Through the application of the 'media line' concept, the dancing body working with site decides
image composition more readily than within common, established methods for media generation. The person dancing is afforded greater input capacity into the final media frame, as she sees the camera and the camera person as part of the site. Likewise for the media artist, the media line and its consequential dialogue enables a shared physical space, often resulting in increased engagement of the media artist's body.
The media line offers the opportunity to share common space. In the image above it is evident through distance/proximity. With only a matter of inches between the camera and the dancer, the media line intensifies, as does the dialogue between the active bodies. Camera: Panda. Body: Justin Morrissey (media), Marnie Orr (dance).
The 'media line' concept is a term I came up with through a need
to address a perceived gap in the language and therefore working relationship,
between photographers and dancers working together on site toward a common end,
albeit across disciplines. 'Media line' references a figurative line on the
ground / or projected into space where the bottom of the camera lens' frame
sits, or appears to sit, within the physical area of the working site. It
defines where the media people are, and where they are not, and where the
dancers are and where they are not: the media people are behind the media line,
the dancing bodies are generally in 'front'.
In site-based research, the media line is eternally moving. This
is particularly evident when the media moves in the same space as the dance. It
comes into play within the boundaries of a set working area decided by the
facilitator, which has been decided by the nature & properties of a
site. Media lines come and go, and change, over the space of seconds, and are
called upon by any researcher (regardless of discipline) as a point of
reference to maintain strong relation into the space, and to each other.
In this photo, it appears the photo's end frame has chosen by the media body, Panda. However upon interviewing pictured dancer Rachel Sweeney her degree of awareness around Panda's position became evident. Rachel's focus was around the relationship between her and the burnt out charcoal remainder of a tree trunk. As Rachel approached the trunk, she purposefully lingered at this certain distance before touching the trunk. Her own sense of the vertical line she was instilling into the space in relation to that of the trunk, was in direct relation with the media body (Panda) who was also experiencing that relationship (between Rachel and the tree trunk).
The media line is present regardless of distance between the lens
and the focus of the composition. It may move vertically or horizontally or on
any angle. The media line's intensity alters according to proximity between
dancer/media person/site spaces & materials, depth of field, focus,
shutter speed, and the speed and other movement qualities of the dancer and/or
the photographer's body, to name a few.
Metaphorically, media line can simultaneously reference the
dialogue between the media and the dance, the photographer and the dancer, the
camera lens and the focus or intention of the dancer. For me the term enables a
space or moment to be shared, as there is an understanding that we are talking
(across elements), sharing moments, bound by the definitions of the immediate
surroundings.
The media line is often decided by the choices of the dancing
body, and not the media body. And we (ROCKface) are in the throes of
understanding how the media line is first and fore mostly decided by site.
There is constant negotiation and re-negotiation, and this is where the
creative tension I think is most exciting, and something to aim for, or rather,
to set up the opportunity to occur.
The media line is a helpful concept in engaging photographers to
enable the dancing body to maintain the power to choose the frame. This 'frame'
may not necessarily be referencing that of the final photograph, but it may do
(dependent on how the photographer takes on the concept).
The frame of the: performance / intention or focus of the dancer /
dancer's path, at any given moment, is now what the photographer is challenged
to re-compose themselves around. A new composition is often evident in images
taken from this perspective.
This we have found, gives rise to holding the dancing body's
ability to work with a space or place, less inhibited - or at least, less
controlled - by the photographer's presence, insofar as with the prioritising
of the dancer's frame over that of the photographer's at a group-parameter
level, there becomes a shift from (in my interpretation) a somewhat culturally
established power relationship with the photographer/dancer, to the dancer
being allowed to see the photographer as a part of that space, that place,
inclusive of the camera and lens itself. Hence we are working with an
acknowledgement of the agency of the dancer.Let the dancing body decide where to
crawl. Read this through attention to focus. Camera: Panda. Bodies: Carol
Nelson (media), Michelle Outram (dance).
Working with a consciousness around 'media line' is helpful to
maintain media bodies (photographers/videographers) into continual conscious
relation of how they themselves are effecting a space, and taking space - media
space - that may at any moment become dancing space, if that is what the
dancing body chooses, and what the site speaks at that particular moment.
No media line awareness from the camera
man here! Camera: Panda. Body: Jess Lewis (dance), Kim Perrier (camera).
It is also practically helpful for when many media people are
working together 'surrounding' dancers, being inside others' lens frames
(intentionally or not).
Would love to hear your thoughts.
Marnie