FOUR DANCE FILMS by Claire Marshall

FOUR DANCE FILMS
by
Claire Marshall

SPLAT
SHIFT
VOID
LOVE SONG

And the premiere of the music video
LOVE BLIND LOVE
by Tycho Brahe
(inspired by Claire’s film LOVE SONG)

The four dance films were created by Claire Marshall as a part of her Master of Fine Arts (Dance) at the Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne where Claire investigated alternative methods of dance filmmaking and story structures, manipulated by location, cinematography, and editing.

Address: New Farm Cinemas (Purple room)

701 Brunswick St, New Farm QLD 4005

Duration: 90 minutes

SPLAT

Dancer: Amelia Le-Bherz

2:30 minutes
2019

SPLAT is a quirky short screendance experiment whereby the action of falling or ‘splatting’ to the ground is executed as a constant in every take to establish a controlled singular motif for analysis. When cut together as a montage, using different locations, and proximities of the body to the camera, this repeated action was then considered in relation to meaning making and narrative. Investigating metaphors associated with falling, suggested meanings of exhaustion, defeat and powerlessness became reinforced by repetition.

SHIFT

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/376367674

Dancers: Lucy Hood and Richard Causer

Cinematographer: Kevin Holloway

32:20 minutes

2019

SHIFT commences with a duet that depicts a story of a discordant couple. The story repeats four times in different locations, acting to highlight and reinforce the predicament of the dancer and create an overarching sense of atmosphere and defamiliarization. Rather than impose an idea on a specific location scouted to suit a story, as an experimental film, SHIFT was filmed in numerous locations, and allowed the sense of ‘story’ to evolve in the edit.

VOID

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/492863659

Dancer and Vocalist: Erin O’Rourke

Cinematographer: Saroj Kumar Chauhan

15:00 minutes

2020

Winding upwards, gazing downwards, slinking, sinking, vaulting, halting, a solitary figure, dancer Erin O'Rourke journeys through an old labyrinthine staircase as a metaphor of her psyche. Moments of déjà vu and multiple selves emerge in a dance film that conjures ideas of psychological entrapment of women. VOID was a reciprocal response to Shift by exploring one dancer in a solitary location and creating a cinematic world through responding to the architecture.  As such, the stairs became a signifier of a journey, the closed stairwell presented the idea of entrapment, and the repetition in the architecture provided the impetus for multiple selves.

LOVE SONG

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/597281640

Dancers: Richard Causer and Anthony Trojman

Cinematographer: Saroj Kumar Chauhan

Score: Tycho Sound Design

16:30 minutes

2021

LOVE SONG is a dance film that explores a story of a relationship in constant flux, where deception and emotional manipulation unfolds. The story of LOVE SONG evolved in rehearsals, developed in collaboration with the dancers Richard Causer and Anthony Trojman. LOVE SONG situates two stories in a parallel structure, showing aspects of the two stories simultaneously establishes conflict and shifts perceptions of the dancers and story.

LOVE BLIND LOVE (Music Video by Tycho Brahe)

Dancer in image: Sarah Problem-Hoe
Composition: Ken Evans and Georgina Emery of Tycho Brahe
Dancers: Richard Causer and Anthony Trojman
3:30 minutes
2022