Dorrance Dance in Vail

Loren had the honor of shooting and editing dance on the team with Nel Shelby Productions at the Vail International Dance Festival once again this summer, and Dorrance Dance was one of her favorites!

Dorrance Dance honors the tradition of tap dance with compelling rhythms and modern themes. Their's is a new generation, playing with street, club, and experimental dance to change your ideas about tap dance. So amazing! Check them out...

Direction and Choreography by Michelle Dorrance

Lighting by Kathy Kaufmann

Solo Improvisation by the Dancers

Video Produced by Nel Shelby Productions

Video Tip: mobile phone videography pointers

for cleaner and more engaging social media content 1. Shoot landscape! Just do it. It looks more professional (because all professional HD films are 16:9 as well, plus Instagram excepts 16:9 now!).

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2. Notice your stance. Like yoga. The steadier the shot, the better. You can make a smoother video getting grounded with your feet hip-width (or wider) apart and knees slightly bent, belly in, the energy of your shoulders/arms/elbows moving toward the ground and a nice easy but firm grip on the phone with two hands. Shoot from your core instead of from your arms!
3. Avoid walking while shooting. At least try. If you want some movement of the frame try taking a wide stance with your feet and moving your center (not just your arms!) from left to right (or right to left) as if you yourself are a track or tripod for smooth camera movement.
4. Pick a good setting/background/lighting. It really counts. Try to avoid shooting into the sun (unless you are going for the backlit look of course). Instead, try shooting where the light naturally falls onto your subject with the least amount of shadows as possible, otherwise the camera will be doing that auto-exposure adjustment thing while you are shooting that immediately gives it a phone video look (what we are trying to minimize). Light your subjects if you can.
Outside almost always looks better than inside, so shoot outdoors (during the day) or near a studio window (with the natural light falling on the subject) when possible!
5. Utilize good focus. It can be really beautiful. Pulling your subjects AWAY from a solid background/wall (creating more depth between the subject and the surroundings) allows for the camera on your phone to utilize its depth of field function, which can be really nice. It helps if you move yourself/your camera as close the to your subject as possible. Then, to prevent the camera from auto-adjusting the focus and exposure, you need to lock focus on your subject. To lock focus, just tap and hold for a couple of seconds on the main subject until you see AE/AF LOCK in yellow. (to unlock the focus point, tap anywhere on the screen)
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5. Consider your audio situation. It matters. Most people forget or don't realize how effective audio is to video (just try watching any video or film that moves you and turning off the audio, it doesn't have the same hit does it?). If you're outside and it's windy, choose a more wind-protected spot. If you're in the studio, have folks be quiet if there is talking and maybe don't stand right next to the speaker. And as the camera person, be quiet and slow moving yourself.
 6. Invest in a little support. Bring it to the professional level. Put a few bucks toward the camera's support for even steadier, smoother phone videos. Here are a couple cost-effective gems:
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...for when you want a clean static-camera shot
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...for awesomely smooth camera movement. This one is more expensive, but it is THE BEST steadicam for small camera devices.
Check out the steadicam work with my GoPro using the steadicam smoothee when I took it to Ecuador on my DanceMotionUSA trip with CONTRA-TIEMPO (see the beginning of the film for GoPro/steadicam Smoothee action)
If you plan on crafting lots of performance video content for self-promotion on social media, this tool I highly recommend.
7. Frame creatively. Have fun with it. Here's a great example by my colleague Jessica over at Nel Shelby Productions from when we were working at the Vail International Dance Festival together. She took a break during our heavy work day, went hiking in the mountains and took this little dance improv video, framing it pointing up slightly toward the trees and showing just her upper body (wonderfully considering her background and lighting too!)
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Happy phone video making and posting!

 

Videos for Instagram

a step-by-step process for creating and uploading If you have high quality video of your work, why not use it to promote yourself?! Here's a technical guide on how to successfully utilize your video for promotion on Instagram using iMovie

Create your 60 second video for Instagram: You can make a basic excerpt from your video documentation to put on Instagram! Now Instagram allows up to 60 second long videos and 16:9 aspect ratio for your HD video (vs. 15 seconds with square 1:1 crop) 1. Open iMovie and and Create a New Project (choose Widescreen 16:9 for HD footage) 2. Import your HD video documentation files (File, Import, Movie) - this may take several minutes depending on how large your files are) 3. iMovie will create a New Event (the imported video) - rename the Event 4. Then choose 60 seconds (or less) of the video you want to upload to Instagram and drag it to your Project 5. You may want to add simple fades at the beginning and end of the video. Go to Window, Transitions to open the Transitions Tab - Choose Fade To Black and drag to beginning and end of the sequence in your Project Note: you can add multiple clips and try more in depth editing, this is meant for basic excerpts only

Export your 60 second video for Instagram: It's best to make a high quality web video to upload, preferably 1920 x 1080 Follow our steps for best web compression/export on our blog http://www.lorenrrobertson.com/2016/02/bestwebexport/

Transfer your video to your Mobile Device: You'll need to transfer the file to your mobile device in order to upload the video to Instagram and there are several options for this. For iPhone 5 and up users, you can use Apple AirDrop See Apple's specific instructions on sharing content from your computer to your mobile device Or Dropbox When exporting your video, save it to a folder on dropbox. If you have the Dropbox App on your phone, you can open to your 60 second video file and Save the Video to your photo gallery Or GoogleDrive When exporting your video, save it to a folder on GoogleDrive. If you have the GoogleDrive App on your phone, you can open to your 60 second video file and Save the Video to your photo gallery

Upload your 60 second video to Instagram: 1. Open Instagram App on your phone, tap on Camera Icon, navigate to your Gallery and tap your 60 second Video 2. Tap the Crop button on the bottom left to change to 16:9 (vs. the square framing) 3. Add a filter if you'd like and be sure to change the cover image to a nice clear still from the video 4. Then add your caption, hash/tags, location and SEND! (don't forget to tag your performers to credit them and also increase visibility of the video!)

While you're at it, follow us on Instagram too! @lorenrobertsonproductions

The Yoga of Sound

In Vak Song of Becoming, Ann Dyer employs mantra to cultivate performative, sonic, and embodied healing. With a handful of professional singers and a lion's share of amateurs, they plumb the depths of the ancient use of song to connect to one another and to humanity. Happy to finally be sharing this one and the simple power of our voices!

Conceived, written, directed by Anne Dyer

Co-composed by Anne Dyer and Tim Volpicella

Choreography: Erika Shuch

Camera: Eric Koziol & Nicole Fuentes

Agua Furiosa: an urgent and exquisite journey

In Agua Furiosa, CONTRA-TIEMPO uses Ana Maria Alvarez's unique urban-latin style of vocabulary and vibrant production elements to confront the crucial and exigent theme of race. Take a quick look at this Los Angeles based dance theater company's highlight video we shot and edited–the performing, imagery, and message will knock your socks off!

Choreography: Ana Maria Alvarez in collaboration with the company

Music: d. Sabela grimes & Pyeng Threadgill

Cameras: Loren Robertson & Tiffany Judkins

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!