I have a very good reason to visit Italy’s capital these days. My pictures documenting Chiara’s Mi dimentichero’ di te tutti i giorni project are going to be hosted in Galleria Edieuropa. Tomorrow is the opening of the exhibition and I have been invited to come and take a part in it.

The latest event was all about dance and rhymes. The audience could watch MUE duo (Bruno Guastalla and Macarena Ortuzar) and listen to Steve Micalef, who was reading his poems. I was invited to film the evening and it was one of the most entertaining shootings I have got so far this year.

Below is a snapshot of Steve Micalef’s reading, with the accompaniment by Bruno Guastalla.

Before that we had an introduction made by Glenn Clarkson and Richard Duriez. Glenn talked briefly about new update for Adobe Edge and new releases on AdobeTV. Richard played a Sundance video report that can be found on Adobe TV and gave a short introduction to Oxford Adobe User Groups, as we had a few new people in the audience.

Richard Wakefield started his presentation playing a short video explaining why he uses DSLR cameras for shooting video and he talked about advantages and drawbacks of using HDSLR equipment. Next he described and presented the gear he uses for his productions, including cameras, a choice of lenses, audio equipment and his favourite camera mounts (tripod, monopod, glidetrack, glidecam). While showing his gear Richard also explained how he creatively uses different lens and types of shots in his productions, illustrating his talk with video clips.

In the second part of the Richard’s talk we had a chance to listen about the basics of the colour correction. We could hear from Richard what techniques and software he uses to get the desired look of his videos. Richard presented us how to control the image using vectorscope and waveform monitors in Adobe Premiere Pro and briefly explained how he uses the fast color corrector effect and Magic Bullet and Color Fixer Plus plugins. After that we watched sample videos and listened about using blend modes, vignetting, gradients, mixing channels and colour contrast effects in colour grading tasks. At the end Richard quickly showed us how he enhances audio, using dynamic processing effects and equaliser in Adobe Premiere Pro. The talk was finished with a presentation of a music video, that he recently produced.

The set was very simple, combining wooden dark floor and the background, that was a big, improvised soft-box. The list of the equipment included Panasonic AG-HMC151 camera, a set of red heads and blonde lights, and track and dolly.

We are meeting with Ana after the weekend to start with the editing and make plans for more filming. The next shooting day is set for the following Monday, when I am back from Rome. This time we are going to use a crane and Ana would like to built a different set.

Another thing I am doing in the free time now is getting ready with my short film for screening on Saturday. This is supposed to be a dance related picture and I have chosen an old folk song as the musical theme. The song needed a bit of spice, so Malcolm Atkins created his interpretation of the song and sent it to me earlier this week. Today I added visuals and keep working on it. The final video is going to be about 5 minutes long and will contain more visual motifs.

This is a picture taken during a tech rehearsal. It shows Macarena and Bruno performing their piece called “Slate”.

The soundtrack combines piano music with industrial and bucolic soundscapes. The music and light together create a pulsating space around the dancer.

The pictures were taken during the tech rehearsal at the Pegasus Theatre.

The plan was they would be joined by Synaesthetics and members of Oxford Improvisers (Stuart Chalmers, David Grundy, Finn Hackett and Evan Thomas). Unfortunately Tim’s laptop doesn’t want to collaborate on this project and I am going to be representing Synaesthetics on my own.

The evening starts at 8:30 p.m., tickets are £8/£6 and everybody is welcome to join.

After that are going to hear the latest Adobe news from Glenn Clarkson, who also is going to give a short presentation on CSS selectors.

At the end we are going to have a drink at the Rusty Bicycle. Relax time.

Paulette Mae (the choreographer) is going to divide the production into three chapters, which respectively will be solo, duo and trio performances. This “triptych of dance theatre” is going to be a part of Dancin’Oxford festival and presented on the 17th of March 2012 at the Old Fire Station.

In the meantime Paulette cordially asked me to take pictures of the dance ensemble. We had the photo shoot on Thursday outside the Pegasus Theatre. Now I am doing a bit of post-production work, hoping to finish it by Tuesday. The pictures are going to be used in publicity for the upcoming show.

We had the first rehearsal at the Pegasus Theatre studio yesterday. Our main focus was on investigating new ideas. Ana was keen on looking for new qualities of body movements. I was interested in playing with different shutter and steps’ speeds. Ana and Flavia (who joined us for the rehearsal) also tried “stop motion” dancing to emulate the feel of altered frame rates.

The production should be finished by February next year and the premiere will be during Dancin’ Oxford 2012.