For my final project, I have decided to draw upon the stylistic and artistic choices of a short film entitled “PAINTED”. PAINTED follows a fairly simple structure; it opens on several panning shots through an abandoned building, establishing the location as a desolate and vacant space with an eerie atmosphere. A cloaked woman appears and begins contorting her body, filling the emptiness around her with dynamic movements and expressive physical theatrics. As the footage intercuts with shots of trees shaking in the wind and an ominous looking bird, the woman’s movements become almost primal and animalistic. As the music subsides in intensity, the figure lays on the ground and the scene cuts to slow motion footage of leaves rustling in a breeze. PAINTED could work as a music video or a piece of video art, and the combination of mis-en-scene, physical movement and the soothing soundscape is very enchanting to me. The dancer is incredibly talented and intriguing to follow as she moves through the bleak surroundings. The dancer’s movements echo a lot of the practices of physical theatre, and just watching her body is akin to reading a story.

In my own work, I wanted to replicate some of the processes used in PAINTED. I like the idea of focusing on a single female dancer, expressing herself through movement. I believe that the way a person dances can paint an idea of their character, and I endeavoured to recruit a dancer that really embraces their spirit and sense of self. I hoped to capture this on camera and combine it with a song that matches the gestures of the dancer.

I found Jazia Tara through a friend who had discovered her on instagram. Instead of choreographing a performance, I really wanted to capture Jazia in her natural element. To do so, I booked out an RMIT studio and some Dedo lighting kits. All I had to do on the day of filming was simply play some music and Jazia took it from there. Although the music Jazia dances to is wildly different from my own personal preference and not the kind of thing I particularly enjoy listening to, I didn’t want to overwrite the artistic expression of such an incredible dancer with my own style. I wanted to capture Jazia’s essence naturally, not inflict my own upon her. I found it hard at first to pursue in editing the footage to the song recommended by Jazia, but I made myself embrace it by remembering that it is a culturally significant style of music, and although it was different, that didn’t mean it was bad. By the end of my hours editing the footage, I actually really got into the rhythm of the music! Unlike in PAINTED, I didn’t want to draw so much focus on the environment in which the figure was appearing. I wanted a plain black background so that all attention was on the strong, confident performer I had the joy of working with.

*BEAT is purely an exercise in passion born from the enthusiasm of its performer. When it came to editing, I did implement effects here and there such as rotating frames, overlayed footage and colour enhancements and reductions, but the main “artistry” lies within the artist herself. I used the beat of the song to act as cues for the visual effects, reinforcing the idea that in the end, everything comes down to the beat. It is the beat that drives the figure, and the beat that manipulates the footage. I really enjoyed creating BEAT, and I am proud of the finished product. I was lucky in the way that Jazia really did all the work and I just had to capture it and experiment with the footage in post production.

*Unfortunately, BEAT was too large to upload onto WordPress. I have shared the link via google drive.