Digital Portrait
My interpretation of Digital Portrait was heavily inspired by Wayne Mcgregor's work. His work is undeniably remarkable; he has choreographed for national ballet, various musicals, films and music artists.
"For me, choreography is the process of physical thinking. It's very much in mind and as well as in body." Mcgregor thinks with his 'body' so I want to interpret his portrait through the focus of the dancer; it could be implied that his work are a reflection of Mcgregor.
(2017)
The reason why I chose the colour pallette to be monochrome, because I felt that it's more elegant, and I think it fits the dancer. I chose to focus the dancer as the digital portrait of Mcgregor, because the choreography portrays and celebrates Mcgregor's work even though it's only based in one performance. Although he emphasises colour as one of his main inspirations through his work; Mcgregor states about the creation of Outlier (2010) " I am fascinated by that Bauhaus art period and by abstract minimalist painters like Josef Albers and Barnett Newman. The visual context for the piece has been greatly informed by the minimalist's notion of simplicity and colour theory" however I am doing the opposite of what he believes in. But I want to develop the thinking of monochrome is colourful in my own take. It can be argued that, Wayne Mcgregor collaborated with Max Richter for Infra (2008), where Richter LED installation work accompanied the dancers as they move through the stage; as solos, duets and ensemble. The work was in monochrome to showcase the concept of emotional grief. I based my animation on Chroma(2006). The choreography is more subtle yet also powerful and good camera work so that I can easily track the main dancer. In the animation, I have at least five different drawing styles, the lines are more define in the first few frames and as the animation progresses, the lines gradually thickens to emphasise the msucle movements of the dancer. Another reason is, the drawing style is influenced by the suddent fast pace music used in Chroma (2006). The drawing style in the first five frames is slightly detailed, especially I drew the face in more detail and also the pen size is smaller hence the lines are more thin. To give it more definition I drew over the lines. The focus of body movements in Chroma(2006) is very graceful eventhough it may seem not the typical basic ballet choreograph that one is familiar with. The relationship between the bodies is the concept I want to develop further. Likewise Mcgregor's emphasis as body as mind. In the world of dance, dance is a form of communication, speaking through the use of body movements and it is a form of art. The music I use for the animation is is Infra (2008) by Max Richter and The Hardest button to button (2003) by The White Stripes for Chroma(2006). The reason why I chose these two soundtracks because I want to draw contrast between the fast paced music in Chroma against the slow paced music in Infra. In reflection with my animation; as it starts really fast, tension builds up and then it moves super slow towards the end to show that the animation is ending