Dance Project 1- Workshop day 1

During the first day of our workshop, we looked at some examples of different types of dance and discussed different things about them, whether we enjoyed the video or not. We looked at the way the camera was positioned and the framing in particular and what effect it has on the person watching. A few examples of some of the work we looked at are:

Feist- '1234'

The video to this is quite simplistic, yet effective. It is a one shot film, with a Busby Berkley style through the use of hundred of dancers choreographed to perform in sync. The movement within the video expresses the meaning of the song, which is about young love and growing up. The use of colours is also interesting, perhaps representing mood and allowing your attention to focus on everyone, seeing as everyone is wearing different coloured clothing. This was a positive example of a well choreographed dance piece.




Bill T. Jones' 'Ghostcatching'



We were previously shown this in a briefing of the Dance video project we had with Rosie at the start of the year. I was fascinated by this digital dance piece from a previous project I did with light writing, which has somewhat of a similar visual effect. The use of fast and slow motion links well with the movement within a space. This again is a strong example of a different type of dance experimentation through the use of visual effects.


 Ellie Goulding- 'Guns and Horses'



This was shown to us as a negative example of incorporating dance within music videos. The main reason this video didn't work with the dance was the clashing between the dancers and Ellie. The costume also played a part in this, due to the fact that she was wearing normal clothing, whereas the dancers are wearing a different unique style of clothing that tends to clash with what she's wearing. Her movement also clashes with the dancer's movement, as they tend to do exaggerated, stretched movement, whereas Ellie mostly stands and moves slowly with her arms. The two seem to look as if they have been blended together deliberately by the music company that works with Ellie, however this being forced into results in Ellie and the dancers not working together at all.