Author: lp7g15

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly – ThreeWay Standoff (1966)

Thanks to the camera pivoting on subtle facial expressions and hand movements, we are drown to focus on the screen more than ever as the subtle movements pile up progressively, creating suspense.

This scene from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is an inspiration to the visuals of my video. This is because it is filmed to show a form of non verbal dialogue between the characters, where the absence of verbalisation is commonly considered “silence”.

A performance by William Marx of John Cage’s 4’33

"Wherever we are, what we hear is mostly noise. When we ignore it, it disturbs us. When we listen to it, we find it fascinating. The sound of a truck at fifty miles per hour. Static between the stations. Rain. We want to capture and control these sounds, to use them not as sound effects but as musical instruments." - John Cage, Silence: Lectures and Writings.
John Cage is a composer well known for connecting art and music through his work. The video above shows the pianist, William Marx, walking into the opera house getting ready to play the piano; but everything sits still. The composition prepared for the pianist is solemnly made of pauses which opens the audience to focus on the “silence” in the room.
This artwork which I believe has a performative element to it, elevates the importance of the subtle sounds that we would usually discard, and consider noise perhaps, and makes them the key element of the work. It makes us interact with the ambience in the room. It challenges the concept of silence. What do we consider silence? Does silence really exist? How do we perceive our surroundings?
  
With the audio of my video, I will be experimenting with the concept of silence and background sounds. The sounds I am creating explore the experience of silence and how this is personal and individual even when it is experienced socially.