2020 kicked off with a production for Ballet Black, who wanted some promo films for two up coming world premieres.
We had one day to film material for both promos at their rehearsal space. We knew this would be a challenge as we wanted give the ballets their own individual look, tricky, as the space had cream walls and we didn’t yet have the costumes. Both Ballets were still in rehearsal, ‘The Waiting Game’ still in development, so we went through each and pulled out sections we thought might work well for a short promo.
‘Then Or Now’ choreographed by Will Tucket, features lyrical classical ballet and poetry from Adrienne Rich, so stylistically we went for a softer, more flowing look, using our steadicam to keep things light and etherial.
‘The Waiting Game’ choreographed by Mthuthuzeli November is a sometimes dark and energetic work about the meaning of life which demanded a harder look and more dynamic edit, we shot into the mirror to add depth to the studio.
Technical
We shot on canon C300 mark 1 and 2, with a selection of L series and Samyang cine lenses. Each take, we ran both cameras, the mark 2 mostly on steadicam, the mark 1 on sticks. As we were only two camera crew, I had to pull focus while operating the steadicam, while Samara handled the wide shots, this combination worked well. We mounted our Tilta follow focus thumb controller on the steadicam gimbal handle and as we were working mostly between 20mm and 35mm at T2.8, focus was quite easy to achieve. The steadicam has a TV logic F-7 ultra bright monitor which makes focus confirmation a breeze. For more steadicam technical info scroll down to ‘STEADICAM FOR YOUR PRODUCTION - WE GOT THIS!’
For lighting we used an Arri 575 HMI and Stella 5000 for back and side lights and a Diva 400 and a couple of LED panel lights for fill, everything balanced for daylight.
We edited in FCPX, employing the TV Logic XVM-175W for colour finishing.
Thanks to:
Samara Addai https://www.samaraaddai.com for great second camera and lighting assistance.
Kelly Quintine for your help, advice and calm vibes.
Cassa Pancho, Ballet Blacks Artistic Director, for the opportunity.
The Ballet Black dancers for their incredible work ethic and patience.
See https://balletblack.co.uk for more Ballet Black news.