I went another time to the Cent Quatre on Saturday with my friend who I filmed as a dance subject. The place was packed so it was tough to find a spot. With the available space, I chose 2 main angles and frames : my first frame has an industrial background, the metal centerpiece at the center of the building that they use to separate the main hall, shot mostly using a plunged angle. The second frame is in the second main hall, the outer part, with the beautiful industrial ceiling and a high contrast/contre-jour lighting. In general, I mostly used a plunged angle, a few straight ones and a lot of close up shots as I wanted to capture the movement of her body. We also did a variety of paces, from slo-mo shots to fast movements similar to Voguing (a modern dance style that is fast paced). I made sure that the architecture of the building was apparent in the videos and even went back to the exact spot where I had taken some of the pictures of the building the first time I went.

She prepared a few sequences and moves prior to coming on a song I’m going to use as audio during some parts ( Roma by Trinity Ezah ). I got inspired by this song from the Valentino campaign “Born in Roma” : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYbOTO2Tlrc. I’m also thinking of using it because it has a lot of levels: it has trap drums which is the primary musical base of today ( and at the 104 ) and has a very “epiphany”-like and spiritual melody that evokes life. Additionally, the lyrics also talk about the search of freedom.

I also asked her to do a lot of flowy big hand movements and gestures to emphasize movement and expression, in addition to shooting while moving. This means that as I was filming her I also moved my camera. My intention with that is to have a high contrast between the architectural stills with sounds of the past in opposition to the saturation of movement and urban expression with sounds of the present.

I asked her to wear her usual hip hop attire she uses to go to dance and rehearsals for a maximum of authenticity.

I also took a few more stills of the light installation at the African Art shop. I’m thinking of using them in composition and to create “the flickering” effect I see a lot in contemporary ad campaigns especially anything sports related.

Here are also a few more research references:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EMAst0liKE     Greed by Jade and Josh

Pictures I took from the Louis Vuitton Foundation.