Storyboard Location Two;

Storyboard Location One & Animatic;

Black Swan Dance Scene Analysis;

(4.13 - 7.34)

The majority of the shots in this dance scene (White Swan character) focus on showing Nina's (Natalie Portman) face rather than the rest of her body, which is not typically expected of a dance sequence as the majority of movement comes from the dancers feet.
The cinematography of the sequence is heavily based on mid shots of Nina's facial expressions and arm movements. Her expressions have quite a subtle contrast to her body movements; her expression is always poised and focused whereas her motion is far more fluent and flows with the music. I believe this is done to show the personality of the character of the "White Swan", she is calm in appearance yet stern within thought. The first part of the dance shows her being cautious of a male and then slowly giving into his charm, the second half of the scene however shows her dancing in sync with the male but then her body movements become stiffer and much more disciplined as she begins to be drawn into temptation by the black male swan thus leading to her portrayal as the Black Swan.

(9.40 - 12.14)
The camera, although still mainly positioned in a mid-shot, is far less motionless as the first dance scene. The camera continuously tracks back and around the dancers on the stage as the dance becomes more and more abrupt.
Nina's arm movements are much more structured as well as her expression, the dance style has changed with the music playing along side also as her character is now joining "the dark side".

Dance Video Research;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r801idgt0E4&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwWvWr96s24&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiJhRjBEm6o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ERSLuUW6SQ

Video - 'Ballet in a Box'

The Director (Daniel Pi) uses a simple but clever technique from the outset of the short film. He has recorded the dancer and then repeated the footage at different areas of the screen, the footage then comes together and creates a layered blur of the dancer as she moves.
The sound and footage are well syncronised as a new instrument is featured, a new piece of footage of the dancer is played.

I am going to use these techniques in aspects of my video. The effect of layering the same footage on top of each other just slightly out of time will help with the 'dream' aspect of my video.
As my short film is called 'A dance of shadow/a dance of light, I want to show a varying depth of reality (between the shadows and the light). I will do this through the use of lighting techniques as demonstrated within the videos featured.

'Ballet in a Box' (1.33) uses the technique of having the dancer behind a white curtain with a spotlight revealing the dancers shadow, I will not use this exact style of shaddowing, however, I will make use of spot lights.

Video - 'Cupidita'

The director (James Dyer) uses varied angles of light to created numerous shadows on a plain back drop. The shadows give off the appearance that there are more than just the two characters danciong within the scene.

As the dances performed tend to be quite complex, the driectors make storng use of close-ups for emotional establishment to the spectator. I will use this technique quite frequently as I want to establish an emotional connection the dancer and the spectator even thought the spectator will probably not fully undertsand what it is like to be the character.

Video - 'Radical Dance Project/ Alone'

Although the video is not footage of Ballet, a very clever technique is used at 1.12 minutes into the video, the dancer stretches out her hand and as he draws her fingers in the camera tracks closer towards her in sync.

Character;

Bethanie Walker - Tam - Protagonist




I chose my friend Beth to play the part of Tam as she is currently a theatrical studies and performing arts student at my college and is currently learning ballet with the college. I have seen her in previous productions and believe she is ideal for the roll.

For my character I wanted her to be portrayed as a very shy, quaint girl with a vivid imagination of achieveing her dreams. I wanted her to be a character which an audience could relate to no matter what they were going through; not with the fact that Tam is deaf, but overcoming troubles no matter what.
I based Tam's character on Nina Sayers (Protagonist in 'Black Swan', 2010) played by Natalie Portman.
A ballet dancer who dreams of being the main dancer in the infamous "Swan Lake" production. Her strive for perfection eventually leads her to be psychotic and she kills herself when she achieves her standing ovation at the end of the performance. I didn't want my character to be portrayed as psychotic but I wanted her to appear to be emotionally challenged due to her illness.
As it is not immediately obvious that Tam has a disability, I wanted my actress to act as though she was deaf herself (she wore ear plug throughout the duration of filming) to allowe for a more realistic experience for the viewer.

This is a short clip of an interview with Natalie Portman (2010) on Black Swan and why her character is how she is.

Soundtrack;

As my film is about a dancer I need a soundtrack which fits to the genre of the dance style, in this case: Ballet.

I have not decided upon my final song as of yet, but I have narrowed it down to a smaller selection.

I searched my own personal music library and the Internet for classical tunes which had previously been composed for ballet or ones I thought fit with my plot.

Choices:
Track: Can't Say Goodbye to Yesterday (Piano Version)
Artist: Rika Muranaka
Album: Metal Gear Solid 2 OST

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnIUZB3mRgw
Track: Dietro Casa
Artist: Ludovico Einaudi

Track: Colorblind (Instrumental Version)
Artist: Counting Crows
Album: The Desert Life



For my final soundtrack I am going to use 'Can't Say goodbye to Yesterday (Piano Version) as it has the most accurate pace to what I want my film to have. Together with editing, I will try to create the best environment for emotional response withing the audience.
I believe that music is one of the key features that can change the emotional outcome of the film. It can alter the entire feel of a scene and be the main feature that changes the spectator reaction from crying to laughing/angry to calm etc. When I initially came up with the idea for my short film, I could not piece a soundtrack to play along side it so I put my iPod on shuffle in an attempt to find one and I eventually found the tracks listed above. I played the songs over and over with my imagined film in mind and decided that 'Can't Say Goodbye to Yesterday' fit most accurately.

Shooting plan;

As my film is going to be silent, except for diegetic music and muffled sounds, I do not require a script of speech, however, I do require a shooting script.

Location 1 - Bedroom

- Shots of bedroom, establishing, realism and verisimilitude.
- Shots of character sleeping, (blurred shots and in focus), getting out of bed and ready.
- Shots of character starting to dance

- Establishing shot of Tam asleep in chair, high angle shot, low lighting
- Cut Away -
- Mid shot of iPod on speakers
- Cut Away -
- Close up, high angle of Tams face, low lighting, Tam wakes up and sighs
- Cut Away -
- Extreme close up of Tams eyes, low lighting, Tam looks around room and into camera, focus variable
- Cut Away -
- Long shot, Centre framed, low lighting, Tam sits up and sighs
- Cut Away -
- Close up of Tam, centre framed, Tam sighs loudly and runs fingers through hair
- Cut Away -
- Extreme closeup of Tam's feet, Tam's hand comes into shot from top left of screen and rubs feet
- Cut Away -
- Long shot of Tam sat on chair thinking, framed to the right of the screen, Tam stands up and picks up mug and exits room
- Cut Away -
- Mid shot of Tam walking through door way into kitchen
- Cut away -
- Long shot of Tam walking to sink to fill kettle
- Cut Away -
- Close up of tap filling kettle
- Cut Away -
- Low angle shot of Kettle being placed back on stand and turned on
- Cut Away -
- Long shot of hall way, Tam walks into shot from left and exits Kitchen
- Cut Away -
- Mid shot of Tam walking through doorway, camera pans with Tam as she sits down in chair and moves her hands to her feet
- Cut Away -
Extreme close up of Tams feets as she rubs them
- Cut Away -




Location 2 - Theatre

- Closeups of hands, feet, preparing for dance
- Shots of charatcer dancing, possible split screen between dreams and reality
- Lots of lens flares and bright lighting to re inforce illusion
- Switch between bedroom and theatre after she has falled down