One Flat Thing, Reproduced

Janette Platana

Director’s Statement and Intentions

Cinematographic means and formal strategies for filming :

(France 2006 26 minutes)
Directed by Thierry De Mey. Choreographed by William Forsythe

One Flat Thing starts with a burst. Twenty tables are being propelled and cover the scene; it becomes the surface and horizon of all action that follows and takes place between the fourteen dancers. Their elastic and electric charged moving bodies are cross-passing the composed space, creating a dance piece in constant tension, at the same time retained and bursting. William Forsythe is well known as one of the world’s leading contemporary dance choreographer. He is a complete artist and citizen of the world. American, he studied in New York, Florida and in Stuttgart and he never stopped traveling since, e.g. Canada, Europe, Asia. From the beginning of the eighties and during twenty years, he was at the head of the artistic direction of the Frankfurt Ballet and led it to the status of a worldwide legendary company. His body of work contains more than fifty creations, which have been integrated into the repertoire of some of the most important theatres around the globe - the Paris National Opera, for example. His work is characterized by a perpetual creative dynamism and constant exploration of different genres; a creation that solicits both space and body. Among his major creations, we can find Gänge (1982), Artifact (1984), Impressing the Czar (1988), Limb’s Theorem (1991), The Loss of Small Detail (1991), A L I E/N A(C)TION (1992), Eidos : Telos (1995), Endless the Czar (1988), Limb’s Theorem (1991), The Loss of Small Detail (1991), A L I E/N A(C)TION (1992), Eidos : Telos (1995), Endless House (1999). In 2004 Forsythe created his own dance foundation, composing new creations, creative and ambitious more than ever. One Flat Thing is part of this extraordinary body of work. A world premiere took place in Frankfurt (2000) and now it’s programmed all over the world, e.g. London, Paris and Tokyo.. Unanimously acclaimed by the press, this very intense scenic creation oscillates between disorder and symmetry. The acting of the dancers, acclaimed by the press, this very intense scenic creation oscillates between disorder and symmetry. The acting of the dancers, bursting onto the scene, dragging tables and howling, creates a multitude of conjunctures and atypical relations. The tables, symmetrically disposed on the scene are the theatre of a perfect organized chaos. One Flat Thing Reproduced, the film, is both in the continuity of the scenic performance and a completely unseen creation, specially conceived as a film.

“The director of a dance film must confront the process of translation from one medium to another. When filming pre-existing choreography, the challenge is doubled by a “preservation obligation”, because one day the film might be the only remaining trace of the stage performance. One Flat Thing, Reproduced is rightly considered to be a major work of William Forsythe, where the virtuosity of the dancers rivals the prodigious complexity of the choreography – such that it was acclaimed by the press as “William Forsythe’s Olympics”. The film assumes a subjective, non-exhaustive point of view that is comprised and predetermined by the sequence of filmmaking choices. To my mind, this is best way to transmit successfully the stakes of the choreography. One Flat Thing, reproduced is an audacious model of auto-organisation. This choreographic arrangement achieves a daring break-through in the domain of dance that mirrors contemporary scientific models of “emergence” where one can derive a macroscopic global order from the surface of a complex local organisation.

Molecular, cellular
Wide shots, multiple angles on “key” actions
The importance of capturing the play of triggers, moments of waiting, visual and sonic cues, ...-
Determining a catalogue of emblematic movements in the choreography
Rhythmic montage (p.s. William Forsythe during rehearsals cannot keep himself from «singing” the rhythm of the dance sequences in order to indicate to the performers the exact impulse and the momentum of each movement – lift, swagger, tour, arabesque, etc. – and counter-movement).
Texture, tissue
Follow the conducting (leading) voices of the choreography, “melodic” montage in contrast to sections of overall mounting rhythm.
Make lateral camera movements, parallel to the plane of the tabletops. This layer fills the screen (as a reference to a layer of icebergs floating on the sea).
Penetrate inside the playing space. Track the camera’s path within the “labyrinth”.
Follow the development of five different “themes” (phrases of movement) and their respective variations; follow the dancers and the formal configurations in which they appear – smaller formations, such as duos, trios, etc. and the formal configurations in which they appear – smaller formations, such as duos, trios, etc.
Play with the vertical displacement of the camera: explore raising and lowering movements. What happens beneath the tables, on their surfaces, and above them? Make vertical visual slices. - Work with incidental sounds (separate from the music), not necessarily duplicating what the image already shows. One could imagine certain parts without the noise of the tables, as if the dance were liberated from the physical constraints of the scenography. This contrasts with other sections where the rhythmic aspect of the movements on the surface of the tables would be greatly amplified.
Treat the music of Thom Williams as an independent layer of the scenic action (there are neither movements connected directly to the music, nor musical sounds associated with certain movements). The music will be re-mixed and reprocessed after the editing of the film. Chorographical score, description Chorographical score, description
It is impossible to imagine representing the counterpuntal complexity of this choreography without regularly making use of establishing shots, in the form of:
Frontal master shot
Lateral master shot
Immersions within the set, emphasizing the spatial relationships of the dancers on the checkerboard of tables.
Choices of costumes and colours to permit a maximum readability.
Attempting to maintain the maximum possible coherence in the camera movement and choices of perspective (as if an observer could virtually execute the sequence without unmotivated spatial breaks
Cinema is an art of movement. In dance films, two movement disciplines confront one another. They run the risk of mutually cancelling one another out. They might, on the other hand, support and reinforce one another. In the best case, they fuse into a new, even more powerful form, where the human body plays the main role in synthesizing the disciplines

One Flat Thing, Reproduced

(France 2006 26 minutes)
Directed by Thierry De Mey. Choreographed by William Forsythe

One Flat Thing starts with a burst. Twenty tables are being propelled and cover the scene; it becomes the surface and horizon of all action that follows and takes place between the fourteen dancers. Their elastic and electric charged moving bodies are cross-passing the composed space, creating a dance piece in constant tension, at the same time retained and bursting. William Forsythe is well known as one of the world’s leading contemporary dance choreographer. He is a complete artist and citizen of the world. American, he studied in New York, Florida and in Stuttgart and he never stopped traveling since, e.g. Canada, Europe, Asia. From the beginning of the eighties and during twenty years, he was at the head of the artistic direction of the Frankfurt Ballet and led it to the status of a worldwide legendary company. His body of work contains more than fifty creations, which have been integrated into the repertoire of some of the most important theatres around the globe - the Paris National Opera, for example. His work is characterized by a perpetual creative dynamism and constant exploration of different genres; a creation that solicits both space and body. Among his major creations, we can find Gänge (1982), Artifact (1984), Impressing the Czar (1988), Limb’s Theorem (1991), The Loss of Small Detail (1991), A L I E/N A(C)TION (1992), Eidos : Telos (1995), Endless the Czar (1988), Limb’s Theorem (1991), The Loss of Small Detail (1991), A L I E/N A(C)TION (1992), Eidos : Telos (1995), Endless House (1999). In 2004 Forsythe created his own dance foundation, composing new creations, creative and ambitious more than ever. One Flat Thing is part of this extraordinary body of work. A world premiere took place in Frankfurt (2000) and now it’s programmed all over the world, e.g. London, Paris and Tokyo.. Unanimously acclaimed by the press, this very intense scenic creation oscillates between disorder and symmetry. The acting of the dancers, acclaimed by the press, this very intense scenic creation oscillates between disorder and symmetry. The acting of the dancers, bursting onto the scene, dragging tables and howling, creates a multitude of conjunctures and atypical relations. The tables, symmetrically disposed on the scene are the theatre of a perfect organized chaos. One Flat Thing Reproduced, the film, is both in the continuity of the scenic performance and a completely unseen creation, specially conceived as a film.

Director’s Statement and Intentions

“The director of a dance film must confront the process of translation from one medium to another. When filming pre-existing choreography, the challenge is doubled by a “preservation obligation”, because one day the film might be the only remaining trace of the stage performance. One Flat Thing, Reproduced is rightly considered to be a major work of William Forsythe, where the virtuosity of the dancers rivals the prodigious complexity of the choreography – such that it was acclaimed by the press as “William Forsythe’s Olympics”. The film assumes a subjective, non-exhaustive point of view that is comprised and predetermined by the sequence of filmmaking choices. To my mind, this is best way to transmit successfully the stakes of the choreography. One Flat Thing, reproduced is an audacious model of auto-organisation. This choreographic arrangement achieves a daring break-through in the domain of dance that mirrors contemporary scientific models of “emergence” where one can derive a macroscopic global order from the surface of a complex local organisation.

Cinematographic means and formal strategies for filming :

Molecular, cellular

Wide shots, multiple angles on “key” actions

The importance of capturing the play of triggers, moments of waiting, visual and sonic cues, ...-

Determining a catalogue of emblematic movements in the choreography

Rhythmic montage (p.s. William Forsythe during rehearsals cannot keep himself from «singing” the rhythm of the dance sequences in order to indicate to the performers the exact impulse and the momentum of each movement – lift, swagger, tour, arabesque, etc. – and counter-movement).

Texture, tissue

Follow the conducting (leading) voices of the choreography, “melodic” montage in contrast to sections of overall mounting rhythm.

Make lateral camera movements, parallel to the plane of the tabletops. This layer fills the screen (as a reference to a layer of icebergs floating on the sea).

Penetrate inside the playing space. Track the camera’s path within the “labyrinth”.

Follow the development of five different “themes” (phrases of movement) and their respective variations; follow the dancers and the formal configurations in which they appear – smaller formations, such as duos, trios, etc. and the formal configurations in which they appear – smaller formations, such as duos, trios, etc.

Play with the vertical displacement of the camera: explore raising and lowering movements. What happens beneath the tables, on their surfaces, and above them? Make vertical visual slices. - Work with incidental sounds (separate from the music), not necessarily duplicating what the image already shows. One could imagine certain parts without the noise of the tables, as if the dance were liberated from the physical constraints of the scenography. This contrasts with other sections where the rhythmic aspect of the movements on the surface of the tables would be greatly amplified.

Treat the music of Thom Williams as an independent layer of the scenic action (there are neither movements connected directly to the music, nor musical sounds associated with certain movements). The music will be re-mixed and reprocessed after the editing of the film. Chorographical score, description Chorographical score, description

It is impossible to imagine representing the counterpuntal complexity of this choreography without regularly making use of establishing shots, in the form of:

Frontal master shot

Lateral master shot

Immersions within the set, emphasizing the spatial relationships of the dancers on the checkerboard of tables.

Choices of costumes and colours to permit a maximum readability.

Attempting to maintain the maximum possible coherence in the camera movement and choices of perspective (as if an observer could virtually execute the sequence without unmotivated spatial breaks

Cinema is an art of movement. In dance films, two movement disciplines confront one another. They run the risk of mutually cancelling one another out. They might, on the other hand, support and reinforce one another. In the best case, they fuse into a new, even more powerful form, where the human body plays the main role in synthesizing the disciplines

Janette Platana

Janette Platana was born and raised in Saskatchewan and is now lives in Peterborough, Ontario, where she writes, plays music, makes films and lives in a white house with her family. Her writing has been published in Canada, the United States, and Turkey. Of all places. She is the grateful recipient of OAC support, and acknowledges the Chalmers Foundation, as well. She has many terrific poems and stories awaiting publication in book form, so if you are an agent or publisher, feel free to come on over and say howdy.

Still from Blue by Elif Isikozlu.

© Moving Pictures Festival 2006
info@movingpicturesfestival.com

Janette Platana was born and raised in Saskatchewan and is now lives in Peterborough, Ontario, where she writes, plays music, makes films and lives in a white house with her family. Her writing has been published in Canada, the United States, and Turkey. Of all places. She is the grateful recipient of OAC support, and acknowledges the Chalmers Foundation, as well. She has many terrific poems and stories awaiting publication in book form, so if you are an agent or publisher, feel free to come on over and say howdy.