Enhancing Film Choreography Through Digital Representation of Camera Movement and Agency

Cinematography - aspect ratios, framing, and camera movement, especially - plays an essential role in film choreography. However, the camera's capacity to expand the aesthetics of dance on film and contribute to the dynamism of figure movement is limited. In commercial (profit-oriented) cinematic practice, this limitation is bounded by the physical properties of the equipment, accessibility issues, limited time and financing for stylistic experimentation, and institutional memory loss of cinematic choreography techniques. The result in much of contemporary commercial dance on film is an emphasis on multi-camera coverage, tighter framings, and the use of editing to guide the dynamism of the figure movement in lieu of an emphasis on the relationship between the camera and the body. In this paper, we present theoretical frameworks and motion-capture driven utilities that empower the filmic choreographer beyond traditional, physical limits of the medium. We do so by providing digital representations and interactions using abstracted, artificial systems mimicking the live camera-dancer relationship that prioritize cinematic agency and movement as the principal subject material. This development parallels the growth of previsualization and camera motion control in the field of visual effects, linking us conceptually to existing industrial paradigms. Our initial foray into the expansion of this agency defines a progressive development of filmic choreography, escaping narrow limits of the traditional medium and provoking a more inclusive, accessible, and empowered form of creation through novel access of conventionally unmeasurable capability.