The Choreographer of “The Good Place” Just Launched an At-Home Dance Film Fest With Free Tutorials

May 24, 2020

Looking for a change from all that social-media scrolling while you’re social distancing? Check out the Shut In Dance Film Fest, a newly launched opportunity for dancers are home. Helmed by Nicole Berger, Andrew Pearson and Cain DeVore, the all-remote festival is doubling as free training grounds for artists who want to boost their dance-for-camera skills.

Here’s how it works: Select one of four prompts—like camouflaging yourself in your apartment or playing with your silhouette and profile—and create a short film using your smartphone. (The Shut In team recommends using FiLMiC Pro, a $14.99 app available for Apple and Android devices.)

Submissions will be evaluated by the creative directors who came up with the prompts: Los Angeles–based dance duo WHYTEBERG, choreographer and freelancer Madison Hicks, spoken word artist City James, and Mark Dendy and Stephen Donovan of dendy/donovan projects. They will choose footage from the submitted videos to each create a final dance film cut together by professional editors.

The best part? Artists who work in the dance-for-camera vein have created 11 video tutorials (and counting) for those who want to dive into their craft. Learn about shifting your perspective from dancemaker to filmmaker in a lesson led by Nicole Berger, festival director and choreographer for “The Good Place.” Filmmaker/dancer Nadav Heyman chats about creating quality films on a budget, and dance photographer and videographer Josh S. Rose answers questions like “how many takes should you do?”

The Shut In Dance Film Fest is accepting submissions now through May 30.