Events

    Olana Light Fly Like a Butterfly - Multi Location Live Performance Filming

    Olana Light
    •
    Arts and Culture

    Live performance drone and ground filming and photography for artist Olana Light's Arts Council-funded Fly Like a Butterfly tour across Portsmouth, Southsea and Havant.

    Arts / Culture

    Fly Like a Butterfly - Portsmouth Festival of Light

    Fly Like a Butterfly is a touring wearable sculpture and performance work by award-winning artist Olana Light. Performers wear large caterpillar and butterfly sculptures built mainly from natural materials, acting out a story of metamorphosis and personal change. The project was supported by National Lottery funding through Arts Council England. Olana needed a consistent and professional record of the live performances across several venues - footage and stills that could document the work for funders and promote future performances which we gladly provided. Every performance was live and happened once. There were no retakes and no chance to stop the action for a better angle. We utilised a range of filming techniques from standard drone to FPV drones and fitted vintage lenses to our cinema cameras for a unique look. We also handled post production. Each venue asked something different of the crew: - Rose Garden, Southsea - daylight, a public garden and moving audiences around the performers. - Art in the garden - Art in the Garden is the annual open studio and land art event run by Little Forest Land Art (LFLA). - Making Space, Havant - Public event including local high streets - We Shine Festival of Lights, Fratton - a night-time performance in November as part of the lantern parade, lit largely by festival installations, with a public crowd. We ended up flying drones inside St Marys Church beneath Luke Jerram's Museum of the Moon.

    Fly Like a Butterfly - Southsea Rose Gardens

    Fly Like a Butterfly - Art In The Garden

    Fly Like a Butterfly - Havant Making Space

    PRE

    Pre-Production

    We worked with Olana Light ahead of each performance to understand the piece, how the performers would move in the wearable sculptures, and how long each performance would run. Each venue needed its own plan - a public garden in daylight, community arts spaces in Havant, and a night-time festival in Fratton - so we visited or assessed each location to choose camera positions that gave clear sightlines without getting in the way of the audience. It was important to assemble the right crew who could work under pressure in dynamic situations.

    SHOOT

    Production

    Every performance was live and happened once, with no retakes. We filmed video and took stills at the same time, moving with the performers and working around the public rather than in front of them. At the We Shine Festival of Lights we set up for low-light capture so the texture of the natural-material costumes held up against the festival lighting. We covered the Rose Garden in Southsea, Art in the Garden, Making Space in Havant and the Festival of Lights in Fratton.

    POST

    Post-Production

    We edited the footage from each venue and graded it to one consistent look, so the performances read as a single body of work rather than separate events. Olana received an edited film and a set of selected, edited photographs from each performance, ready to use for documenting the project, reporting to funders and promoting future performances.

    We covered each performance with video and stills, working around the audience rather than in front of it. At the Festival of Lights we set up for low-light capture so the texture of the costumes held up against the festival lighting.

    Across all four venues we kept a consistent look, so the finished material reads as one body of work rather than four separate events.

    Olana received edited video and a photography set from each performance, used to document the project and promote the work as part of funder evaluations, website use and exhibitions.

    The project is showcased on Olana's own website: Fly Like a Butterfly - olanalight.com

    Equipment Used

    GEPRC CineLog 25Cinelifter Whoop - Straw Hat Sam Le PuffinFUJI X-T4Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6KDJI Mini 4 Pro

    Filming Locations

    PortsmouthHavant

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