Final Project: Portfolio and Video Evidence (SHR6E032F) LYN23083939

1. Project Overview

Project Overview

For this project, I worked in collaboration with contemporary dancer Genevieve Wright and videographer Owen to produce a hybrid YouTube style video consisting of two sections: a 6-minute personal vlog documenting the creative process, and a 5-minute cinematic, improvised dance film. The entire musical score across both sections was produced using exclusively recorded sounds of Genevieve’s movement, including footsteps, breath, and physical gestures. This restriction of only using these sounds formed the theme of the project: creative limitations. To build on this theme further, Genevieve heard the music for the first time as the camera began filming, capturing her completely natural and unfiltered reaction to it.

A previous collaboration with Genevieve in my first year of university informed my decision to work with her on this project, since the experience had been both creatively fulfilling and enjoyable for both of us.

Final Product

Contingency

However, the project did not begin this way. At the start of the academic year, I had planned to partner with a local dance school, composing music for their students. When this arrangement fell through in December, I reached out to Genevieve to see if she was available to work with on this project (Appendix 1). Once confirmed, we had an initial meeting to discuss the assignment outlines and came up with the central idea: to record the sounds of Genevieve dancing, compose a song using exclusively these sounds, and then have her dance to the song which would then be filmed.

Theme and purpose

The theme of creative limitations emerged later, following a conversation with my tutor who suggested having a theme would help give more structure to my project. Creative limitations felt like a natural continuation of the constraints I had already given myself, giving the project both coherence and personal relevance, since the vlog section explores my own struggles with creative block and loss of passion for music over the course of my years at university. This project serves as both a personal venture and source of inspiration, aiming to bring back my own creativity and to offer other musicians and creatives a practical technique for overcoming similar challenges. The target audience is primarily music producers and creatives who may relate to the experience of creative block.

Personnel

For this project, I decided to collaborate with people whose skills and experience I felt were well suited to the creative vision I had in mind. Also, having previously worked with both collaborators, I personally knew they were trustworthy and skilled individuals.

Sam Lynn

Producer, project manager, vlog videographer, and editor
Composes, produces, and mixes a variety of genres
3rd year Music Production student
Completed a SWOT analysis prior to the project, used to identify my strengths and weaknesses to help provide a more self aware realistic approach to planning (Appendix 2)

Genevieve Wright

Contemporary improvisatory dancer and choreographer
MA Student at Northern School of Contemporary Dance
Most notable works include:
– Speak Volumes (2021) – Alesandra Seutin
– The Alchemist (2025) – Ben Duke
– The Ministry (2026) – Maxine Doyle (Appendix 3)
Previous collaboration with Gen was successful, proving she was a highly capable choreographer and reliable person to collaborate with

Owen Lloyd-Cowley

Dance videographer and editor
3rd year acting student at Leeds Conservatoire
5 years of experience in photography
Having met Owen through playing in Isaac Jo’s band, I had seen his photography work first hand and was confident his work was of a high standard (Appendix 4)

2. Chronological Monthly Diary

Time Management

From the beginning, maintaining a clear and structured timeline was a priority in order to meet the final submission deadline. Having previously created a Gantt chart for my project viability earlier in the year (Appendix 5), I was already familiar with this approach to planning. When the original project fell through at the end of November, I decided to map out the new project with a chronological monthly diary, providing me with a broad overview of the work ahead.

However, I felt the timeline alone lacked the detail necessary to manage the workload effectively. By developing this into a Gantt chart (Figure 1), this helped with visualising the individual tasks and tracking the percentage of progress over time (Malsam, 2025).

As the project progressed, I revisited and updated both the timeline and Gantt chart (Figure 2) to better reflect the progress of my project. For example, the Christmas period meant the recording of Genevieve’s dance sounds was pushed from December into January, which in turn delayed my starting point for composing the music, as well as the planning and scripting of the vlog section. Unfortunately, this led to a significant portion of the work falling into April, which left me less time than I had initially planned to tweak and refine the finer details of the final product.

Figure 1: Planned Gantt Chart

Figure 2: Revisited Gantt Chart

3. Evidence of Planning / Process

Project management

To support a structured and efficient working process, I followed the five phases of project management (Kissflow, 2025), which provided a clear framework to operate within whilst allowing flexibility to adapt when needed (Figure 3).

Figure 3 (Kissflow, 2023)

Phase 1: Project Initiation

The project began in December after the initial dance school collaboration fell through. After reaching out to Genevieve and confirming her availability, we met to brainstorm and discuss ideas for the project. From this meeting, the core idea for the project emerged: to record the sounds of Genevieve dancing and use these exclusively to compose a track for her to perform to, which would then be filmed. The following goals were established:

Creative Aims

A cinematic, visually pleasing dance film shot in a natural, aesthetically considered location
A personal vlog section combining an honest narrative with high quality editing
A cohesive musical score composed entirely from Genevieve’s recorded sounds

Skill Development

Developing my skills in filming, editing and vlog style content creation
Writing and delivering a scripted piece to camera
Deepening my working knowledge of Ableton, moving away from reliance on third party plugins

Professional Value

The dance film section would serve as a showreel for both me and Genevieve (later Owen once on board), providing each with high quality footage to present to future collaborators and employers

Phase 2: Project Planning

The project planning involved continuous communication across the duration of the project:

4th December 2025 — Met with Genevieve to brainstorm ideas and establish the central concept
6th January 2026 — Messaged Genevieve to organise a date to book a dance studio and record the dance sounds (Appendix 6)
24 February 2026 – Emailed my tutor to organise a meeting (Appendix 7) after struggling to find a direction with my music
25 February 2026 — Met my tutor and he suggested that having a theme would help give the project more structure and focus. Research suggests that a clearly defined theme can act as a unifying element, helping to make decisions that aid the outcome of the project (Tempo Team, 2025). Decided on Creative Limitations.
15 March 2026 — Messaged Owen about filming (Appendix 8)
17th March 2026 – Messaged Genevieve and Owen organising a date to record (Appendix 9 and 10)
14 April 2026 – Had a meeting with Owen discussing cameras, shot ideas, aesthetic references, location and timing (Appendix 11)

Creative Limitations Research

After deciding the theme of creative limitations, I carried out some research to find some examples of how people have used them as well as the benefits they have.

How limits can boost your creativity | BBC Ideas (BBC Ideas, 2020)

This video states the importance of constraints to aid creativity but argues they should be used in moderation. It shows a U-shaped curve (Figure 4) outlining that a lack of constraints can lead to people feeling uninspired, whilst too many can make creating difficult and exhausting, suggesting the most effective area sits somewhere in between.
This graph led me to Allen Gannett’s book The Creative Curve (2018) which explored this idea and more in greater detail.

The Creative Curve (Gannett, 2018)

Chapter 8 highlights how externally forced constraints can benefit the creative process. He uses the example of a television show to display how Kenya Barris, creator of Black-ish, found that the restrictions of an ‘act break’ helped organise the writers’ storytelling and structure of the show.
In Chapter 6, Gannett illustrates the importance of limitations through the success of Facebook, quoting Zuckerberg: “the trick isn’t adding stuff, it’s taking away.” This suggests that constraints helped create a better platform for users as too many options paralysed them.

limitations == creativity; | Blaine Carrick | TEDxNCState (TEDx Talks, 2020)

Blaine uses the original Super Mario to demonstrate how the restrictions of technology at the time led to its legacy. The limit of three colours gave Mario his iconic moustache and overalls along with a maximum of four simultaneous sounds giving a focus on catchy melodies that are still used to this day. He suggests that without limiting yourself, your work may be like others. But by giving yourself restrictions, there’s a chance to create something completely new.

Burial’s Untrue: The making of a masterpiece (Resident Advisor, 2017)

Burial created a lot of his percussion using sounds taken from the video game Metal Gear Solid, including bullet shells, creating his unique and distinctive sound.
Rather than using a conventional DAW, Burial produced the album in Sound Forge. This software displays audio as waveforms without a quantisation grid, leading to his signature loose, swung drum sound.

Dance recording locations

Dance Sound Recordings (Northern School of Contemporary Dance, 2024)

Barran’s Fountain (Google Street View, 2015)

Camera/ Filming Planning

As this project was carried out with friends, no major costs were made. However, to give me an idea of how much a project like this would cost to do, I adapted the hypothetical budget from my project viability study to fit the requirements of this project (Appendix 12). Similarly, I adapted my risk assessment to find any potential setbacks that could occur (Appendix 13,14,15).

Phase 3: Project Execution

To begin the project, I met with Genevieve at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance for the initial recording session. This was a fairly brief session where I captured a range of sounds produced through her movement, recording in three different rooms and using different polar patterns to give me a range of source materials. Following this, I began composing the dance track using exclusively these sounds. However, without a theme at this point, I ended up composing two separate ideas since neither felt right for the dance section of the video. As discussed in Phase 2, I had been struggling to find a clear direction with my project until my meeting with my tutor, leading to the theme of creative limitations.

With the theme established, I set myself three limitations:

Only use Genevieve’s sounds
Only use stock Ableton instruments and effects
Have a limited track count of 16

Having both a clearer direction with the project and defined constraints, I composed and produced much of the dance track between January and February before shifting my focus to the vlog. In March, I began planning the structure and visual direction of the video, taking inspiration from YouTube videos whose style I wanted to imitate, as well as finishing the dance track. Analysing different videos and their scripts helped me create my own, leading to me filming most of my vlog on April 1st. Over the following two days I edited the footage together and spent time watching Final Cut Pro tutorials as this was my first time using the software (Figure 5).

Figure 5: Final Cut Pro Research

The dance section was filmed in late April following a meeting with Owen the week prior, planning the cameras used, shots, location and aesthetic. Once filmed, Owen took on the editing of the dance section whilst I finished the vlog before tying both parts of the video together into the final piece.

Phase 4: Project Monitoring

Being the main project manager meant keeping track of all the tasks at hand. To stay organised and ensure the work was on track, I used a digital task tracker throughout the project (Figure 6) to note down each task alongside its expected completion date, priority and status. Also, once finishing the dance track, I created a handwritten checklist (Figure 7) to help me clearly visualise a rough sketch of what needed to be done at any given point, simply ticking them off when finished.

Phase 5: Project Closure

When bringing the project to a close, I collected feedback from my tutor (Appendix 16), my classmates using a survey (Appendix 17), and my girlfriend gave me more specific feedback about sections in the vlog (Appendix 18). Overall, the responses were positive allowing me to make minor tweaks to finalise and submit the project.

4. Reference Material/ Inspiration

I used a range of sources to inspire both the dance and vlog sections of the video, taking ideas from different creators to form my own style.

Dance video inspiration

Keone and Mari (2020)

Liked the video style and overall aesthetic, told a story
Use of different camera angles and interesting shots
However, very choreographed so not able to do shots in same way since Genevieve’s dance will be one take

Yin Yue Dance (2018)

Similar dance style to Genevieve
Interesting lighting creating spotlight on dancer. Wanted a location outside which will provide good lighting
Dynamic movement from camera following her movement

Upon reflection, I could have found and provided Owen with more visual references to better communicate the aesthetic I had in mind. If doing a similar project again, I would spend more time finding and sharing references with the videographer to ensure the final outcome is closer to my vision.

Vlog inspiration

Celery Dave (2025)

Main source of inspiration for the vlog
Used the script as a guide to help me structure my own
Liked the feeling of cutting back to him talking on his own spliced with clips of the process
Similar length to how long my vlog section would be

Alex Cisse (2026)

Strong personal narrative discussing problems and experiences. Wanted a similar style of script/ delivery to mine
Good sense of story from start to end
All shot on an iPhone using the RAW mode. My housemate’s iPhone 16 had this mode and he allowed me to use it

Wesley Wang (2023)

Breaks up video with quotes over a black screen.
Inspired the structure of my video being broken up with clearly defined sections e.g. “Getting the Spark Back”

Boke’s Day Off (2024)

Took inspiration from the structure:
– Opens with the problem and goes on to explain the process for the rest of the video

Music inspiration

Although I didn’t take any direct influences for the music, the thematic idea of using found sound to create music stemmed from producer Yosi Horikawa (Red Bull, 2014). His production process heavily involves making use of the sounds around him, as well as spending time field recording in nature. He describes not hearing these sounds as music initially but as scenery. With this, he forms rhythms by layering different textures together. I wanted to bring this style of producing into my project to create a similar aesthetic in the final tracks.

My dance track is split into three main sections and each part was inspired by a particular song:

5. Use of Technology

To showcase my use of technology, I created a short video covering the key tools and techniques used throughout my production process.

In hindsight, I feel I could have processed some of the sounds less in the dance track, allowing more of the natural qualities from Genevieve’s recordings to be heard in the music. This would have strengthened the connection between the original sounds and the final tracks.

6. Evaluation

Evaluation

Personally, I feel the dance video’s editing is the weakest part of the video. However, due to the collaborative nature of this project, I decided to leave Owen’s edit in to highlight each member’s work they brought to the project.

Potential Development

Regarding potential development, I would edit the dance section myself as well as adding an interview style section with Genevieve before releasing it on YouTube.

Conclusion

Overall, the project was a success and achieved what I set out to do. The theme of creative limitations helped give the project a clear direction and helped me reconnect with my passion for music, the main point covered in my vlog. Both collaborators made the process more enjoyable, and both brought something valuable to the final piece.

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