"Ambition is a lust that is never quenched, but grows more inflamed and madder by enjoyment”
– Thomas Otway
Over the last couple of weeks we’ve had the pleasure of documenting the incredible ambition of the 15 year old Isabel Kooring. Her immense love of dance set her on a path hardship, sacrifice and most importantly pleasure.
Isabel is four years old when she makes her first dance moves in her pink tights and leotard. From that moment on her days are filled with dance and ballet. Now, almost twelve years later, there is happiness but also a deeper desire to dance professionally one day.
Isabel is 15 years old and in the third year of Music and Dance in Rotterdam. In addition to her regular courses, she follows at least 20 hours of dance lessons per week. She works long days and so far, has travelled 3.5 times around the world by bus and train to her dance training already. And this is just the beginning.
Every morning at half past seven Isabel gets on the bus. That’s the beginning of her one and a half hour daily journey to Rotterdam. She works hard for her big dream every day!
Where many little ballerinas eventually cut up their tutu into a party accessory, Isabel remained dedicated to her dream. As her ideals seem to be more and more within reach, the more she is determined to carry on this path. Whatever it takes, she continues to grow as a dancer, like her dream does!
While setting up the crowdfunding to try and cover Isabel her travel expenses, Isabel her parents approached Sven Signe den Hartogh and me. They asked for tips to spice up the crowdfunding project. When we heard the story of Isabel and heard her talk about her one passion in life we were sold. Without hesitation we volunteered to create engaging content that would amp up the project. We settled with an engaging and artistic photoshoot by Sven Signe den Hartogh and a heartfelt short film about Isabel her passion.
Following the photoshoot we had an extensive interview with Isabel which was such a blast. We were blown away by the immense passion Isabel has for dance and her incredible emotional maturity for a fifteen year old. After cutting this interview into the voice over that ended up in the film I started writing the script for the film. This is where we ended up with the story of her daily journey and building up to the big show while intertwining this visual story with Isabel her daydreams of her dancing on stage.
For the eventual film shoot we planned two days. One day to follow Isabel all the way to Rotterdam to document her travels and to film her practising her dance at school. Many awkward moments shooting in public (transport) places were had. For the second day we had the dream sequences planned. For the dream sequences I wanted to film Isabel dance in slowmotion on stage. During the interview she told us many times that she’s often transported to other places in her mind while dancing and daydreaming, most of the time to a big stage.
To accomplish the look I wanted for the film I decided to go with the Sony FS700 as camera. It delivers a sharp and cinematic image shooting at 25 frames per second. But most importantly it allowed me to shoot super slowmotion which was important to execute the vision I had for the dreams sequences, my favourite and most important scenes of the short film. For lenses I used a mixture of the Sigma 35mm ART f/1.4, Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 and the Nikon 85mm f/1.4.
