archived-videos Everything blew up, went wrong...

G

gorillaonabike

https://vimeo.com/paulrwalker/review/75665898/ca7e954507
Password: Claire

I'd appreciate if you'd have a look at this. It is a very short experimental dance piece - would be delighted to know your thoughts.

It was an equipment catastrophe on the way over. Firstly, my vehicle broke down so had to ditch it in Central London and hot foot it over. Then, through a freak accident, we lost the use of the tripod, monopod, steadicam Merlin! And then some idiot knocked my camera off a chair sending it clattering across the room. That was, erm, me but hey you live and learn... :D

And due to the heat and sequence, the talent became ill and had to run off the little girls room. She was close to collapse at one point.

Naturally, everything else went wrong as well - a group of people wandered into the room, issues with the light, lost a lens cap (no idea how we did that in an empty room) and many more issues.

We had some backup gear, improvised with what we had and I'm kinda proud that we got through it although not in the way we wanted.

What do you think of this crazy, arty thingy?
 
Upvote 0
It would have been nice to have seen some more camera movement. That's all :)

Sounds like your last 2 or 3 projects haven't gone well for you. Best of luck with your next one.
 
ChimpPhobiaFilms said:
It would have been nice to have seen some more camera movement. That's all :)

Sounds like your last 2 or 3 projects haven't gone well for you. Best of luck with your next one.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, couldn't get more movement in and had to shoot it really simply after all the issues. We had to shoot fast, no time to do anything but a vanilla offering.

I don't think of mistakes as the enemy of success. Rather, the more I do, the more mistakes will inevitably occur. I'm pushing hard, doing a lot of directing / shooting and learning loads and as long as I correct my mistakes, it's all good. Will pop another project on here at the weekend which I think is my third in 2 weeks!!!!!

In terms of this, I was wondering if there was any emotional connection within the piece? I know it's weird and experimental but is there was a tone / sentiment / feeling which comes across?
 
Wow, everything went wrong, but you still went on?
Very good :)

The bad news: I don't feel any connection either, nor the urge to see it untill the end.
To me there seems to be a big mismatch between image and sound.
This results in lack of emotion, connection and drive.
Dance is expression, but the music doesn't seem to express anything related to the movements.

However, I liked how the graded/lighting changed from silouette to slightly overlit in the beginning.
But after that the grade sometimes seems to be changing to much (although it's just a little change) as if 2 different cameras were used without matching them.
 
WalterB said:
Wow, everything went wrong, but you still went on?
Very good :)

The bad news: I don't feel any connection either, nor the urge to see it untill the end.
To me there seems to be a big mismatch between image and sound.
This results in lack of emotion, connection and drive.
Dance is expression, but the music doesn't seem to express anything related to the movements.

However, I liked how the graded/lighting changed from silouette to slightly overlit in the beginning.
But after that the grade sometimes seems to be changing to much (although it's just a little change) as if 2 different cameras were used without matching them.
Click to expand...

Very good points. On the one hand, happy we completed the shoot and to give you an idea, it took a few weeks to repair the damage! On the other, I entirely agree with your comments about what is in there.

Interesting you talk about the music. The music is simply 'placeholder' and will not be the finished article. In fact, we will have to work this pretty hard to make it work in post.
 
Last edited:
Interpretive dance is going to be probably more difficult to appreciate that it's music.
The music alone, which I acknowledge you've stated is a placeholder, allows a listener's mind to wander anywhere freely.
While a dance anchors it down; limits it.
This dance does not hold an engaging interest. It seems random to view it although it may be fun/cathartic to actually perform.

What is the reason that you didn't use the actual music the artist used for this performance?


  • I like the dark to light opening and close. It's good to get that fantastic exterior background in there somehow!
  • The camerawork is often wobbly.
  • The track shots are nice, but brief.
  • To "connect" with such a disconnected art form as this consider some "getting to know you" close up shots on outset. I think there's enough "distance" between the viewer and the performer already. ;) I'll hazard a guess the intent is to "get to know her" through the piece, thus the ending on the close ups, but I think a little more needs to be provided at the beginning.
  • The cycling through several different techniques and limited distances between camera and subject become (tedious is a bit strong) repetitive by the 3min mark. Bring a ladder to add high shots and get on the floor for low shots. The music is bizarre enough that it'll fit in.
  • No more zooms. Verboten!
 
rayw said:
Interpretive dance is going to be probably more difficult to appreciate that it's music.
The music alone, which I acknowledge you've stated is a placeholder, allows a listener's mind to wander anywhere freely.
While a dance anchors it down; limits it.
This dance does not hold an engaging interest. It seems random to view it although it may be fun/cathartic to actually perform.

What is the reason that you didn't use the actual music the artist used for this performance?


  • I like the dark to light opening and close. It's good to get that fantastic exterior background in there somehow!
  • The camerawork is often wobbly.
  • The track shots are nice, but brief.
  • To "connect" with such a disconnected art form as this consider some "getting to know you" close up shots on outset. I think there's enough "distance" between the viewer and the performer already. ;) I'll hazard a guess the intent is to "get to know her" through the piece, thus the ending on the close ups, but I think a little more needs to be provided at the beginning.
  • The cycling through several different techniques and limited distances between camera and subject become (tedious is a bit strong) repetitive by the 3min mark. Bring a ladder to add high shots and get on the floor for low shots. The music is bizarre enough that it'll fit in.
  • No more zooms. Verboten!
Click to expand...

Fantastic, thanks, really useful. As a note, all our equipment broke meaning tripod, monopod, steadicam, camera and the vehicle I was using to get there!!!!! We therefore had zero time to shoot anything but wil take those comments on board and use them next time around.

Like the ideas and will definitely incorporate them... this Saturday.
 
Pretty amazing you managed to get any footage at all given the hardware issues, accidents etc you encountered.

I liked the video. The view (great location) was a highlight, helped to sell it for me.

It got pretty damn overexposed quickly though due to those floor-to-ceiling windows.
 
IndiePaul said:
Pretty amazing you managed to get any footage at all given the hardware issues, accidents etc you encountered.

I liked the video. The view (great location) was a highlight, helped to sell it for me.

It got pretty damn overexposed quickly though due to those floor-to-ceiling windows.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I do get cheesed off when I see threads starting... 'I'd like to shoot something but have 50 million excuses as to why I can't...' Just do it. I don't care if I get flamed for doing something bad as long as I learn from it.

In this case, I learned not to step backwards towards the wobbly chair that my camera is sitting on... :(

And then I learned how to repair stuff.
 
I assume going from silhouette to completely over-exposed background was a creative choice? ;)

I would've liked it a lot more if it played out in the silhouette tbh.

I think the issue here is there are a lot of stock standard, average shots, that seem to all be incredibly wide.
Super close ups work incredibly well for dance cinematography. As well, I would've lit this a lot differently, and had the dancer playing through shadows and some interesting lighting, rather than an almost white background and the actual space and her incredibly flat lit (I assume there was a mirror on the camera side, which would have bounced back so much of the light from the window).
 
jax_rox said:
I assume going from silhouette to completely over-exposed background was a creative choice? ;)

I would've liked it a lot more if it played out in the silhouette tbh.

I think the issue here is there are a lot of stock standard, average shots, that seem to all be incredibly wide.
Super close ups work incredibly well for dance cinematography. As well, I would've lit this a lot differently, and had the dancer playing through shadows and some interesting lighting, rather than an almost white background and the actual space and her incredibly flat lit (I assume there was a mirror on the camera side, which would have bounced back so much of the light from the window).
Click to expand...

Erm, lighting and shooting choices were more like... oh cr@p, all our equipment is broken, we're running incredibly late because my vehicle broke down on the way over, let's do what we can kinda choice...

Like the idea of the super close ups. It's something we can look at for next time. This is fantastic criticism by everyone, by the way. I must break my camera more often!

Incidentally, no mirrors, just a white wall on one side.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top