So I talked a little bit about Les Illuminations before I left to go see it, but I am back andddd to be in all honesty, I was quite disappointed, and that's putting it mildly.
Ok so I arrive early so I can go along to the artists talk. Which I thought would be really good to learn how its done, her inspirations etc. She ended up talking more about the composer than what she was doing. She said that it is all live and that she "starts with nothing to show and endings with nothing to show". Which obviously isnt true, she must have SOMETHING at the beginning like a collection of footage that she will piece together and all the text ready. She said that she was going to use text to literally translate what the opera singing was singing (it was sung in french). I was interested at how she was going to display the text without it being distracting and still being able to see/ use the visuals.
So after an hour of amazing playing by the Scottish ensemble which I thoroughly enjoyed, it was time for the grand finale. Now, I am trying to be critical and talk analytically of her work in this part..but it will be very very hard. What was presented in front of us was a shambles of huge block text on top of stock footage looking visuals. Let me break it down a bit more;
The text was THEE worst aspect of the whole show. Instead of just maybe incorporating a few key words to give the essence of what the opera singer was talking about, but it was laid out in block form covering the entire screen. The worst thing was, was that she had not even taken into consideration the fact that the audience sat 4ft below the stage to the half of the words were unreadable from the Scottish ensemble. What really annoyed me about the text was that it wasn't even essential. I found myself having to choose between whether I wanted to try and concentrate on reading the text or watching and engaging the the opera singers vivid, exciting and animation voice which I believe conveyed what he was singing about on its on.
What Netia created with the text was a DISTRACTION. She said herself that she wanted to "compliment" "enhance" all these good words but what she did was create a distractions which totally defeated the purpose of her being there.
NOW, on to the Visuals. I have no idea if she took the visuals herself. I would hope and presume so but even if she did, they lacked originality and creativity. It's everything I have learned to run away from as a student; the footsteps in the sand, awful transitional layers, trees in the wind etc. I just honestly don't understand how on earth she has been doing this for 10 years.
So could she have done a better job if this was put together with more thought before the performance? Im not sure, as they musicians are playing live then there is a chance of the timing being off and they would have to be constantly watching to stay on time.
The concept of live visuals to live music is a great idea but I think this particular show was a bit disappointing I was expecting more, but maybe where I do go from here is turn my disappointment into opportunity. It shows that there is a gap in the market for something new and fresh, its just no one has found the right balance between live and prepared work.
I shall come back and have a look at more of Netia's work and see if maybe this is just a one off slump but not now, Ive had enough for now.
No comments:
Post a Comment