Dancing on the beach

21/2/09
Filming: Skin Deep
Dance piece on the beach for inclusion in performance “Skin Deep” a dance, art and music collaboration performance to be shown at:
Riverfront Arts Centre, Newport 5/6/June 2009.

Location: Southerndown Beach.
Crew: Maria Hayes - Director/Writer
Bambo Soyinke - Assistant Director and production manager
Catherine - Documentary Photography
Paul Davies - Dancer
Sandra Rosado - Dancer
Keefa Chan - Cameraman
+ friend - Sound

The Shoot
The car park at Southerndown already had a few cars when we arrived at 10am. The weather was overcast with a sea mist and an icy wind blew through our coats. As we waited for the camera crew to join us the sun burned through the mist and the day unfolded into blue sky although the wind still kept its bite.
Cars were now steadily filling the car park and the occupants spilled out onto the beach to surf, kayak and walk dogs.
I didn’t expect to compete for the sea in February.
We carried the equipment as far down the beach as we could to avoid seeing the surfers in shot, and set up near the edge of the sea.
Although I had written a shooting schedule, I decided to rearrange sections to ensure the dancers were as warm as possible throughout the filming. We began with the duet as this was the most demanding section for the dancers and I wanted them to execute that while they were relatively warm to minimise the risk of injury.
The light was perfect and the duet looked magical on the monitor. I hadn’t made a film with a crew before, or the range of equipment available to us on this shoot. The use of a monitor was revealing and helped me to decide on how to set up shots, get what we needed out of them and enabled me to think clearly about how it would all go together in the editing suite.
The cameraman had a good eye and we kept the frames as still as possible to allow the movement of the sea and the dance to be the focus. Where we did pan in a shot it was minimal and slow.
Although we veered from the shooting schedule to allow for the cold weather conditions, I ticked off the scenes as we did them to keep track of where we were and this meant we worked efficiently. This became increasingly urgent as we raced against the encroaching tide. Sometimes we had to abandon shooting, pick up the equipment and run back for dry land.
We began shooting at 11am and completed by 3pm, just as we ran out of beach. It was perfect timing! We had to manage the day intensively to fit it all in, but everyone worked together in an effective team.
With so many people in the sea and a full beach we had to be vigilant to avoid getting anyone other than the dancers in shot, but towards the end of the shoot I asked the cameraman to film the remaining surfers in the sea. They were bobbing around in the surf and could have been seals or Selkies from the shore.
I was surprised at how natural directing felt to me and I how much I enjoyed it. In many ways it is a natural progression from my performance drawing and theatre work. I loved the process of preparing material – the storyboard and the shooting schedule where you create the film in your head, put it down in drawing and writing, and then seeing it unfold in the “flesh”. I was intrigued to see where my storyboard imagination met or parted from the filming reality.
As the film's director I had to say “Action” and “Cut” for the shots and now understand that convention. It literally frames the images. The act of directing is just another way of organising materials and ideas to communicate them to an audience. I found this particular way of working exhilarating and energizing in a different way to my drawing and painting practice. Engaging in the medium of time and being an integrated part of a team makes a difference, it felt supportive and inspiring. I hope to be able to work in this way again.
I am looking forward to the edit and, of course, viewing the completed film.

Maria Hayes
22/2/09