I posted a blog about our ring road project and how we were going to use Top Gear as the influence. After the meeting where we discusses our idea with out tutors we decided that it was too challenging to do with the time span and could be hard to make it interesting. We all went away and came up with various ideas each. When we next met up we discussed our ideas and one of my ideas was chosen. I had said about doing a nightmare scene where the person wakes up in the Allen Terry. After we did some story boarding we began to film. We are filming at night to enhance the nightmare genre. We are uploading the footage we have so far today and then we are going to decide what else we need to film.

I did my ELP test today for advantage, i passed with 82%, it was mainly common knowledge i thought!

xxx

Love it!
Michelle

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Here I have the stills that have influenced my storyboards. I like them firstly because they are replicable but they are also quite dark and show typically film noir charateristics; alot of people sneaking around in the dark, hints of violence and danger. The shots from this link correspond to the ones on my storyboard. I decided to take the influence from real films instead of making up shots from nothing as shots from films would never have been used if they were not going to be successful and they are the best way of portaiting somthing about the characters. For example the last shot which is at a low empowers the character Bruce Willis is playing. I thought that it would be a good idea to have an establishing shot of the town/city as this introduces the audience to the surroundings. It was intended to show the audience the setting is of a run down town/city so they know this isn’t going to be a failry tale story. This idea is slightly post-modern as I am trying to give the impression that this is very ‘real’ in an unreal place with a slightly abstract story line. What happens is a the opposite of a fairy tale which is fairly unreal but my story is a long way from a fairy tale but that doesn’t nessecarily make it real.

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This is the story board my trailer will be based upon. On each scene is the film from which i got the idea from, however on the 5th scene I used an idea from Sin City not The Man Who Wasnt There. Also on each scene written underneath is the camera novement that will go with it.
The only part i cannot write down on the story board is the editing between the scenes, I imagine that i will use fade to blacks between most if not all of the them, however i will have to see what looks best when i get down to the editing.

It’s all about “rapid” these days….

i kind of feel like i’m shooting myself in the foot here, but the next wave fest and fall lineup at bam looks to be truly stellar.  now’s the time i curse myself for still not having shelled out for the membership because tickets are likely to go quickly, and with this first possibly already gone.  all photos courtesy of bam.

first up:  the beautiful french actress juliette binoche in in-i, a new endeavor for the actress–dance performance.  this got very mixed reviews from what i’ve read so far in:re the british production which similarly ran in conjunction with a retrospective of her film career.  i’m still toying with the idea and kicking myself for not catching the screening of rendezvous after which she had a scheduled talk–she’s great:  vulnerable, emotional, intimate, honest, funny, candid.  i know little of avram khan but he’s supposed to be very talented, the set lit in “rothko-like” hues, and binoche is stretching her wings doing precisely the kind of emotive work for which she has come to be known.  she’s one of those actresses–actually all three in this piece are–that i will compulsively watch in whatever they put out there just because they’re interesting, unique, and tend to do intelligent, provocative, subtle/extreme roles that are hardly the norm for american female roles.  clock’s ticking but i may just break down and commit impulsively, as i’m wont to do.  aside from the english patient, which is about the best cure for insomnia i know, juliette binoche can do no wrong in my book.

this one’s the definite:  a streetcar in desire, production by no less than the brilliant liv ullmann, one of ingmar bergman’s “muses” and an absolutely amazing and visionary actress & director in her own right–just watch scenes from a marriage or faithless and you’ll see what i mean.  but the real draw for me is the aussie chameleon herself, cate blanchett.  see i saw her in the first elizabeth with that amazing voice and body language and elegant face, she has been one of my favorites to watch on the big screen.  i love that she’s taking on the kind of pitiful, vain, selfish, aging blanche.  she’s another i can’t take my eyes off , regardless of the film as a whole, and i have no doubt her name will pack the theater at both bam and at the kennedy center this fall.

last, and sadly, the least likely to pack the theater of the three, isabell huppert in quartett, a german (?) retelling of choderlos de laclos’ les liaisons dangereuses.  she had no film up at cannes this year and so acted as president of the film festival, no small shakes.  her film career is daunting, she’s one countless awards, done some films i’ve virulently loved (and hated, because those are the kinds of roles she devours):  madame bovary, amateur, the piano teacher, 8 women, the time of the wolf, my mother, i heart huckabees, ….the list goes on and on.  i think she’s done around a hundred films, plus tv and theater, this woman cannot not work, and her work is always extremely mannered, nuanced, explorative, and often transgressive.  she seems to be one of those people who calculatedly and systematically attacks that which frightens her, unwilling to accept her boundaries as a human being, constantly pushing against the walls, endlessly fascinating and meaty to watch.  she’s kind of a cult fave and i hope that serves to pack the house.

so, some of the best volunteering–or, at least most fun–i did last year was for nycares day which is an annual event here in the city in which you go out and slap a couple of fresh coats on some badly needed walls of local p.s. around the city.  (jesus christ, what the hell is my neighbor listening to?  it’s bad enough he always slams his door, is rude and looks startled the couple of times i’ve tried to talk to him, but the music…ugh.  he is the worst of the worst.)  anyway, so i got in from dancing with my friend rose at 4 and had to be there at 8 and walked in to a room full of 20 something hipsters, aging sorority girls, socialites and a few stray boyfriends, all gathered up in the cafetorium all waiting patiently and sleepily to be split into various candy groups with different tasks–I was red, candy lips, which entailed liberating the god-awful lunchroom from the putrid yellow and sad-sack fruits and veg slapped limply on the walls.  The chosen few get to paint in the murals once they’re setup by the pros and the day goes by quickly, and it isn’t a daycare setup in which you have to dodge snotty kiddos toted along by mom.  Mostly, we just sauntered around the room, with music courtesy of one of the kool kats in the skinny  jeans,vans and side-turned 80s hat.  Really, if all volunteering was done by this next generation, a bit creative and featured a dope soundtrack people might get off their asses and help more.  Ready, go.

CHeck out the details and register on the nycares website.  It will fill up, too, so if you want to be a part of it–and you don’t have to do the fundraising bit, you can just paint–sign up now.

Some boards from a cool lil’ side project I’ve been working on:

Hello everyone. Sorry for the lack of updates! We’ve only recently really started to plan things. Today, infact, was a milestone! I got to try on dresses for the first time with Nate’s Mom and Erin (wish my Mom could have been there!) and I have found the one. I didn’t think it would happen that fast but, I am in love with it and it’s actually discontinued so I have to go ahead and buy it soon in order to make sure it becomes mine!

Nate and I flew to Florida on the 10th of this month to visit my parents and to check out the church/find the reception site. I’m happy to say that we definitely found the perfect place for the reception- a very old and beautiful hotel in my hometown. I have driven by it tons of times through out my life and my Mom says that I’ve been in it before, but I have no memory of it. I didn’t take pictures while we were in there- I’m so mad at myself!- but lucky for me a few other people on the internet have. There isn’t a good picture of the reception ball room but, you can get the feel from these. The bottom picture is the door to our reception room.

Love, love, love. Not to mention, my Dad used to play music there so that is something nice for me. I have pictures of the church that I might upload later- and if anyone has any ideas on how to decorate the ends of chairs without arms- let me know. My church doesn’t have pews, it has connecting chairs.

My ideas have changed a little on theme and style. Here are some of the things I’ve saved online recently:

I will be uploading pictures from our trip to Florida to Flickr & Facebook so be on the look out for those! Be sure to give me any feedback you might like to leave. Now.. to work on getting out the Save The Dates!

i mentioned, back in January, a photo shoot i did with Selena Gomez for Borden milk. the campaign launched recently and i just received some of the final artwork.

Local, Fresh, Delecious

Agency: Marchman Associates

Creative: Sam Ditore, Scott Mayo, Kevin Shivers & Taryn Owen

the creative is a derivative of the TV concept & i think it all turned out brilliantly. Kevin did an amazing job of creating a universe that blends urban youthfulness with the pastoral freshness that has been a staple of the Borden brand for decades; props to you my friend. and, i’m quite happy with the way Taryn was able to marry the photography with the world Kevin created.

if they ever put the TV spots online, I’ll make sure to post a link. i think the TV creative was next level cool.

i shot alongside the commercial production & would get to spend time with Selena in little burst between their setups. it was definitely a challenging way to work because just about the time she and I would find our rhythm, they would take her off my set & into the sound stage. but, this way of working did afford me the opportunity to shoot lots of production stills, which i love doing.

here are a few of those:

Salena rocks out to Forever The Sickest Kids.

(clockwise from top left) PM, Andi Budman & her coffee, Kevin, Sam & the storyboards, production meeting

the spots were shot on the Red One; the final spot has a mix of virtual & physical set pieces.

the initial concept sketch and the lighting scheme used to bring it to life; definitely my favorite shot in the spot.

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I’ve showed you the old boards in class before, but I’ve included them in this pdf

Smilefaucet project for Christina’s class.  I’ll also use it for as a project for this class too.

I’m back, and ready to dive in with you and bring you up to date on this new project/piece/film/thing that i’ve been working on.  To give you a little context about the piece as a greater whole:

I’ve been working with my company, the A.O. Movement Collective, since the beginning of September on a new piece.  Through Dance Theater Workshop’s Van Lier Fellowship, i was awarded 100 hours of free rehearsal space at Topaz Arts in Queens (an awesome studio, if i may say so) which we’re just finishing up this month. We’ve been through a lot already – cast additions and subtractions (and additions and subtractions), improvising, brainstorming, making, editing, throwing out, remaking, renewing – the works. The piece in itself (and i’m going to talk about it broadly here, but you can find more on my blog) is comprised of many small sections (“spots of time”) that will eventually all be connected by a non-linear narrative.  Rather than working on a section at a time (which, we see very clearly now, would have been much easier to schedule and more economically viable) we’re making all of them at once, inch by inch and layer by layer.  Working on them in this way means that they all continue to inform the others and continue to grow.  I’ll be talking more about that process, and other Epic Work at my program at Chez Bushwick this Wed. night at 7 (come!!!) but that’s clear enough for now. All of this is to say: there are many sections (“13 variations on a car crash”, “Muerte Chiquita“, “fat fingers”, “Rock Solo”, “Slow lift evolving”, “eyes closed”, “gun to face”, etc) and this one is called “Glass Tree in Harlem”.

At first, we weren’t sure whether we wanted to be making a piece for the stage, or for film.  I’ve done both, loved both, and at this point, really feel like (especially for this piece) i’m not ready to let go of either. So, we decided that we’d make the film version first (which i’m hoping will be feature-length when all’s said and done) and at the same time be thinking/making about how it would work on stage, and then present it on one (we’ve applied for the Joyce SoHo 2010 season – fingers crossed!).  There are three main reasons for this:

1. it’s EPIC. and that’s what i’m interested in right now.
2. (as i’ll talk about on wed) I believe making a work bigger and utilizing it more to be an extremely effective way of working in this economy.  By committing to two visions of this piece (film and then stage) we are giving ourselves more time (i plan on working on this piece through 2010) and focus.  By presenting it in two mediums, we are also able to afford that focus, as we’re exporting two different marketable and revenue-generating entities.  Additionally, because we are filming the film one “spot” at a time, we’re hoping to release each one (as an event, online, and perhaps to purchase) as we finish them, making serials leading up to the “big release”.  This not only generates more opportunities to market the piece, but also generates an audience that will become more and more intimately attached to the piece as it grows.
3. the dialogue that is going to happen between the film and the performance version of the piece will be interesting, and will push me as a choreographer.  How do i take something that is beautifully real on film (such as the ability to go into slow motion, or edit, or change locations) and make it come to life on the stage? For the film versions, i am adamantly refusing to “set myself up” for the stage version (quite the opposite – the films utilize slow motion, reverse motion, etc).  “How will she get out of this one?” the audience wonders.  The choreographer wonders too.

So. Now that we’ve established all of that. The film.

Sketches for "Glass Tree in Harlem"

The first film that we’re going to shoot is (for now) titled “Glass Tree in Harlem”.  If you’ve ever come into the city on the Metro North (as i did quite often in my 4 years at Sarah Lawrence) you see a tree just after you cross the bridge that’s COVERED with plastic bags.  They’ve accumulated quite a bit over the years, and I always thought it was a beautiful and fitting welcome to the city to see something composed of such trash and lack of care be so nonchalant and stunning. So that’s how the piece started.

I’ve always had a fascination with “the aesthetics of mess”, particularly with large amounts of simple white objects.  At Sarah Lawrence, i did two films, Eggshells and Flour, and then also made a piece featuring large amounts of white envelopes.  I’ve always wanted to make work for Julia (she was a year above me at SLC), and for some reason when she asked to work with me, the tree stuck out in my head.

Since then, it’s developed quite a bit.  After a few rehearsals playing with bags (what are the different ways to throw them? how can we dive under? what sounds do they make? etc) we came up with a structure for her solo.  The average throw of a plastic bag through the air last somewhere between two and four seconds – I was intrigued by the idea of making a solo that used the bags as a time-keeping device.  Going on this idea, we decided to make a bunch of short phrases (twenty to start) each no longer than a toss of the bag.  Some phrases interacted with the bags and they floated down, some just used the bags for timing. We’re now up to forty something phrases, and probably have a few more in us before we’re done.

Now, the concept. I have it all planned out in my head, and am in the process of story-boarding. Here’s the quick and dirty: every phrase will start from the moment the bag leaves julia’s hand, and end the second it touches the floor. So you never see the throw.  The first part of the film is a string of these phrases, one after the next after the next.  The shots are varied, but generally the camera is pretty stationary. About midway through the piece, Julia finally gets a full throw, in beautiful slow motion that decelerates as she throws it, finally showing it at the tips of her fingers, and then accelerates into space, then catches back into slow motion. We then get a few more phrases, and a lovely ending shot of her looking straight into the camera as bags (hundreds…okay…a lot) fall around her. That’s the really simple version anyway.  I hesitate to describe it too much, because there’s a side project i’m working on (which perhaps i’ll talk about next week) and no one’s supposed to know my version of the piece.  But i don’t think they read this blog, so it’s okay.  And if they do, and are reading this right now, then how do they know i’m not tricking them.  So there.

Anyway.
I’m being long about it (as always) but i wanted to give you the general overview of the project and the first film so that you can delight with me as it comes to life.  As always, questions and comments welcome.  I’ll keep you undated as i go. And come see my program at CB!

lovealways,

Sarah A.O.

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Michelle