Dance Film

I looked on youtube to find some dance videos, these are a few of my favourites I found.

Medicine 

I really enjoyed this piece by Zack Benitez and Priscilla Villa, Directed by Charles Baldassarra, and performed by Zack Benitez and Tamara Marthe. It started off with a POV of Tamara as she is laying on the floor in a warehouse and stands up disorientated and sees Zack. It then switches to an OTS of Tamara. I liked this shift because it was subtle and fluid. It tells the Story of a man struggling with an illness ad a women trying to support him through it. However he struggles to carry on the fight.

The Dance is very connected with both Dancers being in close proximity for the first three minutes of the piece, it Then shows the woman trying not to loose him however, he fights back and pulls away. It becomes a fight with a very beautiful transition from a jump from Tamara in to an embrace and she is now wearing a patience robe. As if to show the fight for them to stay together and battle the illness has caused both of them to become ill.

The camera starts with long takes, the Dance starts off slow and then picks up more pace through out, as if to say the illness is becoming stronger. The operators and Directors chosen angles some times loose the subjects face, but it does give you the opportunity to see the whole body.

The camera is always moving, both following the Dancers and moving around them as well. The facial expressions of the Dancers also helps strengthen the story, and almost shows them in pain.

Each movement flows to the next, with strong lifts.

This helps give me a few ideas of the certain angles to choose from as they range from close ups to wide shots, which helps give me variety in the piece, The Camera is almost a third partner in the dance, it helped show me people working together as a duet, which is going to be part of my piece.

Wicked Game 

Wicked Game was choreographed and performed by Travis Wall and Amy Yakima. This piece was performed on So You Think You Can Dance S10E15

This piece is about two people fighting each other although they are in love, Although this is not specifically a dance film, it shows the strength in the movements which helps show the conflict between the two subjects. Because its a tv show the camera doesn't really move behind the Dancers. The angles are mainly two person shot, tracking, wide, low and high.

The moments flow from one to the other. They are strong and in control

I really enjoyed watching this piece as it helped give me ideas on the conflict for my piece.

It starts with Travis approaching Amy from behind and finishes with the two embraced, as if to show the audience they spent so long fighting that they finally gave in and fell in love.

The Dancers very rarely leave each other side, however they use the space around the well. The Takes are quite long for a multi cam piece, however this helps give the audience at home a real feel for the atmosphere the dancers are trying to produce.