This project will highlight the whooping crane, the largest bird in North America. Dancers (Olivia Duryea, Dylan Gutierrez) will perform on-location in St. John’s, Michigan in a prairie habitat much, like where you might find this elusive bird, with choreography by Xavi Núñez. They will be adorned with costumes (Jerica Hucke) that help begin to transform the human form into something a bit more bird-like. The final piece is hair and makeup (Jeraldine Mendoza) adding some red accents, and stunning yellow eyes to complete the transformation. 
 

On the production side, this project will lean into the look of high-end nature documentaries with a twist of performing arts with dramatic lighting and slow-motion moments. Director (Tim Whalen) wants the viewer to feel as though they have just stumbled upon a rare sighting of this magnificent creature. Using a mixture of telephoto lenses to achieve the “nature doc” look and a roaming camera to capture high action moments will immerse the viewer in this microcosm of the natural world. Bringing his commercial, performing arts and nature experience with him, DP, Michael Kettenbeil will be helping define the visual look. Assistant director duties from John Shaw, along with additional support from the Big Foot Media team and contractor friends will round out the crew.
 

Unique to this piece is that it is being choreographed to no music. The dancers rehearse with a mix of ambient music and a click track to keep them in sync, but this approach allows for a bit of fluidity while on-set. Once assembled in post production the piece will be scored to the movement.