Comment

Comment by Chrixtine on March 23, 2010 at 12:17am

I really appreciated the camera movemet, but I felt the subjects movements could have been maybe bit more open or exaggerated. The angles of the camera really stood out to me especially when going round. I also found the repeated scences very interesting. The end with the close up of the hands and the water in them stood out as well because the viewer was able to see the water where as in the wide shots you can't see the water as much, but you know it's there.

Comment by Elyse Gollomp on March 22, 2010 at 9:30pm

I thought the film was very powerful and had a lot of meaning to it however, I thought the movement could have been more elaborate and powerful especially through varying angles. I enjoyed and found the rotation of the frames really a really nice touch. I was rather thrown off by the cross fades into one another. Also, I would have liked to see more use of obscure angles and close-up shots as cut-a-ways. Overall there was something very powerful about the film and I think there is a lot of potential here.

Comment by Laura Casey on March 22, 2010 at 2:56pm

Oh, and in response to costuming, we had a blue t-shirt to compliment the blue walls but while filming the shirt became too dark. Lighting it differently may have helped a little but I think that a lighter blue or even an orange shirt may have read better in afterthought.

Comment by Laura Casey on March 22, 2010 at 2:55pm

I know that when we went in we had ideas for very different movement from what we were able to capture do to the closeness of the space. So I feel that the dance part came across as really weak. Perhaps if we had spent more time in the space and brought the equipment in before filming we could have had a better quality of movement.

I also think tht while we had an interesting idea for hand-held but as David said, it didn't read as well as we hoped. I think this may also be due to our edits. When we first edited it I know that we were pretty happy with how it turned out but afterward, watching it in class, I didn't like the edits at all. Having more space from the piece really made me reconsider it. The repetitions that I liked before seemed to detract from the video when I watched it later.

Maybe its just me, but I do feel that the piece reads better on a smaller screen than on the large screen when we watched it in class? That's something that I didn't consider while filming was the difference in framing and screen size.

Lastly, I feel that, because the water didn't show up clearly, the idea that we had got lost. We wanted there to be obvious calm and an almost playful experimentation with the water but once the dancer was out of the water we wanted the world to fall apart and have everything out of place.

I would like to explore the idea more with more time and try to elaborate and explore more because I think that shot in a different way it might have read better.

Comment by David Lerner on March 21, 2010 at 3:40am

I really appreciated the water at the beginning and was drawn into the idea of the shot in the shower. The location has a lot of potential. I was however distracted and drawn of out it with the jump cut/repetition of shots at the beginning. I agree with Tori that some more fluid feeling trough the dance, camera movement, and editing could've made the piece stronger.

I felt that the idea for handheld didn't quite compliment the piece a whole lot. There were times when I concentrated less on the piece and was distracted by the minor movement of the camera. Especially towards the end I had a felt a little too much voyeristic/watching which drew me out a little. There were parts that the handheld gave an interesting feel to it which I think worked, but other times the shaking of it seemed a little much. Perhaps some slow pans, cribs, or zooms could've enhanced the piece at times.

I questioned a light on the shower wall halfway through the piece. I see that you filmed the same sequence a few times and then edited different parts together. It almost seemed like sunlight from a window came in during one of your shots which hindered the continuity of the piece a little bit.

Comment by Tori Lawrence on March 12, 2010 at 5:42pm

Interesting location, but I would have experimented more with it. There's a lot of potential there with the water, tiles, costume, and lighting effects. The movement for me was weak. I would have liked to see more interactions with the water other than sitting down and sliding down to the ground. Perhaps explore more with how the water responds to movement? Take a phrase of movement that you create and put it in the shower--how does the water react to that phrase? And whatever interests you, you could build off of that.
The edits (repetitive shots/cuts, crossfades, etc.) were unnecessary for me. They didn't seem to fit the context of the piece and somewhat jumbled up the piece. Rather, I yearned to see continuity and a clear build of your movement and interactions with the falling water.
(Try not to rely on crossfades to transition your segments together; how can you transition instead with movement?)
Perhaps not only the movement of the dancer could fix this, but the movement of the camera could replace the need for these editing choices. I would have liked to see more tracking, panning, and slow/subtle camera movements. I did not particularly find the rotation of the camera to sideways and upside down to complement the dancer's movement. It was distracting and didn't fit well with the piece. I would also question the use of hand-held camera. The fluid quality of water does not fit very well with the raw shaky/unsteady camera movement. Maybe a fig rig or tripod would have been more effective.
I also agree with Luyi that the costume was too dark and not very effective. Perhaps lighting could have fixed this. Try not to neglect these elements of costume/makeup/lighting, because they can make or break a piece.

Comment by Luyi Yu on March 12, 2010 at 1:44pm

Basically, it's a good video. The location is really interesting and the camera angle is amazing.
However, some of the repeats shoots seem unnecessary. As is for me, most of the repearts do not make sense. Somtimes, the repeats even look like jump-cuts. Moreover, the dance movement is a little bit weak to support your core idea of this video. The movement can't make me feel exactly the relationship between the dancer and the struggling feeling.
Although the backgroud color and the dancer's cloth try to make a sense of darkness and struggling, I think it's better for you guys to change the combination of colors. I would rather to see you guys use more lighting effects to express ideas rather than the totally dark color.
For the ending, personally, I think it will be better if you guys just stop at the dancer's face and dont move all the way up.