Creating the final dance

Creating this final dance was a challenge as we didn't have a lot of time, we only had 2 days for 1 and 1 1/2 hours at a time so this was a challenge to get everything in, however we were both focused on task and managed to get some of the tasks done however we didn't finished it all so on the day of filming we had to make some sections up on the spot although on the final piece it looks slick and well rehearsed.

Filming Day

Today we filmed our final video material that we will use to create the final piece for our A2 work. we are yet to decide on a new band name as we feel it sounds too much like bands that already exist. This will be resolved buy the end of this coming week. The material that we shot looks really good and we feel one pieced together it will make a really good music video. On the final bit of the editing process we will out a twist on our video that we are yet to tell people as we don't want to give anything away just yet. 
When we arrived at the location we were filming at we were met by Merlin the owner of 151 studio, he showed us around the place giving a tour of the recording studio also. We were then taken through to the white room where we were filming. He showed us how 3 point lighting worked and showed us also how to set the studio up, once we had had the talk through, we stared to film, we arrived 45 minutes early however he let us start for free of charge. Then we had 4 hours to shoot our video.

Evidence

Rehearsal

We didn't manage to finish the whole dance however, Sophie and cam are going to be communicating up until the Tuesday of filming and making the dance up so hat they can just perform it, this is a very risky step but with the time limit we have, we have no other choice. we are all feeling confident that this will work as its not just a continues shot its spilt so we will be able to go over steps whilst there setting up for the next shot.

Clothing

For our male dancer Cam he will be wearing tight shorts and a tight top all in black as it will show the body line best when filmed on black and white. as cam already has all this it has been a massive help as we haven't had to spend any money, however for Sophie she will be wearing a leotard with shorts in the bottom, we chose this as if she wad to wear a normal leotard then she would be wearing tights as it would be too revealing, so we are sticking with what she feels comfortable in, this will cost us £16.95 from a website called dance direct.

Relationships

In the dance that we will be filming it will show that Cam the male dancer doesn't want to be dancing with Sophie, the female dancer, he wants to be dancing with someone else and certain aspects of the dance will show this throughout, it will become clear to the viewer. The song lyrics "my body is a cage" is telling us that Cam is trapped by Sophie as he cant dance with "the one he loves" and hopefully this will become clear as the dance develops. So between Cam and Sophie no relationship is going on, apart from Sophie loving cam but is getting no attention back from him.

Dance inspiration

Dance post

After the first rehersal with cam we have made up one travel section and tried some lifts out to see what would work the videos posted are only marked, the next time I see cam on Tuesday we will add everything together and by the end of it have a final dance that we will film the following Tuesday after. I feel confident hat it will e done on time to meet the schedule and will post our progress throughout sections of the dance.

Dance

Dance is a type of art that involves movement of the body, often performed to music. It is performed in ways to show the audience an emotional expression and is sometimes used to express ideas or tell a story.

"Great dancers are not great because of their technique they are great because of their passion"

This quote is inspiring as from a dancers prospectus as it doesn't matter how well you can dance its how you decide to perform the piece when completed.

There are many different styles of dance including:-

• jazz 
• tap 
• modern 
• gym 
• contemporary 
• ballet 
• ballroom 
• Latin 
• lyrical 

and many more... for this music video that we are creating we will be using the contemporary style as we feel it can show the most emotion through the movement and they body line will be clear.

Revised Video Ideas

After more discussion of what our video is going to contain we have talked more about what the characters are representing and the stories they are telling to the audience. This is really important because we need to know the story we are telling before we tell it so that we can give it everything that it deserves. For example, we have decided because the male dancer/singer has the power over the female dancer (his kind of love interest) it means that she hasn't found out about the conflict that the singer is facing and she doesn't know about the other woman that he is thinking about. So because of this, we thought it would be a good idea to have a moment in the video when the female dancer finds out about this mistrust and disloyalty. When this happens the dance will change completely and become incredibly violent and angry, also just before this happens there will be a flash of extreme light to show that the mood has changed and the lovers who you think at the beginning of the video are really in love, turn out not to be.
Getting a proper story line in place is incredibly important to the integrity of the video because it means that it won't be hollow or anything that doesn't represent the meaning of the song. Having a story line in place, especially one that is heavily influenced by what the song is saying and the message behind it.
Also after this big flash of light, we were thinking of including a disco ball. Not to have actually in the shot but to create an extra texture to the video. This is obviously still just a thought that might not even make it into the video but it is important to think of different ways of doing things. This idea was mainly inspired by our chosen inspirational band, Arcade Fire, because on their most recent album they sing about 'reflektors' and include a lot of disco ball lighting in their recent videos and also in their live shows. This would just be something that is in homage to them.
Of course, these are all passing ideas so far. We have yet to plan the dance which will be done this week and hopefully once that has been established and recognised then we will be able to move forward with the rest of the video.

Styling of Clothing in Our Video

This is the type of styling that we are aiming to achieve in our video, this is just simple dance wear that will hopefully mean that whatever dance our dancers will be doing then `the clothing they are wearing won't be distracting to the viewer and they won't be able to really notice the clothing as they will be focused on the emotion and drama of the characters in the video. We think that choosing a black costume is more important to this video because of the fact that we are going to be editing it in black and white so that means that it is very crucial that we choose black because we need to be able to see the performers and we want them to be in the simplest type of clothing, and probably tighter clothing than normal so we can see the movements more and the emotions that they are giving off with their bodies. Also because our performers in the video are essentially professional dancers, it means that they know how to pull off this kind of look and will be able to give it the confidence that it needs to be able to show the emotion and heartache that the characters are feeling. Obviously for the male dancer, we don't really want the look to be as revealing as the picture above because it might just be too much for the video to handle, we want it to feel quite classy. So as an alternative, we are going to have the male dancer wearing a tight fitted t shirt then longer shorts as well. However the look for the female dancer is going be exactly the same as the picture above. We hope that because we have now decided on the finer details such as styling and hair and makeup now, that we are well on our way to getting this project up and running.   

Hair and Make Up

For our music video we want to go for a plain and simple look, so as for the make up we are having a pale face so that the light picks up the facial features and emotions easier than it would if you were to have a full face of make up on.

Also for the hair for cam the boy dancer i want it to be still with no movement so almost giving off a harsh vision as he is trapped 'in the cage' this is representing that he is isolated. As for the girl dancer she will be having her hair half up and half down to flow with the music and give the dance more passion.

Dance ideas and Video category

We have chosen the contemporary style of dance involving a predominant male dancer alongside a female dancer to complement each other and portray emotions relating to the lyrics of our chosen song (Arcade Fire- My Body Is A Cage.)
We are aiming for the dancing to express feelings of desperation, passion (relating to love), strong emotion, isolation, fear, indignation and doubt. The male dancer has the role of the intended artist and therefore would be lip syncing the lyrics whilst dancing to justify the dance and expressed emotions.
The female dancer involvement in the video and dancing is to explain/emphasise the meaning of the lyrics to the audience. She would be representing the female who is trapping the male and preventing him from being united with the one he loves; relating to the lyrics "keeps me from dancing with the one I love". The female therefore has the role of symbolically representing the cage trapping him down with their relationship.
With this in mind, we are as a result creating an amplification category video as the connotations of the dancing and expressions of the dancers are creative and tell a story representing the meaning behind the lyrics which is ambiguous and unspecified through hearing the song alone. The performance and narrative element would grab the attention of the audience and ensure they become hooked on the interesting and unusual storyline portrayed through our intended creative approach. The ideas we currently have as a group suggest the video has a strong sense of meaning and therefore would mean the video does not fit within the 'Disjuncture' category.
It is also to an extent part of the illustration category as the idea itself is simple but the connotations are the development of the meaning.