Composing the Frame
An exciting aspect of dance for the camera is the ability
to focus the audience’s eye and control the way the dance
is viewed. There are a number of scales and vantage
points to consider when composing the frame. Ultimately,
how you compose the frame is going to effect how your
dance is communicated.
“The
camera is a tool that magnifies and reveals the human and
corporeal. Like the amplification of an acoustic
instrument, it makes available certain pitches and
timbres that might fall below the level of perception in
a theatrical performance of dance. The increased scale of
close-up shots and the limitless variety of camera angles
reveal different facets of a choreographer’s unique
movement language, and they augment nuance in gesture and
facial expression often not visible to the
audience.”
By
Ellen Bromberg inside Envisioning Dance on Film and Video