SHR6E032F~002 25103246 Portfolio and Video Evidence.

SHR6E032F~002 Portfolio and Video Evidence

1. Project Overview

The collaborative project involves the creation of 3 tracks that explore different emotions and themes, designed to accompany dance and showcase stories through movement. Research within music and dance therapy suggests that dance can be used in expressive ways to communicate feelings that words can’t fully describe (Van Dyck, Burger and Orlandatou, 2017). This then became a key influence, supporting the project’s intended focus on emotive themes such as isolation, pressure and release, with each track representing a different emotive theme through distinct production and arrangement techniques and varied sonic textures. Therefore, the project intends to showcase how music influences physical movement through different emotive themes.

The first track, ‘Cypher’, is intended to explore isolation, achieved through atmospheric pads, minimal rhythmic movements, and sparse instrumentation. Additional filter automation and delays were used to influence emotion through slower build-ups. The approach for this track was influenced by ambient electronic tracks, where there is often a lot of minimisation, which creates a space that reinforces emotions.

The second track’s ‘Forever’ intention was to explore themes of release and resolution through using wider voicings, energetic sections and brighter pads. Using uplifting progressions and harmonies enables the choreography to enter a deeper emotive state and allows for an openly expressive performance.

The third and final track, ‘Fracture’, is intended to explore themes of pressure through repetition of rhythmical patterns; layered textures and automation were used to create feelings of tension throughout. This is influenced by electronic dance music and would be utilised in the performance aspect, where music is often used to create heightened emotional scenarios.

My role within the project was to produce, arrange and mix 3 tracks at 3:30 – 4 mins long whilst working alongside a group of dancers for choreographed movement. Unfortunately, during the project, all dancers withdrew from the collaboration, shifting our focus to solo choreographed pieces that explored emotion and expression in a deeper context.

2. Panopto Video – Final Product (10-12 Minutes)

3. Chronological Monthly Diary

September 2025:

During September, the initial concept was established, and we began to talk about different themes and directions the project could go in. After lengthy discussions, we decided on themes of isolation, pressure, and release. After we discussed themes, planning began on how we could transform the emotive themes into life.

October 2025:

During October, we sourced 4 other dancers and an editor to support the project. I began exploring different production styles and techniques to discover a basic framework and direction to work from. Initial ideas were created with the arrangement mapped out for the general flow of the track.

November 2025:

In November, a Gantt chart was created to organise the project and create a clear, cohesive timeline with key milestones to ensure the smoothness of the project. Alongside rigid planning I continued to explore different techniques and avenues to take the music and how I could align the tracks with the themes established.

December 2025:

Throughout December, further research was conducted into varied dance styles to see how music can interact with movement. This research influenced decisions around genre, style, tempo and overall structure, as different movements needed different levels of intensity within the track. All research and inspiration informed decision-making in the early stages of the tracks.

January 2026:

Throughout January, production was the primary focus, which led to the completion of the first track. This first track’s theme was isolation, and this was explored through atmospheric pads and strings. Screenshots of arrangements were documented and can be seen in Appendix 1.

February 2026:

During February, choreography for Cypher began taking shape by exploring the track and bringing the concept of isolation to life through movement. Alongside this, the second track, ‘Forever’, was being significantly developed.

March 2026:

During March, Forever was nearing 80% completion. However, at this stage, the project was heavily impacted due to all additional dancers withdrawing from the project. This shifted our focus to solo performances to ensure that we were able to meet deadlines.

April 2026:

Throughout April, all tracks were completed and finalised, and choreography was completed. Therefore, the filming process had begun, marking the transition from the production and planning phase to the completion of the project.

Appendix 1: Cypher Arrangement.

4. Evidence of Planning/Process

The project started with a strong foundation in September 2025 and was progressing smoothly with collaborative discussions taking place on early planning, musical experimentation and project outcomes, enabling us to have a clear and defined vision for what the outcome would be. A Gantt chart was developed to effectively optimise workflow and highlight key milestones throughout the project to maximise our proficiency and accuracy. The first Gantt chart highlights ideal deadlines for choreography, filming and music compositions, as shown in Appendix 2, whereas an updated version of the Gantt chart shows our realistic timeline, as seen in Appendix 3. The continuous planning and optimisation of these charts ensured we stayed on target with realistic deadlines and hit our key milestones to complete the project on time.

Appendix 2: Initial Gantt Chart

1st Gantt Chart Download

Appendix 3: Actual Gantt Chart

Through the production process, sufficient documentation was kept surrounding arrangements, sound design techniques, effect techniques and mixing stages within my chosen DAW (Logic Pro), which can be seen in Appendices 4, 5, and 6. This evidence clearly demonstrates the progression of each track and showcases the technical work that went into each track. Alongside this, sufficient communication between dancers and myself helped shape the framework for the tracks; this can be seen in Appendix 7.

Although there was a strong start to the project, there were significant disruptions to the project, which meant halting the choreography due to conflicting schedules and availability. Due to this halting schedule, it was recognised that the reliance on external collaborators wasn’t accounted for in our contingency plans. However, I remained focused on the compositional aspects of the project and worked to create tracks that would align with our project’s intention and aims.

Appendix 4: Fracture Arrangement.

In February, the project resumed with choreography for Cypher continuing to be developed, allowing us to see our vision. Fast forward to March, all dancers except my sister had withdrawn from the project due to conflicting schedules, availability and disinterest in the project, which can be seen in Appendix 8. The response to this was to shift the focus from a group performance to focusing on solo performances. This decision was our mitigation/ contingency plan to ensure that the project remained achievable and met our initial themes and concepts.

Although the adaptation shifted the vision of the project, it greatly increased flexibility and working schedules when working with a solo dancer as opposed to working within a group. This meant that the revised structure improved our vision and enabled us to connect movement and music on a deeper level whilst ensuring the project reached completion on time.

Appendix 5: Fracture Sound Design.

Appendix 6: Forever Mixing Window.

Appendix 7: Track Discussion.

Appendix 8: Dancers Dropping Out.

5. Reference Material/Inspiration

Cypher’s primary intention was to incorporate feelings of isolation; my influence for this track follows in the footsteps of Echoes of Silence by Oxalis, seen in Appendix 9 (OXALIS – Topic, 2023). His combination of atmospheric textures, minimalism and gradual changes creates a sparse emotional atmosphere that I used in this track to hold emotional weight through sparse textures, creating feelings of isolation. Research suggests that within a performance context, emotional performance can affect speed, movement and intensity, often resulting in restrained/ minimal movement patterns (Van Zijl and Luck, 2012). This further influenced my approach by utilising sparse textures and slow, minimal changes through the combinations of hip-hop and electronic music.

Appendix 9 – Oxalis – Echoes of Silence.

Forever’s foundation was built upon the influences of Odesza – A moment apart, seen in Appendix 10 (ODESZA, 2017). Odesza uses evolving textures and bright and melodic progressions to create an uplifting atmosphere that can be directly correlated with feeling so release. Additionally, he also gradually develops his instrumentation, which directly influences the use of wider and brighter harmony choices in Forever.

Fractures’ intended theme is pressure, and my influences from this were Bicep – Glue, seen in Appendix 11 (BICEP, 2017). Bicep uses repetitive rhythmic sections to create an emotional buildup. He also uses dynamic progressions, gradual layering and repetition to build a sense of continuity, which correlates well with the intended theme. Therefore, this influenced my approach with Fractures, particularly through my use of rhythmic repetition, which supports my theme of pressure.

6. Use of Technology

The DAW of choice for this project was Logic Pro, which was used for arrangement, sound design and the mixing stages across each track. Logic allowed me to structure the track quickly and efficiently, using markers to mark out each section. This also allowed me to visually see how I wanted to structure the emotional progression throughout each track. Screenshots were taken to document the structural elements of each track, which can be seen in Appendix 12.

Appendix 12: Forever Structural Elements.

Throughout the production process, I used a variety of software instruments and techniques to shape and support the emotional themes. Particularly for ‘Cypher’, I predominantly used a mixture of pianos, synths, and a harp to capture the emotional tension. In contrast, for ‘Forever’ I used similar instruments with a heavier focus on pads and strings, primarily to create that wider harmony I’ve previously mentioned to create an uplifting atmosphere. I also heavily used automation across all tracks to create varied intensity, dynamic contrast and an emotional structure to hold the track together. Automation was effective as it aligned with the emotional pacing within the choreography.

Additionally, I used minimal mixing techniques to maintain dynamic tension throughout the tracks, but also to maintain clarity and balance throughout. Gain staging played a prominent role within the mixing phase to ensure all instruments were at a desirable level to create space for atmospheric instruments and melodic layers to shine through. Selective EQ, reverb and delays were made to create an emotional atmosphere and choreography in a performance context.

Alongside written commentary, a production vlog was created to document my process, which can be seen in Appendix 13. The vlog demonstrates my creative thought process and highlights any decisions I made regarding mixing, arrangement and mixing decisions.

Appendix 13: Production Vlog – Forever.

7. Evaluation

I firmly believe that the project was successful overall, as I believe I managed to capture the emotional intentions listed previously. Although the project changed directory the outcome still reflects positively on themes of isolation, pressure and release that were established early on.

The collaboration aspect of the project had both strengths and challenges presented to us. Strengths of the collaboration were through initial progress within the early planning stages, with clear communication and early development of choreography. However, there were limitations/ challenges with collaboration, specifically with the withdrawals from external collaborators due to availability, disinterest and schedule conflicts. This negatively impacted the project by creating delays and halting choreography, which forced us to change the project directory. However, despite the unfortunate events, perseverance meant we were able to adapt the project and increase our flexibility as a team, which effectively allowed us to meet deadlines.

As mentioned above, the withdrawal of external collaborators was the biggest challenge as it posed disruptions to keeping consistent continuity throughout the project. This proved to be a struggle due to the rather quickwithdrawal. This therefore negatively impacted the project, halting a crucial stage in the project, which ultimately set back the project, forcing us to work on stricter deadlines. Contingency plans were put in place to simplify the process, which included scaling down to using just 1 performer. These changes were proven effective as they meant that we could stick to our emotional themes and performance-based focus and still meet deadlines.

From a creative aspect, during track feedback, some tracks were better suited for dances compared to others. ‘Cypher’ appeared to be the track that was most suited for dance, with ‘Fractures’ coming in close second, and ‘Forever’ being the least danceable. This shows that I could have adapted each track even more to match the desired performance context. Additionally, respondents struggled to identify the key emotions I intended to use, which suggests that there is significant improvement to be made for future renditions to successfully capture each emotion as intended. Instead, respondents thought of themes such as ‘subdued and hopeful’,‘depressive feelings’, ‘expressive’, and ‘feeling of loss’, which don’t match my intended themes. However, 80% of respondents felt that each track followed a clear theme, despite not matching with mine, which shows I’ve succeeded in creating emotion, just not my intended purpose. Furthermore, all respondents thought that all tracks were suited for the same project, which shows that all tracks follow roughly the same emotional structure for dance.

Future Development:

If I were to do this project again, I would spend more time researching specific emotions and analysing other tracks to refine relationships between emotion and dance and how I can effectively convey specific emotions that produce a greater response from a dance point of view. Additionally, I would improve the communication between external collaborators and myself by adopting a simultaneous approach as opposed to working separately. This would ensure that the music and choreography would suit each other better due to the consistent communication. I would also incorporate better, stronger contingency plans to fall back on that would strengthen the project event further. This could include scheduling backup dancers to ensure that if dropouts occur, we have dancers. I could also implement stricter rehearsal structures, which would improve communication so that everyone has clearer deadlines to adhere to. Finally, gaining feedback regularly and early in the project would ensure that the outcome is as accurate as possible, which would therefore improve the emotional clarity and improve choreography.

Final Reflection

Overall, the project proved to be a valuable experience in working with other personnel from different sectors in the creative industry. It has allowed me to create music for different purposes and guided me into thinking about how my music can be perceived in different contexts, such as for dance. This project has also taught me project management skills and effective communication skills to ensure the project stays afloat. Due to the unfortunate nature of events that occurred, it has also taught me how to mitigate against different scenarios, as well as showing me the importance of contingency planning. With all this in mind, I believe that it has given me the necessary tools to continue taking part in different projects with different sectors within the creative industry.

8. Bibliography

BICEP (2017). BICEP | GLUE (Official Video). [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7ZxRs45tTg&list=RDA7ZxRs45tTg [Accessed 22 Apr. 2026].

ODESZA (2017). ODESZA – A Moment Apart – Official Audio. [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xarC5jAiO7w&list=RDxarC5jAiO7w [Accessed 21 Apr. 2026].

OXALIS – Topic (2023). Echoes Of Silence. [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQE_QR9ivtU&list=RDQQE_QR9ivtU [Accessed 22 Apr. 2026].

Van Dyck, E., Burger, B. and Orlandatou, K. (2017). The Communication of Emotions in Dance. In: The Routledge Companion to Embodied Music Interaction. [online] Routledge, pp.122–130. Available at: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315621364-14/communication-emotions-dance-edith-van-dyck-birgitta-burger-konstantina-orlandatou [Accessed 22 Apr. 2026].

Van Zijl, A.G.W. and Luck, G. (2012). Moved through music: The effect of experienced emotions on performers’ movement characteristics. [online] pp.175–197. Available at: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0305735612458334 [Accessed 11 May 2026].