Finnish Movement Director and Choreographer Krista Vuori, is sharing her experiences on an Independent small scale film making process. All whilst wearing multiple hats to make it all happen.
CHAPTER 1 - ACTION !
Hey, thanks for visiting my Blog today !
This is a first Chapter in a Series of Short film making process where the movement is at the forefront of the storytelling. I will be talking about my Creative process in film making and approaches in making movement/choreography specifically for camera. I am also currently learning, so this is by no means a lecture or a manual series on the topic. I will go through the whole process from beginning to the end : the preparation, the creative approach, the practicalities and challenges around creating this specific short film.
Pretty much being the producer, writer, director, choreographer, project manager and admin all at the same time to name a few roles I feel like I have dipped my toes into. Hats off to all of you who do this all the time!
WHY FILM ?
Seeing the story through the eye of the lens has always fascinated me. It creates exciting opportunities to be really creative with movement. The potentials for storytelling through dance and movement are very different to what movement on stage can do in my opinion.
It is in the detail you can capture, that eye movement, that zoomed in gesture, the shrug of the shoulder. I am also fascinated by the things we cannot see on the screen; how the movement is framed. You can fully control the gaze of your audience with film, which you cannot do as successfully in live theatre.
My current creative obsession is the physical storytelling happening on screen ; creating choreographed numbers, creating a physical language for the film, fully embodied characters or ensemble/crowd movement.
My Project Objectives :
4 Days of R&D ( Research and Development ), to explore working with a videographer and 3 dancer/mover/actors.
Create a documentary style film of the process.
Create a short film, where the main device to tell a story is movement, physicality and choreography.
Explore the relationship between the camera and the movement.
Before I could get close to any of the things on that list above, there was plenty to do in preparation and a lot of questions to ask as well....
I have picked 4 points in this chapter to start with, see all below.
What would I like/want/need to get out of my R&D ?
Don’t censor yourself here.
Experience in making work in a short amount of time
Creating movement and choreographer for camera
Learn to work with the camera as my eye
Expand my collaborative skills further with new creatives I have not worked with before.
Grow awareness of my creative habits. What skills am I bringing from my theatre background into film ; what is useful vs. not useful.
I want a Short film of some kind as a result
Documentary as a result…
I need More Visibility, Job offers etc as a result etc.
I want an Oscar, Emmy, National film award for best choreography on film....
*Once you have your list, you can then keep going back to it. Start narrowing down or adding, clarifying the most important things for your particular project. The ideas and needs & wants that are not appropriate this time around, you can keep them in your notebook for the next time ! ; ) One step at a time ; ) National Film Awards here we come ;)
2.Set myself clear goals within the project
From the above list, 'What you want out of the exploration' might have some goals you want pull in , to really focus on.
I used two strands , Creative Goals and Practical goals .
I often start listing the creative as that will inform the practical.
AVOID setting too many goals, so you maximise your ability to succeed.
List of Creative goals then divide into smaller beats. These are a helpful guide to see where you need to go next and adapt if you need to change direction and tactics.
Smaller beats were sometimes as simple as ; 1. Discuss topic , 2 .Create a duet from solo material , 3. Film material from 3 angles. More would always be created and discovered but simple starting points work best for me.
With a list of Practical goals I create a system of accountability as I am working for myself and leading the project. This includes creating schedules, organising availabilities, booking of studio space, crew and keeping track of the budget.
**Goals can really increase motivation on days you feel lost , stuck or lazy.
Mind you , I still have plenty of those days anyway...so it is not a fail proof for sure. Creative process is never a straight smooth line, would be boring if it were, right?
MY AMAZING CREATIVE TEAM BELOW: Laure Bachelot, Tom Scurr, Lydia Baksh and Gail Sixsmith.
Photos: @Elliekurtzzphoto and @aliwrights_photographs at Shapes in Motion workshops.
3. Build a Team who get you. Ask for support when unsure. Do not be afraid of difficult conversations.
I often have to remind myself : You don’t have to do it all alone, or know everything, handle everything, ( or google everything and then pretend you know).
***It is so hugely beneficial that you recognise what might be the challenges or what elements or scenes you might struggle with. Talk them through and find methods on how to approach the challenges, so things don't become overwhelming when on set.
For Example, I had conversations with my Videographer, as he was more experience in prepping for something like this, and it was great to have someone to bounce the creative ideas and also go through practical things. Something that can feel daunting and scary, is less so, when you find a team you can trust and have open conversations.
***Prior to my Film project starting, I had developed relationships with experienced creatives and asked for mentoring support.
This has also been so helpful for me in my journey. In whatever the activity has been, the mentoring support is always so useful and supportive not only just creatively but allowing me to have those self doubt conversations without being judged or criticised. Having Liam Steel as a creative mentor on set , was so valuable and hugely helpful. More on that later !
4. Quick Notes on Practicalities I ended up spending more time navigating & researching than I expected.
REHEARSAL SPACE , - I needed mediums size space for rehearsals that are appropriate for movement work, so sprung floor was best. Problem: not every space that fits your budget is appropriate.
BOOKING SPACE , - Do not leave it last minute (Obvious), but you would be surprised how long you sometimes have to wait for venues to get back to you, if you cannot reach them over the phone.
LOCK YOUR DATES IN ASAP with your crew if possible. For that piece of mind, but there needs to be bit of back and forth before you can book the space for the time that suits all.
SPECIFIC LOCATIONS RESEARCH, - I needed specific styled location to film in , so I did a lot of research through several online sites that offer shoot locations. ( More Hours/days spent on this than I ever anticipated! )
More next time, Thank you for reading , it means a lot to me to have your support.
Krista X
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LINKS:
FILMING LOCATION - I found mine eventually from Peerspace https://www.peerspace.com/.
Krista’s Mentors : http://www.kateflatt.com/mentoring/ , https://sarahperrymovement.com/about Liam Steel ( mentoring on film location )
Check out my friends who helped bring my Team together: Shapes In Motion https://www.shapesinmotion.com/
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