dance film - Learning agreement

LEARNING AGREEMENT:

I finished my learning agreement! I am so relieved. I feel really motivated like I might actually be able to do this. I had a one to one with rosie which massively inspired me. we talked through my idea and she seemed to like it, we looked into ethics of working with underaged subjects, and what regulations there would be. but here is my agreement:

Digital Film & Screen Arts Learning Agreement				YEAR: 2
NAME:  holly probert			DATE: 06/03/18
Unit Name/No: Dance film		Deadline for submission: 08/03/18
GROUP PRODUCTION:	NO	INDIVIDUAL PRODUCTION:			YES
DESCRIPTION: A synopsis of the work you intend to undertake in fulfilment of the aims, outcomes and assessment criteria of the unit giving fuller detail in response to each of the five sections below.
I intend to create a dance film surrounding my personal experience of the work of, talking therapy, EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing).i had a broken up timeline of my own life which I couldn’t join. Using a chronological structure outlining 5 major key life points (organised by age) to symbolise the therapy and its impact, the journey I went on from start to end of the therapy. The ages I have chosen are age 5, 10, 14, 16, and present. Each age will have its own dancer, own dance style and own section in the piece. These will depict what I was like at that given age, for example, when I was 10, I was cocky, confident, rude, and hyperactive. I am also relating the dance styles to styles I was studying at each given age, as an example I studied street at 14. And so I will be using dancers trained in these areas. However the dancers will be in the mind set of their given age as I don’t think it feasible to use children.  The piece will run in age order, each dance will progress and then switch into another as another dancer takes its place, showing progression in age. The final section of which I am present age (19), will be performed by 2 ballroom dancers performing a jive, showing how they rely on one another to dance, however teach each other to have fun with it. After (up to) one minute of this piece, these two dancers will proceed to weave around the other four dancers, a sequence showing this will occur and finish with them standing in a line, age order one behind the other, with present at the front, the camera will pan from showing the line of people from the right hand side, to the front to only show present, revealing that I have now managed to join each age together thanks to the help of the therapy.
RESEARCH: (Initial reference material and sources)
So for this project I have researched a number of dance films. The first I found was called ‘Left alone’, uploaded under the username ArinaMegan, this was a DFSA film back from 2014 for the dance project, I love the effects used in the video, and the occasional blur of the moving dancers creates an almost imaginary effect. From here I began to look into various styles of dance to try and grasp an idea of what I’d like. Found other contemporary dance film such as ‘Aura’, by Deftone Digital Productions, this was one uninterrupted shot, creating a ‘raw and hazy ambience’. I also looked at ‘White Butterfly’ by Blu Fox Films, this was filmed as a project in the university of Bournemouth in 2015, and aims to provide the audience an ‘Aesthetic experience’. The dancer, Laura, is filmed dancing on a white chalk covered surface at the start, towards the end it shows her waking up, and the dance having been a dream about drug addiction. From here I found my most influential film, ‘Bipolar Skin’ by Jorge Garcia. Winner of the audience prize cross connection choreographic international competition 2013 (Copenhagen). The film beautifully demonstrates every humans dual personality, one of which you have when around others and the other when you are alone, ‘the personality we have and which makes us change from a state of mind to another very quick.’
CONTEXTUAL UNDERSTANDING (How the work relates to your future goals, previous work, work by other practitioners and so on) In my previous works, such as ‘Support network’, ‘Last man standing’ and my sound piece ‘Ode to phone calls’, I have worked around two key elements, community and mental health. This film is focusing around the treatment of my mental health, and the particular therapy that enabled me to progress. I am sticking with these particular fields of interest as I am developing my own understanding of myself, as well as the mental wellbeing of others. The main difference with this project as a pose to the others is that I am focusing on one specific therapy as a pose to general issues. During the final section of my piece, performed in the style of ballroom, the dance will be performed by two dancers, in a style that is defined as needing to dance together, as you cannot dance ballroom solo, this relates heavily back to my ‘support network’ series, in that my support network has helped me grow and recover, and how I couldn’t have coped without others. In the future my goal is to continue working with these areas, bringing communities together and continuing getting rid of the stigma around mental illness. I would also love to continue working with the visual arts, such as dance, to do this as I have a background in it. In regards to other practitioners I think this can relate to Jorge Garcia – ‘Bipolar skin as its discussing the human mind in all its different states. I also think it can relate to Martin Creed’s work, as he produced work about disabilities both physical and mental, his work has inspired a couple of my projects already, he is massively influential in my work.
TECHNICAL AND CREATIVE SKILLS (Propose specialisms, resources required, relate to the above) Specialisms I have that I hope to use in this film would be my VFX skills from my workshops with Phil, I also hope to use some of the skills given to me in Beytens workshop to help with my lighting choices. I also plan on creating my own sound scape for this piece in post-production using audition, I feel very capable doing this after the sound workshops last term. In regards to sound I plan on creating different sections of sound for each section of the film, then combining elements from each in the final closing sequence. In regards to resources needed, here is a list of the equipment I plan on hiring: -      GH4 -      Prime Lens kit -      Dance floor (borrowing Rachels) -      Tripod -      2 Sets of three Arri fresnels – (one kit contains - X2 650W & X1 350W) -      Stronger stands (for lights) -      Shoulder mount
COMMUNICATION (How you will communicate with the staff team and collaborators/How the work communicates with an audience, crowd funding, dissemination etc) I will communicate to the staff team via email and my blog as well as tutorials (if possible), I will communicate with my dancers via social media, email and text. The work will communicate with the audience as I hope that the audience will be able to see themselves in elements of the film. I hope it will communicate with them by taking them back to points in their lives where they acted similarly to me.
SELF MANAGEMENT (Work plan, schedule cross referenced with timetable, assessment deadlines etc) My work plan is to stick to my schedule, work with my dancers to sort out availability for rehearsing. I plan to shoot over one weekend before Easter, if not the first week back after Easter. Then spending at least two weeks in post-production editing the footage in premier pro. As well as syncing it up with the sound scape I will be creating over the Easter break in audition.
STUDENT SIGN: Holly Probert		DATE:  06/03/17
TUTOR APPROVAL:
TUTOR SIGNED:		DATE: