Rosas danst Rosas

Rosas danst Rosas, choreographed in 1982 by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, is a benchmark in history for post-modern dance. The choreography is based around fast and abstract movements where repetition plays the most important role.  The dance features an all-female cast as the word Rosas in the title refers to the female name Rosa. The moves are executed fiercely and sharply with great structure; this is countered by small slow everyday movements such as crossing your legs and resting your hand on your face. 

The repetitive nature of the music and the dance portrays great tension through the piece. Watching it I really gauged the emotional struggle of the dancers through the way they held their bodies in the way the movements changed throughout the dance. The movements varied from strong and powerful at times to being relaxed and effortless at others. I interpreted this to be a representation of them being worried or in distress. But when I researched into the dance I found out that it was structured around the phases of the day, so when the dancers appear fatigued this is actually a representation of the night. But that is one of the things I love about dance, that it is open to so many different interpretations. Their faces really helped tell a story, their revealing expressions changed so many times during the performance which gave a whole new meaning to the movements they were performing. 

Their body language and facial expressions here display the tiredness of the night.

Whilst their body language and facial expressions here convey the fun and energy of the day.

Another factor that made this performance so captivating to watch was the dynamic camera work. I thought that the camera rotating around the dancers really helped give me a sense of the space they were dancing in and made me feel as if I was in the room myself. I also Think that when the camera shots changed really fast between each movement this helped give the dance a much more dramatic feel and pace.

Whilst their body language and facial expressions here convey the fun and energy of the day.

Another factor that made this performance so captivating to watch was the dynamic camera work. I thought that the camera rotating around the dancers really helped give me a sense of the space they were dancing in and made me feel as if I was in the room myself. I also Think that when the camera shots changed really fast between each movement this helped give the dance a much more dramatic feel and pace. 

I really liked the opening of Rosas danst Rosas as she awakens so slowly and peacefully, then starts with very small movements before the music kicks in and she starts to dance dramatically. This has greatly influenced the opening of my Fashion Film. 

Hair Inspiration

The Hair In my Fashion film was inspired by the hair in the classic fairytale Cinderella. I wanted to concentrate on my characters transformation, like how cinderella transforms from a maid into a princess. 

When cinderella plays a maid her hair is worn either up in a pony tail or in braids of some sort with flowers and bows for accessories. This emphasises the pureness of her character. I combined both these styles and styled the hair into a braided bun, with flowers intertwined within it. 

When she transforms into a princess her hair is let down into big ringlet curls with a small braid at the side. When my character transforms, the hair is a very similar style to that of Cinderella's, yet I opted for a softer curl and a messy bohemian style braid to make this style more modern. 

Frantic Assembly

Frantic Assembly are a theatre group, who aim to creative innovative and exciting theatre. They do this through dance and acting and their performances are truly visually stunning.
"We began with little more than a fierce work ethic and a desire to do something different and to do it differently. The name Frantic Assembly gives it all away."

LoveSong by the well known playwright Abi Morgan, is one of Frantic Assembly's most successful productions. It tells a story of an older couple who are glimpsing the memories of their former selves. Scott Graham the co-director and Co-Choreographer of the play, said that they were inspired by film and music videos when choreographing the play. The talk constantly about focus he said that they want 'The Brush of skin on skin explode on stage, just as much as we would want any large scale physical scene to do the same', for this to happen he says that you need to 'construct your work in a way that the audeince can see that tiny thing as something massive'. Watching their work and listening to Graham speak about the performance, I can tell that the quality of the performance relies solely on the relationship and trust between the actors and being in a safe comfortable environment. This is something I really took into consideration when working with my atcor. The demands of the physical scenes in their work,is that it must move the narrative of the play forward. They dont dance just for effect each movement has a meaning behind it. I love this clip from from the play, Maggie is watching a love scene of her younger self and reminiscing, the way the two actors portray the love in their relationship through dance is moving and at the end when maggie falls between the two lovers it is heartbreaking to watch. Because her breaking the two apart is foreshadowing what will happen to her relationship in the future. 

How Fantasy and fairy tales have inspired my work

How Fantasy and fairy tales have inspired my work 
The Wizard of Oz 
The Wizard of Oz has inspired my fashion film. I drew inspiration from the scene where Dorothy puts on her red ruby slippers, taps her heels together, and is magically transported home. I have recreated a moment just like this in my fashion film when, Amie puts on her black heels on tapps her feet together and is magically transported out of the forest and into her new 'home' amongst the fashion of london.

Cinderella 

Cinderella also inspired me when I was thinking of a storyline for my fashion film. When Amie is transported to London, her dress has magically changed from a Black mesh and lace slip dress into a glamorous lace dress with a, low V mesh panel. And her hair and makeup is transformed from innocent and pretty to strong and smokey. Just like how cinderella's rags are transformed into a ball gown. In Cinderella a Fairy Godmother transforms her into a beautiful princess, the clothes in my fashion film act like the Fairy Godmother transforming her into a stylish fashionista. 

How the Dogme 95 Collective have inspired my work

Filming in the style of Dogme 
After doing research into Dogme 95  Collective I was inspired, shoot my fashion film in a similar style. Firstly I filmed my fashion film in completely natural light. one of the strict rules that the dogme collective follow when producing their films is to never use artificial light when filming. This was challenging, especially in terms of continuity  as the light is constantly changing, but I can see why the Dogme Collective do this as it makes the film more realistic looking. Secondly I filmed on location rather than in a studio, as this another rule that you must follow in filming. This worked really well for my fashion film as the natural setting made my film feel all the more magaical. I chose to film completely hand held, this is something that the dogme collective do in all there films. It can make the shots slightly shaky. But I found when watching their films such as 'Dancer In The Dark' it gives it more of a 'documentary style', feel to it and makes the viewer feel as if they are in the scene themselves. Another important rule that must be followed when making a film in the style of Dogme is to never use props, and if props are required for the benefit of the storyline then they must be found in location. Thats why when my model changes outfit throughout the film all her pieces of clothing were found in different parts of the woods. This again worked really well for my film, as it made it feel really magaical that the clothing was just appearing out of know where in different parts of the woods. I think this will captivate my audeince as they will be really intrigued as to where the clothes are appearing from.
Breaking the rules
Although I want to film in the style of the Dogme 95 Collective, they do have a few rules post production that I will not be following. They have a rule that no form of Special Effects can be used on the footage after filming as they believe that it takes the audeince attention away from the film its self and the storyline. I feel as if the Dogme Collective is quite old fashioned in this way. I felt that it was essential for my film, to bring it up to date. I also was really keen to use a transition from black and white to colour to show how fashion has brought my character to life .Furthermore the use of special effects really adds to mystic and the fantasy themes of my film and helps suspend the audeince in disbelief. The rules have been broken and adapted many times during the production of Dogme style films in fact Vinterberg confessed that when he filmed his first film, Festen be both brought a prop on set and used special lighting, by covering a window during the shooting of one scene.

Hair and makeup for the first day of filming

This was the finished result of the makeup and hair from the first day of shooting for my Fashion Film. I am really happy with it, as it turned out exactly to plan. The makeup is subtle and pretty but still enough to show up well on camera. The Flowers in her hair tie in perfectly with the woodland surrounding and the braided bun makes her appear childlike and innocent. 

Dogme 95 Collective

The Dogme 95 was an avant guard film movement that started march 13th 1995. It was started by danish directors Lars Von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg, they created the 'Dogme 95 Manifesto' and the 'Vow of Chastity'. These are rules designed to film makers to use so that they could create film based on the traditional values of story, acting and film. Which meant there was no need for the use of elaborate special effects. They used it as an attempt to give to give power back to the director and away from the studio. Fellow danish Directors Kristian Levring and Soren Kragh-Jacobsen later joined the other directors to form the Dogme 95 Collective. Dogme is the Danish word for Dogma which means to have a strong belief.
The goal of the Dogme collective was to purify filmmaking by refusing to use expensive special effects and post production. This was suppose to help the audeince better engage with the story and concentrate on the actors performance as they are not distracted by overproduction. So Vinterberg and Von Trier designed rules that a Dogme film must conform to:

1. Shooting must done on location and props and sets must not be brought in. If you are required to use a certain prop as it is necessary to the storyline, a location must be chosen where the prop is to be found.   
2. The sound must never be produced, music must not be used unless it occurs where the scene is being shot.
3. The camera must be hand held. Any movements on immobility attained by the hand held movement is permitted. 
4. The film must not use artificial lighting, natural light only.
5. optical work and filters is forbidden.
6. Temporal and geographical alienation are forbidden. 
7. Genre Movies are not acceptable
8. The film format must be Academy 35mm.
9. The director must not be credited. 

But these rules have been adapted and broken many times over the years of creating Dogme Films. Even Vinterberg confessed that when he filmed Festen be both brought a prop on set and used special lighting, by covering a window during the shooting of one scene.

The First Dogme film made was Vinterberg's 19 critically acclaimed 98 film Festen, which translates to 'The celebration' in english. Von Trier also released his film 'The Idiots' the same year but this was less successful, Since then many films were made by other directors based on the Dogme principles.