AMEN: AUDIENCE REVELATION

The pieces of art as well as narratives, films, poetry and music that have always left the biggest impression on me are ones that have had some sort of revelation to them. This could be a plot twist, the discovery of the preferred reading or a hidden enigma of ideology. Equally it may simply be something that I missed. The revelation may be self discovered, revealed in the notes or descriptions next to the artworks or discovered through research about the particular piece. This is an idea I really want to incorporate into my Amen Brother piece. By careful use of music and visual clues I want the audience to stumble upon or catch on to the preferred reading using aural and visual senses and communication. I want them to hear and possibly see through repeated interpretations or visuals is the same drum beat has been appropriated, re-purposed and re-imagined in different musical pieces.

It is useful here to re-cap the audience reception theory where the preferred reading is the reading that the creator of the piece intended. A negotiated reading is where you sort of agree, an oppositional reading is where the audience disagree and subversive is where the audience completely miss the point altogether and come up with their own reading. I love the idea of being playful with this. How far can you go in creating lots of potential preferred readings? Will this confuse the audience? Does a piece have to have one preferred reading? Can potential preferred readings cross over and cross pollinate each other as well as contrast, contradict and complement one another? I find this to be a very fertile ground for experimentation and discovery.

To start off with though I thought it would be valid to go back to some of the texts that I have experienced that I found revelatory to try and unpick this phenomenon to better see how i may be able to utilize it in my work.

CHEMICAL BROTHERS: STAR GUITAR (MICHEL GONDRY)

Michel Gondry's excellent music video for the Chemical brothers song Star Guitar was a definite revelatory piece for me. I did manage to fathom what was going on about a minute in but it did suck me in. At first glance it it merely an increasingly boring view from a train carriage but then the penny drops and you realise that the elements of the song, drums, electronic sounds etc are all represented by elements in the shot that you see passing by popping into shot exactly as the sound is played in the music. I have shown this to my students and they do indeed find it really boring UNTIL they realise what is happening. The images are still very ordinary but the revelation at the idea really impresses them. It works by being so obvious and apparent but that you almost feel daft at not noticing it. The joy then is watching it again with informed eyes and enjoying it again but in a completely different way.



JAN VAN DER VARRT: VIOLIN AND BOW HANGING ON A DOOR

Another revelation I have encountered is the Tromp L'oeil Painting of, Violin and Bow Hanging On a Door, by Jan van der Varrt. This is exhibited in Chatsworth House in derbyshire and is of as violin painted on a door. The trick here is that it does not look like a painting and has a 3D quality. This is created by a mixture of excellent realism painting, clever presentation and keeping the audience from getting too close to spoil the illusion. The revelation here being that you simply do not notice until it is pointed out. the jury is out as to if it would be spotted as a painting if there were not notices and guides telling you but this does beg the question should an audience be told. In order to get the revelation yes and therefore as above to appreciate the piece again with new and informed eyes. Are there possible ways for self discovery though that could be interesting.

 

M. NIGHT SHYALAMAN: SIXTH SENSE:

Shyalamans film cleverly builds a narrative and structure that sucks the audience in as a psychotherapist struggles to help a child patient who "sees dead people". Spoiler alert as at the end Bruce Willis is revealed to be not really in the film but unbeknown to him one of the "dead people" that the child sees. The revelation is huge and does make to want to re-watch and almost kick yourself for not spotting the clues to this being the case. The revelation is stronger by no real mention of any of it being a possibility throughout the film.

Moving forward with revelation in my own work and incorporating some of the findings from above these are the areas I feel need more research and development.

• How to reveal the revelation. Should audience be told or find out for themselves.
• Can revelation be controlled by drip feeding clues to the audience and build these to aid revelation.
• The revelation must all be apparent from what is put in front of the audience and almost be so obvious once you know that it is annoying.
• Can I use visual as well as aural clues in Amen Brother in tandem.
• Re-watching should be made possible. looping the film or keeping it short enough for audience to be able to watch it again to get the clues second time round.