Precarious SF

For its tenth anniversary season, Hope Mohr Dance responds to the current gentrification problem in the Bay Area with Precarious. A series, it began as a site specific work. It then re-framed and continued in a similar generative process, showing at CounterPulse with a walking tour and Mohr's signature intense and tactile thematic exploration. Check out this highlight edit!

Choreography: Hope Mohr in collaboration with performers

Sound Design: Theodore J.H. Hulsker

Lighting Design: Gabe Maxson

Video Design: David Szlasa

Costume Design: Tegan Schwab

 

Alonzo King: Blurring the "Lines" with Dance

Here's an example of how we can create an inspirational promotional film utilizing new and existing footage to motivate donors/potential donors. This was shown at Alonzo King LINES Ballet's annual Gala event and then was repurposed to live on the fundraising/donation section of their website:

LRP loves LINES!

Footage courtesy of:

Frank Thibault

Rapt Productions

Loren Robertson Productions/Jenny Chu

Andy Mogg/Dancing Images

BNP Foundation

Music by Jason Moran and Charles Lloyd; Scott Holmes

Tell Your Story with Lauren Marie Fleming

Our awesome client, Lauren Marie Fleming is a writer, educator, and the creator of Bawdy Love, a life-changing program in book form. Her book helps others articulate the stories of their own lives and the stories they want told, which frees them up to live those lives. As well as a book, Bawdy Love is an entire support program with access to a rich community of others who have more support on offer. The result? Positive and healthy living. Can't go wrong there, right?

video: Loren Robertson Productions

music: Gayle Skidmore

Dancing and Perceiving with Cunningham and Curtis

Leading UK disabled artist Claire Cunningham and international choreographer and performer Jess Curtis' "The Way You Look (At Me) Tonight" grapples with questions of how we perceive each other and the world around us. With dancing, singing, story telling, music, and video, this work is a living, philosophical and sensorial audience-engaged experience. Performed at CounterPulse. Here's an example of how we used a full show 2-camera edit to make both a quick sizzle reel and also a more in depth 5min. highlight edit for promotional and portfolio purposes:

Philosophical consultation by Alva Noe

Video by Yoann Trellu

Music by Mathias Herrmann

Texts by Claire Cunningham, Jess Curtis, and Alva Noe

No Dominion: The Ian Horvath Story

Loren had the pleasure to work with her beloved colleague Nel Shelby on a new film about the celebrated dancer, AIDS activist and arts advocate Ian Horvath. Check out this trailer she edited! To contribute to the fundraising campaign to fully produce this inspiring documentary, click here.

Cinematographers: Nel Shelby, Loren Robertson, Christopher Duggan

Faith Material Activism

FAITH MATERIAL: ACTIVISM performed at CounterPulse, is a body- and object-bed performance about the urgent importance of believing in things that cannot be proven. The work utilizes physical practices of mediumship, ontological re-animation of objects, and full expression of faith to present a number of intimate domestic scenes of queer solitude-turned-futurism. Jesse Hewit's work is clearly influenced by Haraway’s “new materialism” politics, by the queer re-imagining/survival project of Pee Wee’s Playhouse, and by the creative faith-practices of artist/priest Amara Tabor-­Smith, poet/theologian Marvin K. White, and artist/healer Sara Shelton Mann.

Concept, Choreography, Text, Scenography, Performance: Jesse Hewit

Choreography, Text, Performance: Keyon Gaskin

Choreography, Text: Abby Crain

Light: Zoe Klein

Sound: Robbie Beahrs

Cameras: Jacob Marks, Rachel Marks

REVEL with Rainforest Action Network

ach year LRP has the privilege of documenting Rainforest Action Network's (RAN) event, REVEL. Here's a highlight video of this stellar organization's annual celebration of their successes, its show of gratitude to their community, and a reach for more and continued support in their work across the globe. We need RAN now more than ever!

Music: Afrolicious

Click here to see a good example of how to utilize a highlight/promo video in your organization's website.

 

Summer with Alonzo King LINES Ballet

We're excited about this promo video we crafted for the Alonzo King LINES Ballet summer program. This top notch training program not only offers students the opportunity to study and perform with master teachers and choreographers, but it also asks the pupil to explore oneself, body, mind, and spirit and honors every person's unique individuality. Watch these young dancers meet themselves, then take off and fly.

summer.lines.ballet.org

Videography: Jenny Chu

Summer Program performance footage courtesy of Andy Mogg/Dancing Images

Music by SilverHoof; Mozart played by Gianluca Luisi; Roman Razuvaev

LRP clients shining a light through 2016

Each year we make a video of the year in review. Here's a collage of the luminous, forthright, and expertly crafted performance we had the privilege to document in 2016. Have a watch; you'll feel so proud of your fellow artists! And get in our calendar for 2017. The world needs your diverse voices and perspectives. Happy New Year!

Cameras by: Jenny Chu, Laura Lukitsch, Jacob Marks, Rachel Marks, Loren R. Robertson

LRP recommends Two Camera Shoots!

In case you are tempted to spring for a 2 camera full show edit for your next event, take a look at this video LRP recently made of Christy Funsch Dance Experience's show "Le Grande Spectacle de l'effort et de l'artifice" at ODC. Angles, close ups, wide view, intimate, and yet captures all the action! The works!! https://vimeo.com/193560949

Choreography and Direction: Christy Funsch, Daniel Nagrin
Collaborative Performers: Arletta Anderson, Christy Funsch, Chinchin Hsu, Courtney Moreno, Karla Quintero, Nol Simonse, with Yvette Niccols and Desiree Rogers
Music: Daniel Steffey, Ryan Ross Smith, Ryan Page, Nick Wang, Arvo Part
Lighting and Visual Design: Delayne Medoff
Costumes: Christy Funsch
Cameras: Jacob Marks & Rachel Marks

An Annual Appeal for CounterPulse

  CounterPulse, who opened their doors in the Tenderloin this year, are positioned to help keep artists in SF and to support the revitalization of their new neighborhood by providing a platform for artists to speak their minds without barriers. Check out their 2016 Annual Appeal video that Loren edited, and send some love their way!

Cameras: Jenny Chu, Jacob Marks, Rachel Marks, Loren R. Robertson

Photography by Robbie Sweeny and Kegan Marling

Music by J.L. Kane

Bridging Trisha

Here's a promo we shot and cut for Hope Mohr's 2016 Bridge Project: Ten Artists Respond to Locus, which runs this month, October 14 & 15 at YBCA. The project brings together Diane Madden, 10 Bay Area post-modern artists of varied disciplines, and a very seminal work of the very influential Trisha Brown. Have a look and get your tickets!

And here's a highlight of the show itself:

Do Be? Yes Please!

Do Be will keep you on your toes, replete with lamp shades, balloons, migrating musicians, wardrobes that house people, and of course their phenomenal dancing and exceptional musicianship! Watch this highlight edit LRP made of the equally talented collection of artists from post:ballet and The Living Earth Show.

Choreography: Robert Dekkers with contributions from the dancers

Music curation and performance: Travis Andrews & Andy Meyerson

Costume and Scenic Design: Christian Squires

Lighting Design: Jim French Commissioned Score: Jacob Cooper

Camera: Jacob Marks

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