Inviting the audience to participate in the creation of their own experience.<\/p>\n
Well executed, the constructing of the experience in such a way as to subliminally engage those immersed in it can make for an intimate and quite personal experience for each member of the audience, irrespective of theatre or audience size.<\/p>\n
What is Subliminal Engagement?<\/p>\n
Another way to put it is \u201cto make the audience do some of the work.\u201d Create an experience that is in some ways incomplete…leaving it to each audience member to \u201ccomplete\u201d for oneself. The set, a song, a word or conclusion\u2026<\/p>\n
Rather than hand it all to them, rather than to fully articulate each thing in any dimension, hint; lead them to something but don\u2019t take them all the way\u2026 Allow for the journey or journeys to be completed in the imaginations of the audience members.<\/p>\n
With finesse, something almost magical can happen. One can offer each person in the audience the discovery or rediscovery of something intensely personal. What ramps up the resonance, the intensity of the experience is that most every member of the audience can experience this personal epiphany at virtually the exact, same moment; offering a theatre-wide, palpable, almost physical rush that renders the experience exponentially more powerful.<\/p>\n
The most universally-appreciated example of this would likely be Julie Taymor\u2019s costume designs for \u201cThe Lion King.\u201d These costumes evoke<\/em> jungle animals rather than attempt to fully articulate them. Ergo, what happens in the mind of each audience member is the recognition<\/em> of a hyena, a zebra, a gazelle\u2026 Not just any hyena or zebra is perceived, however, and not the same one, throughout the theatre; rather, each person recognizes a specific, individual personal experience of \u201czebra\u201d – the animal that s\/he knows or first saw or experienced.<\/p>\n It is a \u201cshared, personal experience;\u201d the power of which cannot be overstated despite the virtual nature of it. This experience is is borne of Subliminal Engagement.<\/p>\n Referencing the Stanford film that was shared in an earlier post; this is the primary purpose or goal of creating a film that was shot with two, adjacent cameras and projected on two, adjacent screens that were separated by about 15\u2019 of stage. The separation of the screens was key to the vitality of the experience.<\/strong> When watched in situ<\/em>, the imaginations of the audience pull those screens together, creating the single image that is being perceived…they are working to create their own experience, side-by-side with one another.<\/p>\n Stanford “Think Again” films #1: Back to the Farm – YouTube<\/a><\/p>\n There is a sublime exultation that effervesces within each of us as we watch, engage and create the vary experiences that we are appreciating and enjoying…in a sense, we are discovering.<\/p>\n The extreme of this – which is a theatrically traditional technique – is, as one may imagine, darkness; punctuated with light for the action, sounds and effects broadcast into darkness, bare stages with boxes and ladders and spartan sets\u2026 While that can<\/em> work, care must be exercised in the avoidance of going too far in one direction, risking boredom or distraction by the very spareness that is meant to do the evoking.<\/p>\n I believe what gives this its power and effectiveness is the lushness or completeness of what is<\/em> articulated, rendering what is missing<\/em> that much more dissonant – and by that dissonance, that absence, calling forth more colorful and complete imagery and experience from the imagination.<\/p>\n There are myriad ways of creating experience that elicit Subliminal Engagement: observe, examine, invent, adopt\u2026create.<\/p>\n Again, thank you for reading; I hope this helps or inspires.<\/p>\n If you have a moment to comment or offer feedback, below, please do; I appreciate that stuff!<\/p>\n And, with that, this concludes the introductory overview of my Five Tenets for the Creation of Compelling Experience. With next week’s post, I’ll begin exploring some of the science behind the methodologies and their anecdotal applications. Always brief and, imho, always int’restin’.<\/p>\n KO<\/p>\n Inviting the audience to participate in the creation of their own experience. Well executed, the constructing of the experience in such a way as to subliminally engage those immersed in it can make for an intimate and quite personal experience … Continue reading