Ballet in super slow motion!  The slow motion movements is something I am really interested in and am really looking for in a short film. 

This short film was uploaded to YouTube on Jan 22, 2011, and is fairly recent.  Marina Kanno and Giacomo Bevilaqua from Staatsballett Berlin perform several jumps captured in slow motion at 500 frames per second.  The film is Directed by Simon Inannelli & Johannes Berger.  The Camera operating is by Dr. Frank Gabler & Hendrik, slomotec.  Coordination Staatsballett Berlin Doreen Windolf & Alexandra van Veldhoven and the Music is: Radiohead - Everything In Its Right Place (Gigamesh DiscoTech Remix).  All of this crew have created something truly beautiful to look at but with some upbeat sound to compliment the slow moves.  

What I love about this short film is the slow motion!  It makes the movements look so beautiful and really makes you watch every part of the body move.  It is a great way for the likes of teaching dance as you can see exactly what to do at a speed where we can register it well.  The colour white as the background is great, as well as the white the dancers are wearing, they still stand out.  I like how the background has a fan blowing it slightly so that the background moves too.  The moves are fantastic and look perfect slo-mo.  The ideas that I will take forward to my own short film would definitely in this case, be the slow motion.  I always envisaged my short dance film to be slow motion anyway as it is something I'm also working on it my MPP, but even more so after watching this film.  I will not be able to shoot at 500 frames per second due to equipment but I can definitely still create slow motions.  I have looked at a few other films like this and will consider lighting, colours and motions in when completing my short dance film. 

Engaging the Relationship between Body & Mind (1 )

So after some thought about the in depth research for the base of this project I thought I'd start with how the Body and Mind work together.  This is because I am aiming to think about the connection that dancers have with their minds whilst dancing. The dance is my main priority within this research but I may look into how exercise also impacts our minds and although there are many arguments about how the body and mind connect together and the fact there is no real answer, the research into the topic can show what we think about during a dance. 

Body & Mind

Descartes is a theorist and worked on what he though was the ideas behind the body and mind. He tries to determine the relationship between his own body and mind through practices. He devoted the biggest part of the Sixth Meditation in order to investigate the relationship.  Many other theorists looking into this relationship will use Descartes' unique theory to help them in fact come up with a solution of their own. It is something that is very hard to consider and could potentially be something we will never know. 

Definitions

A definition of a 'body' is The physical structure of a person or an animal, including the bones, flesh and organs.  

A description of a 'body' is something which all people should be able to explain, its the general way that we see hundreds of bodies throughout our daily lives, and also, obviously the 'body' can be described in its physical sense. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/body

A definition of the 'mind' is The human consciousness that originates in the brain and is manifested especially in thought, perception, emotion, will, memory and imagination. 

The mind is different from the body ultimately because we cannot see it, then, how do we describe it?  We could say that the mind is just a place where the conscious thought takes place. Existence from thought is a place where such thoughts reside. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/mind

So... there are many questions that can be asked when it comes down to the body and mind and are questions that for some people, can never be answered!! But they are great debating questions to really get our 'minds' thinking. 

- Do we have a mind? Have you seen it? 

- Who is its subject partner?

It exists, although we have not seen it. The mind and body fight. It is because the mind does not like the body , and the body does not like the mind. But the fact that they don't like each other means that there is some way that they can like each other. Then what is it that they like? 

- What is the object partner of the mind? Since the mind is invisible, its object partner is invisible!

O - http://www.markedbyteachers.com/university-degree/historical-and-philosophical-studies/what-is-the-relationship-between-mind-and-body.html

O - http://www.tparents.org/Moon-Books/twyp/Twyp-2-2.htm

Talking about a Theoretical Background

So from re-reading my feedback e-mail quite a few times I now realise what I first initially said about this project before I started looking at all these films.  I said about looking at (as a whole) how the mind works whilst dancing and asking the questions of;

"What do dancer's think about whilst dancing?" 

And "How does the mind work whilst exercising?"

This is now what I need to look deep into as my project and work towards an answer for my question.

I was simply thinking about asking a dancer to dance and then to record their own answer of what the think about, or whether their mind goes black etc. But there is actually a lot more to this than I ever thought.  I need to be thinking about Philosophy, Mind works and Brain exercises. 

After a quick look into the subject there is a lot more to look at when think about how the mind connects with the body, but it is really interesting and I look forward to researching to an in depth answer. 

Feedback from my Module Proposal

On the 8th December I had to hand in a proposal of what I was going to do for this module, and it was a detailed plan of what my idea was about and what I was going to do as my practical piece.  After the Christmas break I got my feedback from my proposal and what my Tutor thinks about my ideas and what I should do to improve it.  Here is a copy of the feedback, so that I can look back at it and see what I need to do to improve and add to my research throughout working. 

O  The first point made is that I need to make a more in-depth research base for this assignment.  

O  I also need to remember that it is a 40 credit module ... ALOT of work needed for this !!!!

O  I know that the method behind my practical plan is good, but need to make more storyboards. 

O  Research in depth the 'relationship between body and mind'. 

O  Research in depth the 'recreational activity and benefits offered by exercise'.

O  I need to make sure I have a strong foundation for my practical film. 

O  Need to be thinking about academic content & influential artists. 

O  I need to be thinking about what I am going to write my essay about. 

O  Get my in-depth research up-to-date to allow time for my practical film. 

O  My methodology in on track, now to really research about this topic !!! 

With all these points to look back on,  I now plan to get up-to-date with plenty of research of the base and strong foundation for my project. 

Inspiration - Movies

This is only a short blog post of something that has always inspired me to love dance. 

The movie Step Up and the sequels, along with many other dance movies include some of the best dancing the would has seen.  But this particular film, the first Step Up has a mix of Ballet and contemporary hip hop dance which works great together.  I personally would ideally just use ballet and contemporary dancers in my short film but this depends on the dancers I can get. 

But this is a very short clip (52 seconds) of a roof top scene from the movie.  The dancing is beautiful but most of all it is the scenery.  If I was ever able to find a roof top scene similar I would most definitely use it within my short dance film.  

More Short Dance Films

These are some short dance films that I have found which are just about the dancing, unlike my previous blog posts that are about fashion and dance, these videos show different creative ways to film ballet and contemporary dance.  I like looking at dance films created by photographers because, a lot of photographers produce a film to promote their own professional practice, which is actually the position I am nearly at.  If I am able to create my short dance film, I will be able to post it on my website to boost my professional side to me as a brand 'Suzi-Rae Photography'.

The top film (2012) is by a Photographer called James Pickett.  This is the first short film that he has ever made as a photographer and he decided to shoot dome video as a change.  The film was filmed in two hours and edited in about six hours. The dancers are Courtney Horton and Sarah Matry-Guerre.  

 http://jamespickettphotography.com

Music: Jared Funari, Sunrise (available on iTunes)

I personally like the way Pickett has filmed the whole dance out of focus.  I think this gives off more emotion from the dance, it maybe conveys what the dancer is seeing as a kind of blur.  There are layers of films on top of each other but very faint and the only point in this film that the dancer is in focus is right at the end when she looks up directly into the camera. This is a nice touch as it shows her in her own world whilst dancing but happy when finished. I will consider blurring some of my film as a way of seeing how the mind works as it is something I am looking into with my Major Practical Project too.  

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This bottom film called 'Cupidita' (2010) is directed by James Dyer and the director of Photography is Joe Dyer.  This short dance film explained by the directors is of two very individual characters that meet in an abstract arena where they engage with one another through choreographed dance that takes us on a journey. The dancers & Choreographers are Amber Doyle & Conan Belletty. Other crew consists of Camera Operator, Focus Puller, Editor, Make up Artist and Colourist. 

The main obvious part of this film is the shadowing and the dark space with shards of light beaming in to see the dancers.  This is something that can only be done with a very big space and lights that are able to work in that way.  Hopefully I will be shooting my film in a big room held at a music centre, so I may be able to try out some interesting lighting techniques but not to this extent. Also the Ariel dancing would not be included within my dance film. I like how this film shows a journey of love and you can really feel the expressions and emotions that the dancers show.