Danc 340 Blog Post 1

[Amanda Brandenburg]

The Moebius Strip (2001) by Gilles Jobin

 

http://dance-tech.tv/videos/the-moebius-strip/

 

The movement and choreography in this video, while very simple, is very interesting and captivating. The camera work throughout the piece accentuates the sensual and mysterious feeling of the movement. The space that the dance was filmed in is very plain and geometric. There is simply a black floor, with tapelines making squares throughout it, and beyond that it seems to just go into darkness. There are no distinguishable walls or features other than the floor. This provides a lot of interest when the camera angles shift because all of the backgrounds are the same; it allows the focus to really be on the body of the dancers. The dancers begin dressed in pedestrian street clothes, doing very simple movements at a moderate pace. The camera is slowly panning across the space, allowing dancers to move in and out of the camera frame. As the movement slows down, the camera gets closer to the dancers, really putting the connections made by the dancers in the focus. There are a lot of angles with the camera close to the floor where the dancers are. Eventually the dancers remove their shoes and clothes until they are wearing only white shirts and black trunks. From here there seem to be even closer up shots, and the lights fade throughout the second half of the video, making it seem very sensual.

There did not seem to be any effects used in the editing process, only different angles and zooms, until the very end of the video. At the end the geometric nature of the space is heightened by pieces of plain white paper laid in rows on the floor. The dancers are crawling across the floor in a very animalistic way as the camera pans across. Here the video seems to be slowed down, sped up, and blurred. Once all of the dancers are gone, the video is turned upside down, twisted, and manipulated in really interesting ways before completely fading to black. I would be curious as to how these effects were all done, and why they were only used at the end of the piece.

 

TEDxSummit intro: The power of x

 

http://dance-tech.tv/videos/tedxsummit-intro-the-power-of-x/

 

            The movement and choreography in this video were very simple and symmetrical. There were many dancers used, all in red, white, black, or yellow jumpsuits. Most of the movement is done on the floor and lying down. This worked very well with the camera, as most of the video was filmed with a bird’s eye view. In fact, only once does the camera angle change to be more on the level of one dancer walking. The camera does zoom in and out allowing us to see more spatial patterns sometimes and more of the actual movement other times. It is also very fun to see a balloon let go and floating up into the camera.

            The most noticeable aspect of this video was done with it’s editing. The video was edited so that it looks like you are looking into a kaleidoscope. The symmetrical movement of the dancers adds to the effect. While the movement is simple, this editing really captures the viewers’ attention throughout the entire video. I’m curious if there is a single editing tool that makes it look like a kaleidoscope or if there is multiple editing techniques you would have to do.