I have collected costuming for most of my crew already. For Niya, I have chosen for him to wear a suit and black fedora hat. He will also be using a retro style microphone.
For the dream dancers, they will be wearing black leggings with black leotards and pin stripe waistcoats. They will have bear feet, their hair will be pulled back in a tight bun at the napes of their necks and they too will wear fedora hats. I also want to have them in contrasting black and white make-up. I have selected some examples that I will use as a guide.
And last but not least the costumes for Aaron and Kelly. Kelly is wearing a gold fringe dress and gold dance shoes. Aaron is wearing black trousers and a black shirt, smart and classy but simple too.
I chose a mostly black costume for the majority of the dancers etc because, apart from the Black and Gold section, the rest will be in black and white. Therefore, I needed costumes that would exaggerate this and produce bold and contrasting images. It also makes the gold seem more magical and brighter too.
I have chosen Niya Clement- Hickson as my lip-syncer as I know he can express himself well while singing, understands how to perform and song and has a strong presence on stage. I know that Sam Sparro is white, however, he is often mistaken for being black because his voice is so rich. Therefore, I have decided to chose a personality that would suit the song rather than focus on being specific in these details.
For my Black and Gold dancers, I have chosen Aaron Simmonds to be 'Black' and Kelly Martin to be 'Gold'. They are both amazing dancers, with Aaron being a professional ballroom dancer and Kelly being a very experienced and talented ballet dancer. Kelly is blonde, further developing the whole 'Gold' personna and Aaron has dark drown hair.
Finally, for my four dream dancers, I have chosen four girls who are excellent dancers. They are Lizzie Parker, Maddy Abbs, Laura Richards and Flora de la Mortiere (pictures in this order).
For my section 1, which is the lip sync section, I am going to film up at the Ogstoun Theatre. I have chosen this location because it gives me access to a full lighting rig, while also being a large, black space. There is currently a very big and grey set up but it still looks neutral and will be effective. With this section, I am going to film with my lip syncer in front of a black curtain, so that the colours are different to the other section (section 2).
Section 2, the dream dancers, is also in the Ogstoun Theatre, but this will be utilizing the full theatre space. I chose this one fro the lighting opportunities but also because it is a good and reliable space for the dancers to perform.
Section 3 is the Black and Gold dancers and that will be film in the upper level of The Services Center. The walls are plain and simple and I will be hanging black cloth on them and using an alpha pack and simple lighting. I chose this space as it is open and will be spacious enough for the dancers to perform while also being different from the other dance space.
Section 1- Black and White colour, male lip-syncer. Standing microphone, single spotlight, plain background.
Section 2- Black and white colour, four female dancers. Four blocks for dancing on, low level lighting, fedora hats, simple black costumes, black and white facepaint/make-up.
Section 3- Full colour image. Theme of Black and Gold, girl- gold, boy- black. Simple black backdrop with fairy-lights sewn in swirling patterns. Mood lighting.
I listened to the lyrics of the song to determine their different potential meanings. I discovered a lot of the words linked back to evolution but the I have chosen to follow the dream-like element of the song. In particular reference to the lines 'if you're not really here, then I don't wanna be either. I wanna be next to you'. I am going to tell the story of two opposites using a pair of dancers. The girl will be 'Gold' and the boy will be 'Black' and they will tell their story through their dance. It will be a representation of the theme 'opposites attract' with the dance showing their attraction and how they long to be together but they keep being split. It will show their struggle to stay together while also cross-cutting with another group of dancers, this time a group of four girls. They will be dressed in monochrome colours but have abstract face make-up as they are supposed to have a surreal and dreamlike quality. Their dance is going to be more contemporary with a main focus on their hands and twisting their bodies to look 'whispish' and fluid. Towards the end of the song, the two groups of dancers will merge with the group of four girls travelling to the edge of their original set and then cutting to them appearing on the dancing pair's set, as if they have travelled through. They will then proceed to split the two dancers up, with two girls taking 'Black' to one side and the other two girls taking 'Gold' to the other side, their arms reaching out to each other. The final image will be a split screen of their eyes opening. During the video, there will be a third scene with a boy lip syncing into an old fashioned free-standing microphone. There will be a profile spotting him but this scene and the scene with the four girls will be in black and white. This is to make the scene with the dancing pair that much more alluring and dreamy.
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