Ever tried to film a flamenco spin from the side?

You get a blur and half a skirt

A flamenco company in Los Angeles needed a one minute promo to book events, venues and private performances, the dancer, the drama, the skirt

I produced and directed it

Put the camera on the ceiling

Here is the deal, flamenco happens in a circle, so we shot it from above. Straight down, the skirt opens into a ring of color on the hardwood floor every time she turns

Then down at floor level, then slow motion so the ruffles hang in the air for a second longer than physics wants

A fire effect frames some of the spins, because flamenco is fire, there's no subtle way to say it

How many spins can a dancer give you in a day? not unlimited, so every overhead take was planned before she stepped onto the floor, the mark, the lens, the moment to start the slow motion

Hands and face

The spins get the attention, the hands and the face close the booking

So the close-ups go to the arms, the wrists, the fingers, her expression, all the tension that's the real heart of the dance

Light from the windows

We shot in a sunlit Mediterranean style villa, backlit by the windows, warm light coming through the fabric and catching the edges of the skirt

Why a villa and not a stage? because a stage looks like every other dance video, and a villa looks like the private party the client is about to book

What it's for

The film ends on the contact card. It's a booking reel, plain and simple, a venue manager watches one minute and picks up the phone or doesn't

That's the same test my fashion work has to pass with a brand owner

Producer and camera

When the producer is the one behind the lens, a spin that lands half out of frame gets fixed by moving the mark, right then, and she dances it again while she's still warm

I shoot dancers, models and performers the same way, see the People Portrait gallery and the Fashion Photographer gallery

One minute, one dancer, a lot of skirt

Length: 1 min 2 s · Producer & director: David Victory, VRSET video production, Los Angeles & Orange County

Key moments

  • 0:00 Dancer in the sunlit villa
  • 0:07 Skirt in motion
  • 0:12 Overhead spin
  • 0:17 Arms and expression close-up
  • 0:28 Fire-framed overhead shot
  • 0:38 Final overhead spin
  • 0:43 Contact card

See the matching photography in the People Portrait Headshot gallery.

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Planning a video or a fashion shoot? Contact David Victory or call (310) 988-6575 in Los Angeles, (949) 873-4551 in Orange County. Free consultation and quote for first-time clients.