Tutorial With Leonie

Last week I had a tutorial with Leonie and we discussed how my film should look. We decided that at the beginning of the film, the drawing style should be very stiff and rigid due to the ballet shoes being new and not broken in. As the film progresses, the drawing style should become softer and loose as the shoes will become more flexible and the dancer progresses. At the end, the shoes will be perfectly broken in although worn out and close to falling apart. This will be where everything for the ballerina has fallen into place and she is dancing her best. At this point colour will come into the film and the animation will be very free. The film will end with the shoes being thrown away but I have to work out a way for the whole film to flow together.

  I have been sketching how the shoes should progress and will keep going until i find a style I think is apt. Here are some drawings I have done so far for my research.

Materials Test

I have taken the pirouette animation that I created and traced over it in multiple materials such as pen and charcoal to see what they look like when animated with.

Chosen Idea

After showing my ideas to my tutors, i was encouraged to follow my idea about the life of a pointe shoe as its a great metaphor for the life of a ballerina due to the fact that dance takes its toll on a ballerinas body the same way it does to their shoes. The more they are worked, the more they wear out.
   I have so far produced a short animation of a ballet shoe pirouetting as way to explore how i want my final film to look. I took reference from the film Black Swan (2010)

I will now be spending my time sketching and researching ballet animations and videos.

Ideas

A list of my ideas so far;

1)
An animation based on how it feels to dance. An idea that came to me because of the film Billy Elliot. At one part of the film he is asked why he likes to dance and he replies that he gets a great feeling like electricity from doing it.
 It would be an abstract animation, created in pastel colours and with chalk, pastels.

2)
A narrative story about a young girl who is inspired to dance because of her granmother. A montage shows her growing up and learning to dance and becoming amazing at it. Her granmother dies and she becomes depressed but decides to dance anyway due to how much it reminds her of her granmother. Would have no talking just music.

A few sketches for ideas of the young girl and ballet shoes.

 

 3) A film about the process of ballerinas and their pointe shoes, the shoes that enable them to stand on the tips of their toes.
The life of a pointe shoe involves being made, and then being unmade much like a ballet dancer as injuries and dancing in pointes take their toll on a dancers body. A pointe shoe is a great metaphor for a dancer due to this.

Photo references taken from the film Black Swan (2010) of what a ballerina does to her shoes to prepare them

Research

So far for research I have watched various films, videos and performances based on ballet;

Films

• Black Swan (2010)
• The Red Shoes (1948) 

 


 (a dance scene from The Red Shoes)

• Phantom of the Opera (2004)
• Fantasia (1940)

Performances

• Phantom of the Opera 25th Anniversary performance at the Albert Hall

Videos From Youtube

• The (Un)making of a Pointe Shoe. About how a Pointe shoe is created, altered by a ballerina, danced in and then thrown away.

 

• Elles by Joanna Quinn

•  Four Swans (a scene from Swan Lake) 

• Center Stage- A scene from the movie showing ballerinas preparing their shoes and feet.

I have also been researching various depictions of ballet mainly from a ballet blog where videos and images are posted.  http://theballetblog.tumblr.com/page/3

Beginning

For my final film I have decided to base it on Ballet mainly because its one of my main interests so I already have previous knowledge about it and wont become bored with it as it is something which I am passionate about.

starting with a spider diagram I wrote down things connected with ballet. Due to it being written in an A3 sketch book I wasnt able to scan it properly and so will write them down in bullet points here for reference.

1) Body of a ballerina (based on what a company looks for in a ballerina)

• Thin bodies
• Flexible
• Muscular
• short torso's
• long legs with the thigh and calf being the same width
• Long necks

 
2) Practice work

• Barre work
• Floor work
• Pointe work 

3) Shoes

• Pointe shoes-ripped apart and used for 1-6 weeks in some cases, usually 4 pairs on the go at a time
• Demi-Pointe
• Soft leather shoes
• ribbons
• Character Shoes

4) Injuries

• Some ballerinas keep working even with injuries due to having a part in a performance which they want to keep. Its hugely competitive
• foot problems from pointe shoes include bunions, callouses, blisters, cracked nails, lost nailes, broken nails, bruised nails and bruising to the foot in general.

5) Practice Clothes

• Character Skirt/shoes
• Leotard
• Legwarmers
• Tights
• Jumper
• Socks
• Skirts

6) Famous Ballets

• Nutcracker
• Swan Lake
• Giselle
• Sleeping Beauty

7) Styles

• Character Dance
• Free movent
• Classical  

8) Music

• Piano
• Trakovsky
• Mostly Classical music
• Music from Swan Lake is possibly the most well known

9) Anna Pavlova, most famous and loved ballerina of all time. Made the pointe shoe what it is today

10) costumes

• Classical tutut, short
• Romantic tutu, long
• tutus are made with layers of netting and a wide range of fabrics that are then put on top such as satin or silk

Having made a list of themes I will now come with an idea which takes on board what i have researched so far.