Dance for Camera - Chandelier

For my piece i really struggled what song i was going to choose and what motif and theme I would use for my piece. After long thought and consideration i decided to chose the song Chandelier by SIA. The reason i chose this was because her original ideology behind the song was of a similar motif that i wanted to portray through dance; this theme was drug and alcohol abuse.

Below is my story board that i used to help me guide me through the dance and the shots. Deciding what camera angles you use is vital because it can connate and dennotate different emotions and can put the audiences into the action but from different perspectives, this can alter the way an audience may respond to a media text.

INSERT STORY BOARD

I wanted to use one shot to create my dance, i wanted to have a feel on continuation. I did this to link with the motif, as the path of destruction (drugs) is a continuous sequence that is hard to break. So by having broken scenes i didn't think this would of been as effective.

Here is my video for my dance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5QW8vjCaII

As you can see i have changed the whole exposure of the video this is to change the audiences outlook on it, I want them to feel like they have emerged into the world of this girl, who's mind is running free on drugs.



Strengths and Weaknesses

I felt that the dance and choreography worked well together with the motif. I felt it had been well thought out with lots of choreographic devices involved these included such things as: travel, turn, retrograde, repetition. This helped engage the audiences thought process and keeps there eyes interested, as the human brain likes to watch things repeated.


If I were to do this task again I would do clearer close-up shots of her face where she would be portraying a 'fake image' facial expression, this would help get the emotion and motif of the piece across to the audience. Also this would have boosted the whole piece up to make it more eye-capturing. This could have only occurred with a shot change meaning that it could not be filmed in one continuous shot.


I liked where I set my dance as the perfect ambient lighting was created which made a distorted shadow, which I wanted especially in my short film as I wanted the sense of 2 people in 1 body. 1 personality of this person is the innocent girl the other is the drug invading her mind and bodies system slowing destroying the soul.

Magical Mr Mistoffelees

The dance I chose to choreograph was Magical Mr Mistoffelees I chose this because it's my characters main dance song. I sound this song challenging to choreograph as choreography is not my strongest point. However, by the time the show came around it went very well, and matched in well with the story line, as that was a fear of mine.

In the dance I started it by marking out individual duets and group dances which I felt is the way the dance would work most effectively. The dance began by my character Mr Mistoffelees bringing down Old Deuteronomy as in the story line I have just found him. The others applaud and welcome my presence, this continues whilst duets sing to me. A choreographic device I used here was repetition, the main chunk of the first half is based around acting. This had to be done because it needed to link with the storyline adaptation.

Then all of us go to to the back of the stage and go into there individual group dances, the concept of this dance changed. I started it being a catwalk show to show off my magical creations but that didn't work alongside the Old Deuteronomy storyline so we just made that as a motif to tie in the fashion industry adaptation.

Throughout this song I wanted to have hip-hop elements too it, so when I came down with the boys I choreographed a short sequence of hip-hop movements as this went in with the music change and the personalities of the boys characters. In this part of the song we made out for this short hip-hop stylised part to be a bit like a dance off. Then everyone comes onto the stage and does a dance phrase. The motif of this was magic and mystery.

The strengths and weaknesses from this dance:

The weaknesses and things that could have been improved on was the tightness of the movements and I would further develop the dance off hip-hop part as I felt this needed further rehearsing. Hopefully, by the time the show came it still looked very effective. Also I felt when I was standing at the back of the stage on the staging blocks I felt this was too static, as all we did was stand left and right whilst clicking our fingers. This helped bring atmosphere and played a chorus role, to keep the beat up and energy going. However, I felt this could have been developed.

The strengths I felt were the group dances, they were strong and well executed. As they broke through when each group came to perform which I felt looked visually effective.

Lesson 7th May

Response to Cats script/idea of Fashion concept

The fashion concept worked with cats because each song introduces you to a new character. This meant you could add any concept of character around these songs. However, the lyrics we kept literal as we felt this couldn't be altered, so even though the words in the songs say cats. For example, 'Practical cats, dramatical cats', the lyrics relate to cats but they describe a character. Therefore we chose the fashion industry to link with the musical and each song individually would be adapted to be a character within Deuteronomy Designs Fashion House (the setting of our show, also linked with the script of the show). We linked our how setting to the script as Deuteronomy is a cat within cats, however, in our show she was the head manager of Deuteronomy Designs a fashion magazine company. 

Going forth, another example of a song we adapted to the concept (which we did with all); in the song Rum Tum Tugger, he was a hot model who was competing to be the model for the 'Heaviside Layer' (name of magazine). Another example, Macavity was a character who was another magazine competitor who was trying to steal there fashion ideas for the next season.

 

If I were to continue this musical further artistically I would change the staging and costumes because I didn't think they were visually attracting to the audience, I felt they were too simply done. I would take it further by painting on all the white bits of the staging which covered the stage blocks, I would paint a mac computer on a design, maybe wallpapered certain areas of it so it actually felt like a room and not a stage. I would also have the colour scheme more summer colours than the autumn colours that we used. The change of colour scheme would have enhanced the outfits. 

Professionally, I would improve the sound system used throughout the show, as the music cut out numerous times. However, this did not affect us as actors when that happened we all just continued like nothing had happened and was intentional. Hopefully, this didn't quiver the audiences attention, but this was a strong strength of us as a class of actors. 

Vocationally, this musically made be further develop as an actress, which will help me if I continued musical theatre in further education then for a career. It helped me understand in more depths what goes into creating a musical, the budget and how to get it all set up so that it actually becomes a success. I felt we reached this as a class as we all set targets and goals to reach individually as management parts. For example, a few people would be set on marketing this would involve contacting schools and getting them to buy bulk tickets; this is our main source of profit. I felt this was a strength as we all came together the musical was a success. An example of this is how we almost sold out in each show which is what we predicted for it to be a success. 

Within Cats the Musical, I was trying to improve my dancing skills. For example, learning all of those songs I felt was an achievement as I struggle to remember dances sometimes. In my personal performance I maybe could have been stronger in some of my movements and be sharper with timings. However, I felt that my dancing went really well, and was proud of it. It came across to the audience that I was a confidence dancer as I stayed in character the whole time so if something within my choreography went wrong I would act and it came across to the audience that it was all intentionally. This especially shone through in Magical Mistoffeeles.

I was also trying to achieve to improve my vocals. We were fortunate to have a singing coach come and help us as a class to strengthen our diafram and with her advice and daily tips i felt this helps my voice have a stronger sound and it also helped when i had to dance frantically and sing and the same time. She helped me also with breathe control, this training all paid off when performance day came. In moments of happiness it came across to the audience I was a strong singer who had the ability to reach high notes, and retain them. 

Furthermore, in moments of happiness I felt the choreography should have been more developed upon, which was a weakness on my behalf. However, the simple choreography that was done was portrayed effectively and our concept of the night after effect came across to the audience. Quaxo and Bombalarina were capturing the moment through lyrics and body language with help from the background dancers, helping set an atmosphere.

Going back, to Magical Mistoffelees the concept was that i found Deuteronomy who was lost, and the fashion house desperately needed him to return to his management post as the disaster of Macavity had struck. This came across from to the audience as I felt it was effective that we came emerging from the audience. I found it hard to get across to the audience that I was actually magical, so I decided to not make the dance very literal to the lyrics.

Cats So Far...

Prologue: Jellicle Songs

This song is sung in a whisper and begins the musical with a tense build up. The choreography for the song is people slowly gathering on stage with us all wandering round the space which visually looks good. Hopefully, a smoke machine will be used during this song to create an even more eerie atmosphere. This song hasn't been fully developed so far as in movement.

The Naming Of the Cats

The Invitation To The Jellicle Ball

This song is the song i helped choreographed, I begin by walking down the cat walk i go to stage left and hand out invitations then to stage right and do the same when i sing my last line 'Jellicle's Come To the Jellicle Ball' i throw my remaining invitations in the air. Once i have done that everyone rushes to pick them up but pause to listen to Munkustrap. When the music changes and is the outro everyone thanks Munkustrap for the invite and wander back to work.

The Gumbie Cat 

This was choreographed by Beth, this is a jolly up beat song. The motif for the song is Jennyanydot's getting the models in shape, she makes them walk up and down the cat walk and practice. Jennyanydot's rushes around the stage finding items of clothes for the models to wear to walk down the cat walk with but nothing seems to be going right. Then all the girls come on stage and start tap dancing. This is further explained in my gumbie cat post. 

Rum Tum Tugger

At the beginning of the song all the woman stop and stare at Rum Tug Tugger and look love struck. We then  have a set dance routine. In the middle of the song Bombalarina and Rum Tum Tugger have a small duet where Rum Tum Tugger holds Bombalarina but drops her to the fall as he is so self obsessed, and loves the lime light. When the song fades out and Rum Tum Tugger sings about it, we all drop to the fall but Bombalarina continues fan-girling over him so he shuts her mouse, then a black out happens and the song finishes.

Grizabella, The Glamour Cat

I'm not in this song so haven't been rehearsing it, however i do know from watching bits that Grizabella is looking back into the past of what sort of model she used to be and as she reminisces her fellow colleagues and friends join in with sympathy that she is not wanted as a model due to her age.

Bustopher Jones

In this song our choreography can be very be very literal, which fits in with the style of what song it is. In the middle of the song Josh begins singing by imitating Bustopher Jones and then other characters become involved with this imitating. The motif of this dance is the models and staff employees taking the mick out of a manager in the fashion house.

Mungojerrie And Rumpleteazer

This is again a song i am not involved in but the motif for this dance is that Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer are thieves in the fashion house. However, they do work their but they take all the unused models clothes for themselves.

Old Deuteronomy

The Battle Of the Pekes and the Pollicles 

This song involves the year 12s. The motif for this dance is the reporters and paparazi coming together to try get information about the Jellicle Ball, the year 12s are the reporters and paparazi. They have a small set routine which has dramatic pauses and pose holds in it. In this song the paparrazi will have over the top cameras as props.

The Jellicle Ball

This song is the party held at the fashion house, this song as a slow build up involving whispering which connotates as background noise from a party, then suddenly this burst of music and the party comes to life.

Memory

Act 2

Moments Of Happiness

At the beginning of the this song is it song by my character Quaxo and Bombalarina, we are acting hungover after the party of the Jellicle Ball.

Gus The Theatre Cat

In that the beginning of this song we are in a triangle with the point at the top of the cat walk, cherkhana sings and we slowly gather both sides of the cat walk while making a path for them to walk under, then there is some simple movements. Later on in the song we get in partners and ball room dance, after this we gather in the centre and listen to them singing in sympathy.

Growltigers Last Stand

Skimble Shanks

Macavity

Mr Mistoffeeles 

Memory

The journey to the Heaviside Layer

The Addressing of the Cats

SCRIPT REVIEW Destination Diastination

Today i thought i'd be a good stage in my script to completely re-read it so i can get an insight into whats going well and what needs more work on. I felt like my narrative and dialogue was good, the opening was strong, but i wasn't sure about how the main character Nicole gave most of the story line away at the beginning because she tells the audience that whats she's going to do before it is already followed through with. Im concerned that this gives away the storyline slightly too early, but without it i don't want confusion to be made within the audience. However, i really like the scene changes between Nicole and her journey and the classroom where she should be, it shows the perspectives of what her life is like and should be like.
I edited the first scene when we were introduced to her friends holly and Kate, i felt like i needed to give Nicole another friend so there was more to the sub-story, this would help keep the audience interested in the story line.

Furthermore, i changed in the first scene the fact that Nicole says she's never met her boyfriend. I changed this because i didn't feel that's how a girl of that age would speak they know people will question her if she starts to say that she's met him online or that she's never met him previous to this visit. So i edited that so that she always tried to avoid that question, this helps indicate to the audience that something is wrong within their relationship from the beginning, without giving it away.

I feel like i should also work on scene 5 where she begins to get all the online abuse, i need to lengthen this part so it seems more sustainable at the moment it feels like its not complete. This will also help guide the sub stories and the plots going on within those stories.

On the other hand, i feel like i have good diverse parts involved with my play, it involves technology of the projector which makes it more visually interesting for the audience and i want the play to have a heavy involvement with lighting to help aid the emotions going through the play.

Camera Angles for Dance with Camera

Camera angles give away a lot of information than you would expect it to be. Depending on how far away the camera shot is or how close it is, it already sends a message automatically to the audience about the character or object.

1) Bird’s-eye view:
A Bird’s-eye view shows a scene from overhead. Overhead of your character or even to show the setting but the shot doesn't show anything as clearly as you may think it is. This camera shot makes the audience feel like ‘God’ as God watches over everything that happens over our heads. People would look as tiny as ants and that also makes the audience feel tall and proud. It also shows the depths and scale of what is in the photo.

2) High Angle:

This angle is similar to the Bird’s-eye view but not as high up. The camera is slanted in the action, hovering over the sides of the heads. This makes whatever you are trying to focus on smaller and insignificant. This action becomes part of a wider scale.

3) Eye Level:
The eye-level shot is placed in level with a character’s face as if the audience is watching in level with the focus.

4) Low Angle:
Low angles are mainly used to give an effect of how small you are to the world. Low angles shots give a sense of powerlessness and makes you feel useful in the scene.

5) Oblique/Canted Angle:
An Oblique/Canted Angle can be sometimes tilted which is used in many popular horror movies to indicate to the audience that the scene is unstable, or ‘something is going to go wrong’. This shot suggests the ‘point of view’ of a character.

Stage Design and Old Gumbie Cat Blocking Workshop

In Todays lesson we got assigned a lesson where we would teach the class our chosen songs choreography. Today's lesson it was Beth's turn and her song was ' Old Gumbie Cat', this dances style is tap dance. We jumped straight in and began learning the dance she had choreographed at the beginning of the piece Beth (Jennyanydot) was standing on the catwalk and either side was an evenly divided class. We walked forward tap are feet 4 steps stops and the with our right foot tapped in front then to the the right, then with our left foot we tapped in front and then to our left; We did this in unison with our hands on our hips. We then dances 360 degrees anticlockwise whilst tapping alternate feet. After with opposite arms and legs we tapped in opposite directions i loved this move and think it was really affective from an audiences perspective. Another stand out movement for me was when people standing stage left move with there right leg pointing at a 45 degree angle and then tapping the floor with our toes whilst their arms diagonally downwards from left to right they do this 4 times whilst moving to the right. Whilst this is repeated on stage right but all the movements are retrogrades to the right. This looks really jolly and captures the motif and emotion in the song.

My penultimate stand out dance move Beth also choreographed in the song was when we get into a line of 5 facing the cat walk on stage left whilst the same happens stage right. Every other  person is facing away from the cat walk we then turn with our arms linked and move clockwise whilst tapping our feet forward. This move looks really professionally well fully polished and i believe its a challenge we can master and as a class make this look really effective.

At the end of the song we all sing 'Oh She's a Jolly Good Fellow' and we all gather round her people at the front kneel then it gradually gets taller. The music suddenly changes and we all turn around anticlockwise on the spot and get back to the original pose around her with are arms out in a diagonal fashion. I thought this was good as she established a motif and a clear ending point for the song, this was assisted by a well established memorable pose.

In this lesson we also designed how the staging would be. As you can see from the diagram we have a cat walk to tie in with our fashion idea. This cat walk links on to the steps leading out to the audience, we wanted to actually connect the two so we felt as personal to the audience as possible. One of our aims when creating cats was to make the audience feel like they were a part of the story. The cat walk then connects to the staging on the left (view from diagram) this will be the office area in the designer house. We felt that it should be on that side as there is not much wing area behind it, and the main entrance to the stage we wanted to have an impact so made it tall (stage right staging). This leads me to the thought process behind the staging on the right. We wanted to create a few things from it, the stair case down to the designer house, which is what the stages theme is. We felt it was necessary for it to be a stair case as we wanted characters to enter with impact for example in Rum Tum Tugger he enters from the stair case and walks down in a dramatic fashion. 'Like he is god' a connotation of arriving from higher ground.

On the floor of the stage there will be clothing rails either side of the stage and also mirrors on stage left, this is to add to the theme of the fashion house. They are also used as props throughout the dances we have choreographed. The sides of the staging will be covered with sheets of wood which will be be painted to make the walls of the fashion house.