Concept: Create a solo taking into consideration costume, sound, and light for Graduate Composition with Daniel Roberts. Two prompts were given: 1) to consider the perspective of the video or videographer when designing pathways and 2) use small and large objects to place within the performance space while using the objects to create movement.

Methodology: Imagery came first: Apples and climbing a fence sideways in my backyard. The visual representation of three was somehow important. I then looked through things I had in my costume collection and chose this outfit that has always almost been in something and then wasn’t. I wrote down what I imagined in terms of camera shots, what was close, what was far, what was somewhere in the middle. I set the camera up and acted out as much as possible. Recreating movement and gestures in my mind and incorporating some in the moment. I re-did some that I thought were out of frame or could have been done better. While editing I brought everything in to FCPX and combed through it to find what my gut wanted.

Foundlings: A lot of what I imagined came to fruition but some parts I thought would be integral were deleted completely. The idea of flipping an image or using fast/choppy framework to change the movement was part of my initial plan, but phrase work moving backward came up when scrubbing through. I realized I love watching hair move backward through space. This was one of the first happy accidents. Other’s included the sound on the reversed, slow-motion jumping frames sounded intense and eerie amidst the music and fit nicely with the music. It was hard to make sure I was in the frame. I was more interested in close-ups and parts of the body being cut off than I was of seeing a full dancing body.

Feedback: The feedback during class orienting the work as fantasy or akin to “The Handmaids Tail” or a dystopian book called “The Giver.” The color of the costume brought attention to the apples. “Female witch energy” resulted from the way I picked the apples from the ground, “This is not a normal person who deals with normal human gravity,” said Katherine. The costume gave a nod to the status quo. “The undoing and coming back together [through the editing] was very much a journey that was being reflected upon,” said Kylee. Laura Neese likened the costume and character to another I had been working on named Anna Fout created in Devising Theater production with Dr. Nadine George Graves. Daniel mentioned my live movement has a kinesthetic transference to the audience that also happens through video.