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, 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, 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 et al. 2021)

Perhaps a kind of gentle counter-narrative?

 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

 The quotidian sonic experience of wildlife (in the autumn) on a mountain moor. 

 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, 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 “movement”:

 Grouse on the moor: intimate sounds, gentle winds, drama introduced by sound of the beaters culminating in the shock of gunfire.  A moment of silence for dramatic impact.  Audience to feel immersed but then unsettled- uncertain what will follow. A sudden change in their internal story telling.

Rain and water sequence: sound of rain for pathos and then introduction of the water polyphony to create a wider sense of landscape, maybe renewal. Audience to feel moved by the flow- sense of renewal

Wind sequence- as with the flowing water wind is a constant part of a moorland landscape.  Further introduction of anthropophony by the haunting sound of wind vibrating in rusting objects of an abandoned miner’s shelter.  Audience to feel curious, dislocated in time.

Traffic sequence- after a brief reprieve and a return to wildlife sounds the audience perhaps believing this will be the resolution are confronted with increasing mechanical sounds of the helicopter and traffic on the Hartside road.  Audience to feel intrigued or perhaps confused.  Emotionally disconnected from the grouse and return to daily experience 

Setting for the audience: main theatre with a good sound system and appropriate lighting.

 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?