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Finished Video

Here is the link to my finished video which I chose to host on Youtube to make it easily accessible and shareable with a wide audience.

I didn't want my video to look too polished and ‘perfect’ so I originally didn't have many still shots, only handheld. After receiving my feedback for the work in progress assignment, I decided to add some of the few still shots I had and stabilise some others. I am a lot happier with my video even with these small changes. The majority of my clips being close-ups of some sort is like a metaphor for this video being a close-up, behind the scenes view of ballerinas' minds, rather than a far away, audience perspective which you usually only get with polished performances.

I spoke with my dancer friends, some of whom were in the video, and they (unprompted by me) said that the shaky-ness gives off a raw feeling which is perfect for what I am aiming for.

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Finished Magazine Cover

I finished the final design of my magazine cover and also added a back cover.

I am really happy with how it turned out.

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This is the finished song I made using Music Maker Jam. It will be replacing the Max Richter song behind the voice over. I feel like this piece fits better as it allows you to focus on the words more, without being overpowering. Now I will need to change around the clips in the video as they don't fit as well anymore.

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Background Music

I am going to try create my own soundtrack for my video instead of using a copyrighted song. Usually I would make my own music from scratch, but for this project I will use Music Maker Jam. This software is an easy-to-use song maker where you can create or remix music beats and tracks using loops from a variety of musical genres.

All loops and packs on Music Maker Jam are royalty free, they state that "You can use and publish the songs you have created in any way you want, as well as share them on Facebook, YouTube and SoundCloud, as long as you are not earning money by doing so."

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These are all the videos I got clips of ballerinas talking from

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Magazine Covers

Here are my 3 versions so far:

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Raw Images

Here are the photos I took the other day, I am not overly happy with the angle I took them at, I prefer my test shot better.

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Progress

I have all my footage for my video recorded, and I have started editing it together. I finished creating the soundtrack for it - I chose Max Richter's Return 16 (Time Capsule) piece for the music, and collected a range of ballerinas speaking about their experience in the ballet industry with body image issues.

I also took better photos for my poster, so will start to edit those and create some more layout options.

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Prototype 2

I took a pretty rough photo of my sister in her tutu before she had a lesson just to test out my idea. I think it turned out pretty well considering I didn't really put much effort into the test photo. I edited it a lot to get the black background, set the contrast up high, and adjusted the levels. Next time I take the actual photo, I will try to get the lighting better in real life so it's easier to edit.

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Magazine Prototype

Made a quick mockup of a layout I could use for my magazine cover + also decided on a magazine title/logo/name.

I don't think the image that I am going to take will be quite that dark, so I will do some test shots and substitute them in to this prototype to see if I need to adjust anything. I'll also take some other shots that aren't similar to this one just incase.

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Mood Board

Here's the mood board I made for my magazine cover.

I'm thinking I want a shot from above in my photo, like the bottom left, but I will have my model wearing a tutu.

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Colour Palettes

Brainstorming colour palettes for my magazine cover

I want it to be dark with blues and natural tones, but am thinking that I also want some pink in there for delicateness? The blue ones are my favourite so far because I think they will work better with a black and white/duller image.

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Planning

I wrote up a production timeline for my project proposal and planning.

04/04/25 - Hand in proposal

Last Week (07/04/25) - Organise times & days to record and photograph my friends/dancers

Start of Break (14/04/25) - Record and photograph as much as possible and collect audio clips from dancers

Week of 28/04/25 - Edit video as much as possible

Week of 05/05/25 - Edit audio clips to backing music

12/05/25 - Hand in work in progress (needs 5 additional blog posts)

Week of 19/05/25 - Add audio to video and do final touches

Week of 26/05/25 - Design magazine cover

Week of 02/06/25 - Create magazine cover and upload everything09/06/25 - Media projects due (needs 4 additional blog posts)

And here is a list of what I need to execute my projects:

Cameras - Photography and Video

A place to film and shoot - My dance studio

Models - My dance friends

Vocal clips + questions for friends to answer

Editing Software - Premiere Pro, Indesign, Garageband

Plan layout of magazine

Background Music

Moodboard

Backup plans for everything

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More research +extras

This week I did some study on Misty Copeland's experience with having a different colour and shaped body.

I got information from Bried, E. (2014, March 17). Stretching Beauty: Ballerina Misty Copeland on Her Body Struggles. Self. https://www.self.com/story/ballerina-misty-copeland-body-struggles, and The Misty Copeland Foundation. (n.d.). [Organisation Website]. https://www.mistycopelandfoundation.org/.

One things I didn't already know about Misty Copeland was that she was put on the Pill by the artistic staff at the ABT after breaking her back so she could start menstruating and make her bones stronger (Bried, 2014).

Here are some photos I am putting on my Misty Copeland case study slide:

I also decided on the tone, rhetoric, angle, and audience for my project.

Tone - Thought provoking, emotional, relatable, empathetic, negative (in an educational way), sad, engaging, and confronting

Rhetoric - For my project, I would like to use Pathos as my style of rhetoric. I believe that this rhetoric will enhance the message I am trying to convey through my projects, by appealing to my audience’s emotions and trying to evoke a response from them. I would like people to view and understand one of the countless problems many ballerinas suffer with, and put themselves in the dancers’ perspectives.

Angle - I am approaching my projects from an angle that is opposing the 'perfect ballet body' ideal. I will be using the lived experiences of dancers, and exposing the emotional toll of this typically unattainable standard. Research highlights the large amount of harmful standards within the ballet community, despite ballet being perceived as beauty.

Audience - My audience is ballerinas of any age, ballet/dance teachers, companies, and supporters, and anyone with a relation to the ballet world. I have chosen this as my audience as they are the people who need to hear this message the most.

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Research

This week I researched some academic studies, plus collected a bunch of opinions on what a "perfect ballet body" is.

Below are some of the ‘requirements’ of a typical ballet body that I have found:

The average height of a ballerina is about 5”2 - 5”8, and weight ranges from 39 to 58 kg. This is less than the average woman's BMI, and about 15% below the average weight which is verging on anorexic (Ortiz, 2014).

A small head, long neck, short torso, slender arms and legs, beautifully arched feet (Ortiz, 2014).

Long legs, slightly hyperextended knees, small waist, hips not too wide, shoulders not too broad (Honkanen, 2021).

These are the websites I found them on: https://worldwideballet.net/blogs/news/54300420-changing-the-perception-of-the-ballet-body and https://balletwithisabella.com/posts/if-you-have-a-body-you-can-dance/

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Inspiration/Case Studies

For my media outputs I have decided to go with a dance montage + voice over, and a magazine cover. I have researched some inspiration for both so I will add the images and video links.

Videos:

This video above will be my 1st case study.

Images:

Time Magazine seemed to have the most examples of "emotional magazine covers" so I think I might use them as my 2nd case study.

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Chosen Topic

I have chosen to go with the topic of "the perfect ballet body". I will focus on how this ideal harms female dancers’ self-esteem, physical health, and diversity in the dance world, and will find real life examples from my peers and professionals to back up my academic findings.

I am still deciding on what media outputs to use, but I am leaning towards a dance + voiceover montage or a crowdsourced video where I get a whole bunch of dancers/teachers etc. to send in videos about their experiences (as my first), and a magazine article (as my second).

Tomorrow, I plan on asking my senior troupe girls who I teach, if anyone would like to contribute to this project and send in some videos. I also have a friend down in Wellington for dance who I could ask for videos from some of the girls there. I won't need these videos until after the break, but I think getting on top of this sooner rather than later would be a wise idea.

I will start brainstorming some questions I'd like people to answer in their videos, that way if I pick either the dance + voiceover montage or the crowdsourced video, the videos will still be useful for both!