DANCING ON THE EDGE Stephen Poliakoff, the British playwright, director and scriptwriter, is known for rich, layered, character-driven television series such as SHOOTING THE PAST, PERFECT STRANGERS and THE LOST PRINCE. Having previously only ever worked with film, Poliakoff was reluctant to accept digital acquisition for his latest project, DANCING ON THE EDGE, a tense and disturbing account of the experiences of a black jazz band in 1930s London. However, cinematographer Ashley Rowe, BSC, shot tests with ALEXA and convinced the director of its overall image quality and low light advantages. Producer Nicky Kentish Barnes had other reasons for choosing ALEXA; she shares her experiences here.
What were the factors that pushed DANCING ON THE EDGE towards digital acquisition?
Well, Stephen has never shot on digital before; hes only ever shot film, so he desperately wanted to stay with 16 mm. He also likes to shoot quite a lot of footage on his projects, and on this production we had two cameras running most of the time, because there werent many scenes where it was just a couple of people in a room. When you have a 12-piece band that youre taking around with you everywhere, you havent got the luxury of working with just one camera, so we generally had two, if not three. For that reason shooting film was a bit of a non-starter for me, financially speaking, but it took a lot of persuading for Stephen and we did loads of tests.
Thank God that Ashley, who is such a brilliant cameraman, embraced it. I think its all about how the cameraman makes the tools he has available work for him. A lot of digital stuff doesnt necessarily look all that fantastic, but the images Ashley got with the ALEXA were quite incredible.
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DANCING ON THE EDGE Stephen Poliakoff, the British playwright, director and scriptwriter, is known for rich, layered, character-driven television series such as SHOOTING THE PAST, PERFECT STRANGERS and THE LOST PRINCE. Having previously only ever worked with film, Poliakoff was reluctant to accept digital acquisition for his latest project, DANCING ON THE EDGE, a tense and disturbing account of the experiences of a black jazz band in 1930s London. However, cinematographer Ashley Rowe, BSC, shot tests with ALEXA and convinced the director of its overall image quality and low light advantages. Producer Nicky Kentish Barnes had other reasons for choosing ALEXA; she shares her experiences here. 
