Dance
10 tips to shoot a professional dance video at home
Looking to show your dancing talent to the world or just want to immortalize your art for yourself? Check out these tips on how to go about it.
We’ve gone gaga over dance videos for years now.
Whether it is amazing choreography, superb competition battles or just clips of crew mates jamming in a studio, very little can beat the excitement and energy of a beautiful dance video.
But of course, it isn’t just about the dancers in the video. How the video was shot, edited and produced are just as important because they bring the dance to life for everyone to watch across the world.
If you have been looking to produce your own dance videos at home but haven’t figured out how to do it, check out the tips below.
1. Do your research
You’ve got the dancing part sorted out but video is another art of its own. Dedicate some time to learning about shooting and editing videos. Follow blogs that discuss video techniques, read up about the basics of filmmaking, watch movies and videos of international dancers, and pay attention to the aesthetics of video.
There are many aspects to video production
© Vaqaas Mansuri
2. Assemble your team
Professional video production crews have a lot of people involved to make sure everything goes smoothly. If you are going to be shooting at home on a limited budget, it’s not likely that you are going to hire a lot of people. But you may not be able to implement everything by yourself. Consider putting together a small team of the following:
- Director
- Cinematographer
- Editor
Put together a small crew for your dance video
© Ali Bharmal | Red Bull Content Pool
You could play or all the roles, but if you are also dancing and choreographing the video, having some friends performing the other roles could help take your mind off some aspects of the production.
Kathak and waacking dancer Anasua Chowdhury says, “If you have a friend to shoot your video, you can just direct him/her on how to go about it. Make sure to check the frame and lighting before you actually go for the take. Also, it is ideal if your frame is horizontal. And you can leave the rest to your friend or your team to experiment with.”
3. Have a feasible concept
Are you making a video to showcase your dance skill? Are you making a choreography video for others to try? Are you producing a dance video with a narrative arc? It is important to be clear on the concept and objective of your video.
Depending on the concept, you will have to pick the music, choreography and location, but also the costume, props, lighting, etc. Have the objective of the video clear in your mind and discuss it with your team so everyone is working towards a common goal.
Props can add to the concept of your video
© Vaqaas Mansuri
4. Make a schedule
This is very important. Sit down with the team and put down a fixed timeline. You could have a final deadline and create your schedule backwards from it, or you could plot when your project starts and plot a realistic time for it to finish. But make sure you account for all aspects of the production (conceptualization, storyboard, rehearsal, recce, shoot, paper edit, offline edit, post production, release and distribution) in the schedule; and stick to the timeline as much as possible.
5. Do a recce of the location
A recce is visiting the location where you will be shooting the video to take a closer look at each aspect including lighting, space dynamics, background, camera set-up, etc. Doing a recce helps you plan in advance so you won’t have last minute changes and delays when the shoot is taking place. If you are shooting outdoors, conduct multiple recces to see how the lighting changes throughout the day.
If shooting outdoors, check the natural lighting
© Ali Bharmal
6. Think about the distribution of your video
This is about having a clear idea on what your video will be used for and where will it go up. Is it for a client? Is it for your website or social media like Instagram, Facebook, YouTube? Is it going to be broadcast anywhere else?
Knowing your platforms and distribution channels are important because each has a different technical specification. For example, IG feed would be a video up to one minute in 1x1 dimension while IGTV can be up to 10 minutes in 16x9 dimension.
7. Have your pre-production in place
If you are shooting at home or in an indoor space, have your lighting, props, background and colours sorted with your cinematographer and director. Do a test shoot if required, to check and fix these details so that the final output doesn’t have any glitches. Check the framing of each sequence along with your team to see if it matches your expectations.
Shoot a test video in pre-production if needed
© Vaqaas Mansuri
Ahmedabad-based dancer and founder of Paranoid Dance Crew Sri Lakshmi says, “For me, framing, colours and camera quality are the most important aspects in shooting any dance video. Having some props and a good background really makes a lot of difference to the final product.”
If changes to the plan are needed, they should be done at this stage. You should also write down a shot list, keep images for reference and create a storyboard so the shoot is as smooth as possible.
8. Rehearse as much as you can
Shoots for dance videos can get delayed if the dancer isn’t prepared. Since this is your shoot, you can make sure that you rehearse as much as possible so you are knocking off your routine easily when the camera is pointed at you.
Do rehearsals in costume if possible
© Ali Bharmal | Red Bull Content Pool
9. Do a paper edit
A paper edit is basically writing down the shot breakdown alongside the music sequence. This makes the final editing process much easier. If you are working with an editor, you could sit down with them on the paper edit.
If you don’t have an editor on board, you could still do the paper edit and get down to the actual edit yourself. “There are plenty of apps in the market which you can use for editing a video on your own. I prefer using Final Cut Pro and DaVinci Resolve. In fac,t Da Vinci Resolve is available for free and works on mobile as well. As long as one has a paper edit, doing the work is really easy,” says Sri Lakshmi.
10. Do an offline edit
Offline editing is part of the post-production or edit process in which raw footage is copied and the copy is edited instead of the original, thereby not affecting the original clips. This is important as whatever changes need to be made in the edit stage are made in a mock-up version instead of the original, to avoid reshoots.
Finally, just go on and shoot your video. As Bengaluru-based dancehall artist Divya Easwaran says, “What is really important is to capture your imagination on camera. It doesn’t matter if you post the video on social media or show it to your friends or even just keep it to yourself – the crucial bit is to shoot it.”
