Dance Film - Twirling Shoot Day

The shoot for this film was slightly delayed due to the weather, and since we were shooting outside we weren't able to film in the pouring rain! However, once the clouds had cleared up we went to our location and set out to film.
Luckily it was a fairly warm day which benefitted our dancer as she was in traditional costume which is a leotard, so she wasn't in the warmest of outfits. We chose a costume that she has competed in before, which is also a costume that Paige has hand made.

We set up the tripod and the camera in amongst some trees as it made a really pretty background for the shoot, but also captured a lot of light.

I worked as the camera operator on the shoot, so worked closely with Paige as she was the director and she told me what sort of shots she wanted. It was really good working with Demi as she was really confident with her routines and just kept going and repeating it so we could capture loads of footage and switch angles throughout.

The camera was really good at capturing the movement and is high quality so our footage looked really good. We were blessed that it was a bright day and not too cloudy so we only had to use natural light and didn't need any other light sources.

Luckily the location was pretty quiet so we didn't have any interruption from the general public and we weren't in anyones way. We wouldn't be using the sound from the footage so it didn't matter if there was a lot of background noise. 

The shoot went really smoothly and we managed to get all of our footage before it started raining again.

Dance Film - Twirling

Research and Planning

Paige’s history with twirling - has been competing most of her life and won many titles for her twirling routines whilst competing internationally, she now also teaches it. Therefore we have been looking at the history of twirling, how it originated, what it was for before it was seen as a competitive sport in its own right.

The sport progressed into the armies of some countries which twirled with rifles during marches. When the army was parading, they added a rifle twirler to the front of the marchers. Obviously, the sport has progressed a long way and nowadays it’s much different. It turned into a balanced baton with usually white rubber ends which are used for safety. Rather than being something that is solely linked to the military, it is now a sport in which teams compete and show their routines in front of an audience, for entertainment purposes.

The research for this film has consisted of looking at different routines and sound tracks. We wanted to grasp an idea of the complexity of routines and the traditional marching music.

We have made the decision to have one dancer, as using a group may not appear as aesthetically pleasing as they may not be in sync and it might look complicated on screen.

We have also made the decision to shoot outside as twirling can be a dangerous sport if it is not done in a safe environment, by choosing an outside location we don’t put our dancer or anyone else under any risks

For research we looked at different videos of routines that twirlers have done before, comparing groups twirling against individuals, which confirmed that we only wanted to use one dancer as when you watch a group twirling it can become a bit confusing to watch and you aren't able to focus on one dancer to capture all of their routine and skills.

Our dancer shall be Paige's sister, Demi. She has also competed internationally in twirling competitions and has many different routines that she can perform from memory. This would mean that our shoot will hopefully be rather smooth as she is confident dancing for the camera and in her routines, so there won't need to be any choreography to learn.

Technical Skills

The production will be outside, using natural lighting so no external lights will be needed. Having our film shot outside eliminates any dangers for the dancer or the crew as twirling needs quite a lot of space to be effective

The camera we will use will be a Panasonic Lumix G85, this will make the shoot simpler as the camera is lightweight so will be easy to use both handheld and on a tripod. Also, as it is my own camera we will have unlimited access to using it.

Dance Film - Joe and George's production

George and Joe, two of my peers on the course, approached me and asked if I would like to work on their film with them, doing some dance choreography and helping out on set. Of course I was really pleased with this opportunity and said yes instantly.

I knew I would be part of the dance sequence, so George sent over some references for what they wanted, and a video explaining what I would be required to do. It seemed really interesting and fun so I was totally on board. I don't really have a dance background or much experience but the choreography seemed fairly easy and I was up for the challenge.

This was the video reference they sent me, focusing on the hand choreography, as they wanted to achieve something similar.

We had two days in the studio to shoot the film. I got there early so I could help bring equipment to the studio, as I had my car. We managed to get all the props for the set to the studio in two trips, which was a relief! Ciara was the set designer, so she told me where she wanted things to go and I helped to the best of my ability, leaving her to refine the set. 

When I wasn't working on the choreography with George and Joe, I used this opportunity on set to get more familiar with different roles, shadowing Alice whilst she was the gaffer, and she allowed me to work closely with her so I could develop my knowledge of lighting. I also watched Rufaro as the camera operator, understanding her ideas and how she would frame the scene.

At one point I even became a part of the tripod, as the one we had was faulty so I had to sit under it and hold the legs to stop it from slipping during filming.

We shot in four different colours; red, orange, blue and normal lighting. This was achieved through the use of gels, and having colour changing bulbs in all the lamps on set. 

As the set consisted of many mirrors, Rufaro had to be careful when filming to make sure that nothing could be seen in the mirrors such as the camera or the lights, so this made the shoot a little more difficult. However I think we all worked really well together as a crew and managed to achieve a really good shoot over the two working days. 

Overall, I really enjoyed working on this film as it gave me an opportunity to shadow other roles and gain a better understanding on how to work in these roles in the future. I also surprisingly really enjoyed working as part of the dance choreography, as it was something different and challenging, but Joe and George made me feel really confident in my role.

Dance Film - Update

Sadly, due to illness and other issues, Alice and I were unable to get together our dance film, with ample time to shoot and edit. This was pretty disheartening to us as we were really keen to create our dance film, life just got in the way.

After lots of panic about what we would be able to achieve, we spoke to some of our peers and decided that we would work on their films, fulfilling different roles and helping them achieve their vision.

We were then approached by our friend Paige, who is also on the course, and she asked if we would like to team up with her and work on her dance film which is about twirling. Of course we were super happy to get this opportunity and therefore we grouped up with her and are now in the process of creating a film together.