The dancing body working with site decides image composition. Camera: Panda. Body: Rachel Sweeney. All images from Camera|Body|Place research project, July 09, Bridgetown Western Australia.The 'media line' concept is a term I came up with through a need to address a perceived gap in the language and therefore working relationship, between photographers and dancers working together on site toward a common end, albeit across disciplines. 'Media line' references a figurative line on the ground / or projected into space where the bottom of the camera lens' frame sits, or appears to sit, within the physical area of the working site. It defines where the media people are, and where they are not, and where the dancers are and where they are not: the media people are behind the media line, the dancing bodies are generally in 'front'.
In site-based research, the media line is eternally moving. This is particularly evident when the media moves in the same space as the dance. It comes into play within the boundaries of a set working area decided by the facilitator, which has been decided by the nature & properties of a site. Media lines come and go, and change, over the space of seconds, and are called upon by any researcher (regardless of discipline) as a point of reference to maintain strong relation into the space, and to each other.
The media line is present regardless of distance between the lens and the focus of the composition. It may move vertically or horizontally or on any angle. The media line's intensity alters according to proximity between dancer/media person/site spaces & materials, depth of field, focus, shutter speed, and the speed and other movement qualities of the dancer and/or the photographer's body, to name a few.
The media line offers the opportunity to share common space. Here it is evident through distance/proximity. With only a matter of inches between the camera and the dancer, the media line intensifies. Camera: Panda. Body: Justin Morrissey (media), Marnie Orr (dance).Metaphorically, media line can simultaneously reference the dialogue between the media and the dance, the photographer and the dancer, the camera lens and the focus or intention of the dancer. For me the term enables a space or moment to be shared, as there is an understanding that we are talking (across elements), sharing moments, bound by the definitions of the immediate surroundings.
The media line is often decided by the choices of the dancing body, and not the media body. And we (ROCKface) are in the throes of understanding how the media line is first and fore mostly decided by site. There is constant negotiation and re-negotiation, and this is where the creative tension I think is most exciting, and something to aim for, or rather, to set up the opportunity to occur.
The media line is a helpful concept in engaging photographers to enable the dancing body to maintain the power to choose the frame. This 'frame' may not necessarily be referencing that of the final photograph, but it may do (dependent on how the photographer takes on the concept).
The frame of the: performance / intention or focus of the dancer / dancer's path, at any given moment, is now what the photographer is challenged to re-compose themselves around. A new composition is often evident in images taken from this perspective.
This we have found, gives rise to holding the dancing body's ability to work with a space or place, less inhibited - or at least, less controlled - by the photographer's presence, insofar as with the prioritising of the dancer's frame over that of the photographer's at a group-parameter level, there becomes a shift from (in my interpretation) a somewhat culturally established power relationship with the photographer/dancer, to the dancer being allowed to see the photographer as a part of that space, that place, inclusive of the camera and lens itself. Hence we are working with an acknowledgement of the agency of the dancer.
Let the dancing body decide where to crawl. Read this through attention to focus. Camera: Panda. Bodies: Carol Nelson (media), Michelle Outram (dance). Working with a consciousness around 'media line' is helpful to maintain media bodies (photographers/videographers) into continual conscious relation of how they themselves are effecting a space, and taking space - media space - that may at any moment become dancing space, if that is what the dancing body chooses, and what the site speaks at that particular moment.
No media line awareness from the camera man here! Camera: Panda. Body: Jess Lewis (dance), Kim Perrier (camera).It is also practically helpful for when many media people are working together 'surrounding' dancers, being inside others' lens frames (intentionally or not).
Would love to hear your thoughts.
Marnie
