Week 6

Mid Semester Reflection

This reflection is informed by course reading, discussion with others and experimentation to date.  It is structured by the content of lectures on narrative theory and Stewart Hall’s concept of Encoding and Decoding (Hall, S.1973).

I believe my work to be currently about: the creation of an uncurated, immersive visual and auditory celebration of the natural world. An enchantment (Springett, S. 2022).  This semester I am focused on the creation of a standalone auditory piece, both as an example of a soundscape and a opportunity to develop my sound recording competence and sensibilities.

 The things I’m still trying to understand in my work are: what is the narrative, what is the best way of communicating this to the audience and what do I wish to encode in the plot?  How will I get feedback from the audience on their perception, their decoding?

 Stewart Hall maintains that any critique of the formal structure of art (in particular film and television) cannot be separated from a consideration of its cultural implications.  In the creation of the work the creator will knowingly “encode” a narrative through their choice of media, plot, style, dialogue, character development, tone, colour and emotional textures etc.  There will be an overt or hidden message, a moral, a purpose to the narrative.   On the other hand, the audience will “decode” or decipher this message in differing ways- some may agree with the narrative, some may dispute parts while others may completely disagree. 

 For me by opting to create an uncurated piece of work with no dialogue, annotation or music the particular questions Hall raises for me are: what is my message (is there one, does there need to be one?), what am I intending to encode through my choice of content, its arrangement and dissemination and how will I know how the audience will perceive the work?  My purpose for choosing an uncurated style is, in itself, a message.   I am sending out a message by not choosing not to follow the standard narrative that has come to characterise wildlife films- one that has been characterised as a form of “soap opera”, with anthropomorphic characterisations of the animals and a cliched plot heavily laced with contrived jeopardy.( Somerville, K. et al. 2021)

 Narrative

 Narrative is what the work is about and can be communicated through tone, atmosphere, structure, rhythm, insinuation.  It is used to depict/create emotions and sensations.  For me this will be emotions of fear and wonder, sensations of cold to warm and to encode a sense of concern yet also hope.  I should like the viewer to be moved and left with an overall sense of reverence (hence the enchantment).

 The creation and presentation is technology dependent.  The narrative will have no commentary, no dialogue, no music and no overt messaging- no call to arms. The sights and sounds of the natural landscape and wildlife will present their own narrative.  I can see some parallels with the work of the American artist James Turrell.  Turrell describes himself as a “light artist”- not in terms of depicting light through painting or sculpture but the “materiality” of light itself.  (Solomon, R. 2016).  He is interested in the “perceptions” of the audience.  He addresses the typical alienation that some people feel towards modern art and wants his audiences “to submit” to his work and feel pleased they did.   To be immersed: “…a bit like stepping into the painting” and ultimately “seeing yourself see”.

 I find this inspirational and will be a key consideration of how the end work will be broadcast

 Story

 Story is a year in the non-human natural Lifecyle of a mountain habitat.  Starting at Winter the story will following the four seasons and let the place tell its own story. Some of the birds and animals will have short highlighted sequences but not sufficiently developed for them to be considered as characters.  Maybe the mountain is the character?

 Plot

 As mentioned in a previous blog I intend the piece to be structured on John Cage’s 4’33”.  Composed, performed and recorded in 1952, the score, lasting 4 minutes and 33 seconds directs the musicians to be “tacit”, to make no intentional sound.  The work has become known as the “silent piece” although John Cage himself believed there is no true silence in the world.  (Kim- Cohen, S. 2009). He maintained that there will always be extraneous interference and ambient sound and these can be heard in the recoding. My idea is to take the performance outdoors and let the sound of nature flood into the space created by Cage’s structure.  By doing so we imitate his immersive approach and, in the absence of a script, to have a time limiter, a constraint to assist with determining the duration of the plot.

 Changes in emotional textures and pace with each season:

 Winter: dramatic mountain top introduction- winter storm.  The audience to feel cold, high impact, disturbing, raw. Bleak winter colours (monochrome), drama and animation of the Helm wind, snow and ice. Wildlife survivors (ravens).  Loud storm sounds to underscore the visual drama. Prolonged sequences- timelapses.

 Spring- the audience to feel energised and joyous, spring colours (vibrance, yellows etc), thaw, rushing water, new life.  Lots of bird song.  Busy pace- lots of cuts between species.

 Summer- the audience to feel calm and rested.   Summer colours (sky blue, red), arrival of migrants, skylark, flowers. Sound of water, gentle breezes, insects.  Pace steadies.

 Autumn- the audience to feel reflective- introduce some stillness, another cycle is completed: how to prepare for the winter and remember the hope of spring.  Departing birds. Autumnal colours (orange, russets), some die-back (bracken), wildlife preparing for change. Closing sunset through to night sky timelapse (same location as opening shot).  End with silence

 Setting for the audience: main theatre with a big screen and a good sound system - timed screenings (introduced by me- how much to say and how to publicise is a key consideration- currently undecided).

 Audience Mapping

 Initial audience will be students and invited guests. 

 Ongoing screenings at film festivals?

 Online- who might be interested?

 People are excluded from the narrative and no overt message, no specific education and therefore no overt audience. (Mindfulness). NT demographic?

 How will the audience decode:

-               Preferred: leave with a sense of reference for the natural world and a desire to connect.  To reflect. To be more willing to watch and listen.

-              Negotiated: have been entertained but no reflection

-              Oppositional: be concerned at the lack of overt environmental message or even angered by the fantasy of the depiction of such a environmentally sterile habitat.  Be concerned at the omission of the Anthropocene impact.

 How will I get feedback on the decoding?  How much do I publicise about my encoding- my intent?

 References:

Hall, S. (1973) ‘Encoding and Decoding in the Television Discourse’, Paper for the Council of Europe Colloquy on “Training In The Critical Reading Televisual Language”. Organised by: Council and the Centre for Mass Communication Research, University of Leicester. Available at: https://www.scirp.org/reference/referencespapers?referenceid=3989724 (Accessed: 5 November 2025)

Kim-Cohen, S (2009) In the Blink of an Ear: Toward a Non-Cochlear Sonic Art. The Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd.

Solomon, R. (2016) Introduction to James Turrell, Guggenheim Museum Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udlzm3Ea3RE (Accessed: 5 November 2025).

Somerville, K., Dickman, A., Johnson, P., Hart, A. (2021) ‘Soap operas will not wash for wildlife’, People and Nature, 3 (pp. 1160-1165) British Ecological Society. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10202 (Accessed 05.11.25)

Springett, S. (2022) ‘Art-making for political ecology: practice,

poetics and activism through enchantment’, Continuum, Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, 36(3), pp. 478-494.