Video Tip: Why Vimeo?

Firstly, if you don't have a Vimeo account, we highly recommend it!

 

Why Vimeo is an essential tool for performing artists:
1. If your performance work includes music that you don't have the rights to, your work samples and videos will get kicked off of Youtube or if you upload it directly to Facebook. However, Vimeo has an excellent Fair Use policy in which this will not be an issue.
2. Clean interface without advertising - good for sharing links as portfolio or for grant applications
3. Downloadability of the video web file - good for sharing with editors and for when others need to upload the videoelsewhere (this is one less step than sharing through something like Dropbox or WeTransfer)


Secondly, if you have a Basic Vimeo account (aka the free version), you may have noticed some changes lately. The one-time upload limit has significantly increased (to the point where we can no longer upload our higher resolution HD webvideos). Additionally, that handy Download button (for viewers) is now only available to:

 

Vimeo Pro accounts
OR
Vimeo Plus accounts if the user that wants to download the file is logged into a Vimeo account themselves

 

We have been encouraging our clients to upgrade their Vimeo accounts (to at least Vimeo Plus) so we can upload all of their HD videos to their own accounts as well as for downloadability.

 

This is the nature of all of these online services - you get enough people dependent on the service, then you limit the free version and create paying subscribers. It's to be expected.
Thankfully for now the Vimeo Plus and Pro accounts have reasonable annual fees only.

 

That said, we offer to house any videos produced or edited by LRP on LRP's Vimeo account indefinitely, so if the annual fee is an issue, we've got you covered!
 

Private Life Variations

Deborah Slater's work Private Life Variations explores the inner-landscapes of veterans after returning home from duty. The stunning composition was featured in both the SF Dance Film Festival in 2015 and the Tiny Dance Film Festival in 2016. It's a quick watch, but the ruminant images will stay with you.

producer/choreographer: Deborah Slater

performers: Private Freeman, Derek Harris, Kerry Mehling, Andrew Merrell

music: Bruno Louchouarn

cinematography: Lindsay Gauthier

edit: Loren Robertson

 

Yolande Snaith's Mapping Play

Yolande Snaith's Mapping Games Part 2: SOMA/LUX is a sensual and idiosyncratic work, in which performers, musicians, and lighting respond to one another in a sort of sensory play. What we see is an exquisite world of improvisation. Take a few minutes to watch... and respond to its stimulus!

Concept, Direction, and Costumes: Yolande Snaith

Performers: Angel Acuña, Anne Gehman, Andromeda Bradley, Gina Bolles Sorensen, Kyle Sorensen, Kris Apple

Music: Kris Apple and Andromeda Bradley

Production Design: Victoria Petrovich

Lighting Design: Omar Ramos

VIDEO TIP: best export settings for your HD web videos

 

 If you create your own work samples or promotional edits utilizing professionally shot HD footage of your work, you'll want to make sure you compress the files so that you get the highest resolution possible for best quality viewing on the web! Here are some settings to follow (iMovie is used in this example, but the settings apply in any software):

 

1. in iMovie, go to Share> Export using QuickTime
2. in the Export box, choose "Movie to MPEG-4"
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3. Click "Options"
4. For File Format, choose "MP4" (not "MP4 (ISMA))
5. For Video Format, choose "H.264"
6. For Data Rate, enter 20,000 kbits/sec (keep Optimized for: Download)
7. For Image Size, choose "1920 x 1080 HD" (unless your source footage is 720p in which case choose "1280 x 720 HD")
8. For Frame Rate, choose "Current"
9. For Key Frame, choose Every 30 frames (enter "30")
It should look like this in iMovie:
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10. Click Video Options...Keep Restrict Profile to "Main" and check "Best quality (Mutli-pass)...Click OK
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11. Leave other Audio and Streaming settings as and Click OK. Your HD Web Video will begin being created. When it's complete, upload to the Web*!

 

There are other factors to ensuring highest quality, for example proper sequence settings in your editing software and proper import of the source footage and of course, acquiring the original HD footage from your videographer.

 

If all this makes your eyes glaze over or your heart race, you can always consider having a professional complete your video post-production needs. Feel free to reach out  for a quote - we'd be happy to help!

 

*Vimeo does have upload limits, but don't make your video files smaller or you will seriously compromise the quality. We recommend upgrading to Vimeo Plus or Pro if you are uploading regular content. We would also be happy to house any videos we edit for you on LRP's Vimeo account password protected, indefinitely.

Breath Catalogue

Breath. It is movement. It is sound. It is subject. It is character. Watch this short video on Breath Catalogue, a lovely and ruminant piece choreographed and performed by Megan Nicely and Kate Elswit at the Firehouse, Fort Mason Center for Arts and Culture in 2015.

Digital Interactions: Ben Gimpert

Music: Daniel Thomas Davis and Stephanie Griffin

Lighting Design: Allen Willner

Costumes: Megan Nicely

Cameras: Jenny Chu & Jacob Marks

Skywatchers: Community building with ABD Productions

Skywatchers is a community arts program conceived and directed by choreographer Anne Bluethenthal of ABD Productions, in which artist facilitators and Tenderloin residents co-create performance while discussing world events, forging relationships, and celebrating life. We are so grateful to have documented the Skywatchers events since its inception in 2011 and to produce this short documentary. Check it out, and get yourself on their contact list to be a part of this community!

Healthy Dancer Video Series

LRP produced these short, instructional, and adorable films conceived and directed by Kendall Alway, DPT of the ODC Healthy Dancers Clinic with Kimi Okada, the director of the ODC school. In three brief videos, the cuties from the ODC Dance Jam demonstrate some endlessly valuable tips to staying well. Take a few minutes out of your day... for your health!

Food + Rest = Energy

Expert exercises!

Top of your game alignment!

ODC/Dance highlights

In 2014, the LRP team captured ODC/Dance and collaborators' creation of a piece called Speaking Volumes, a site-specific dance on Alcatraz Island, as part of the Ai Weiwei exhibit @Large. Loren also captured and edited highlight videos for ODC's Invention of Wings and Dead Reckoning during their 2015 home season, Dance Downtown, at YBCA.

Watch and be reminded of this stalwart company's capacity for exquisite production and the dancers' ability to evoke humanity from the simplest to most full bodied movement!

Speaking Volumes (Alcatraz Island, part of Ai Weiwei exhibit - 2014):

Conceived and directed by Brenda Way in collaboration with KT Nelson, Kimi Okada, and RJ Muna.

Invention of Wings (Dance Downtown 2015):

Director: Brenda Way

Choreographers: Brenda Way & KT Nelson

Sound Score: Olafur Arnalds, Ben Frost, Ben Juodvalkis

Visuals: Ian Winters, RJ Muna

Light + Scenic Design: Matthew Antaky

Dead Reckoning (Dance Downtown 2015):

Choreography: KT Nelson

Commissioned Score + Cellist: Joan Jeanrenaud

Percussion: PC Munoz

Light + Scenic Design: Matthew Antaky

Costume Design + Production: Liz Brent

VIDF 2015

Loren had the privilege of joining the Nel Shelby Productions team once again at the Vail International Dance Festival this summer as editor and videographer.

Here are a few highlights that Loren edited (and helped document)...

Highlights from one of the shows "International Evening of Dance":

Bill Irwin!!! (remember Mr. Noodle on Sesame Street?!) with Memphis Jookers:

Interesting insight into Balanchine's "Apollo" with Heather Watts, former NYC Ballet principal dancer who worked with Balanchine:

What's the 211?

Both movement and performance in Ingrid Graham's dance film "211" are exacting and yet tender. In just a few short minutes, the choreography and imagery speak of such human themes as duality, relationship, and struggle with some lovely dancing to boot! See for yourself!

Director, Producer & Choreographer: Ingrid Graham

Dancers: Cassandra Naud & Gina Vidales

Cinematography & Editing: Loren Robertson Productions

Composer: Yaw Anoff

Music Production: Way Deep

Post:ballet's Sixth Season

New highlight video for Robert Dekker's Post Ballet! Their recent show "Six-Pack", presented at YBCA last month, was bursting with creative movement invention, captivating characterization, and wonderfully masterful dancing. We applaud these stellar artists!

https://vimeo.com/135388536

Music by Kodak to Graph

Dance for Every Child!

Longtime friend and colleague Nel Shelby of Nel Shelby Productions directed this new documentary: PS Dance, with Loren editing. It explores the holistic benefits of dance in the public school system, and it is bound to inspire, whether you are a dancer, educator, parent, or fellow human. Check it out on NYC's PBS Channel THIRTEEN and watch it streaming!

Produced and Directed by Nel Shelby

Photo credit: Christopher Duggan

Host: Paula Zahn

Consultant: Joan Finkelstein

Music Composition: Bob Novak & Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal

Funding: The Arnhold Foundation