Learning Your Instruments
Like in all art forms, it is essential that one place a
degree of attention to developing technical mastery. In
dance, a strong technical foundation can only benefit
choreographic and performance endeavors. Dancers tend to
posses a keen awareness of the body’s potential due to
the innumerable hours spent in technique classes. Moving
into the realm of dance video requires a similar
exploration of technical skills. If the body is the
instrument of the dancer, then cameras and editing
software may be considered the instruments of
choreographing video.
Video
cameras, regardless of quality, cost, or format allow for
extending the dancer’s imagination and performative
expression as an expert in the dynamic delivery of
movement vocabulary. Buttons, switches, dials, and in/out
ports can appear daunting at first, but so were your
first pliés! Taking the time to understand the features
of your video camera empowers artistic capability, while
also ensuring quality footage. Regardless of the bells
and whistles associated with your camera, remember that
you are the artist and that creating art is a
choice-making process. Cameras working in Full Auto Mode
are doing all the thinking for you. To ensure that you
are in control of your destiny, develop your ability to
command the camera while in Manual Mode. Developing an
understanding and control of three main technical
features can drastically improve video quality.
1.
Focus – creating the sharpest image of the subject
2. White Balance – matching camera settings to the color
temperature of the light source
3. Exposure – controlling the amount of light entering
the lens of the camera
Visit the Technical Issues section
of DanceDocumentation.com
for
more information on mastering these key components of
high quality video.
Like
the video camera, editing software is another essential
instrument for extending the dancer’s choreographic
sensibilities beyond the proscenium stage and into the
screen as a dimensional, time-based canvas. Although
carefully planned in-camera editing can result in some
pretty amazing work, nothing compares to sense of
satisfaction that one experiences when creative
inspiration can be effortlessly realized through editing.
As one nears the status of virtuosic editor it becomes
possible to simulate the rare “in-the-moment” sensation
of riding an intuitive flow that we all dream of while
choreographing in a studio with live dancers. In a
similar manner, the computer really can become an
integrated studio for making dance! This art of
post-production editing, like the analytic study of
choreographic devices, requires discipline. Once the
rules are learned, it’s so much fun to break them!
Regardless of computer platform or software brand,
becoming familiar with a video-editing program is
certainly worth the investment of time.