(Photo Credit: Michael Cooper)
IF I HAD A CRYSTAL BALL
A dim, murky look into the future of live performance
What gets you to leave the comfort of your own home to be somewhere at an appointed time and fork over a good chunk of money to see something?
by Arden R. Ryshpan
by Arden R. Ryshpan
As a self-confessed gadget fan and a moderately early adopter, I have always been comfortable with technology, both in my home and in my workplace. But I am increasingly uncomfortable with a question I have asked both privately and publicly; in a world where you can get any amount of “entertainment product” at any time you want and can watch it on the device of your choosing at your convenience for very little money, what gets you to leave the comfort of your own home to be somewhere at an appointed time and fork over a good chunk of money to see something?
Clever creators are using Facebook and Twitter not simply as replacements for traditional (and expensive) advertising...
So, if I had a crystal ball, I would look into it and say that I see a not too distant future where the massive impact that technology has had on the film, television and music industries will have an impact on live performance as well. I just can’t make out exactly what that looks like right now, whether it’s the way we promote our work or new ways we incorporate media into the work, it’s bound to change things. Clever creators are using Facebook and Twitter not simply as replacements for traditional (and expensive) advertising but as whole new ways to engage their audiences in direct dialogue with members of the creative team. YouTube offers views on the production process otherwise inaccessible to the paying public. (And we could have an entire discussion about whether that is or isn’t a good thing, nevermind the issues it causes for the collective agreements.) Films and television programs have been using “trailers” as ways to encourage audiences to come and see or to tune in – now so is live performance.
So, if I had a crystal ball, I would look into it and say that I see a not too distant future where the massive impact that technology has had on the film, television and music industries will have an impact on live performance as well. I just can’t make out exactly what that looks like right now, whether it’s the way we promote our work or new ways we incorporate media into the work, it’s bound to change things. Clever creators are using Facebook and Twitter not simply as replacements for traditional (and expensive) advertising but as whole new ways to engage their audiences in direct dialogue with members of the creative team. YouTube offers views on the production process otherwise inaccessible to the paying public. (And we could have an entire discussion about whether that is or isn’t a good thing, nevermind the issues it causes for the collective agreements.) Films and television programs have been using “trailers” as ways to encourage audiences to come and see or to tune in – now so is live performance.
The ability to incorporate increasingly sophisticated technical elements into a production at comparatively affordable rates, has expanded creative possibilities significantly. And for all this, we should be profoundly grateful. If we look at all of this as providing a whole new set of tools to expand creative possibilities, just imagine what wonders our stages may contain.
That is the positive side.
We have a whole generation of kids growing up thinking that they should be able to get their “entertainment product” for free...
But there is a negative side. And it is significant. We have a whole generation of kids growing up thinking that they should be able to get their “entertainment product” for free without any understanding of the economics of production, never mind the ethics of copyright infringement and the theft of intellectual property. Furthermore, I am concerned about their apparent lack of critical faculties. Many of them have never actually listened to music on anything but an MP3 player and a pair of earbuds and have absolutely no idea how little of the actual music they are hearing as a result. In fact, recent studies have shown that amongst that generation they actually prefer the tinny, high end sound they are used to rather than the full spectrum sound that comes from a proper sound system, something apparently sufficiently outdated that many young folks working in places like Future Shop have no idea what you are talking about if you come looking for wires for components for those things… They also seem sufficiently happy with the miserable visual quality of the material on YouTube and don’t seem to be bothered by ugly visuals, bad sound or inferior production skills. If that is what you grow up with, how do you develop any critical faculties? How do you learn to actually distinguish good from mediocre? When do you learn that what you like isn’t necessarily “good” and what you personally don’t like is therefore “bad”? If you don’t care about the quality of the presentation, in the future why should anyone bother to put the effort into production values?
But there is a negative side. And it is significant. We have a whole generation of kids growing up thinking that they should be able to get their “entertainment product” for free without any understanding of the economics of production, never mind the ethics of copyright infringement and the theft of intellectual property. Furthermore, I am concerned about their apparent lack of critical faculties. Many of them have never actually listened to music on anything but an MP3 player and a pair of earbuds and have absolutely no idea how little of the actual music they are hearing as a result. In fact, recent studies have shown that amongst that generation they actually prefer the tinny, high end sound they are used to rather than the full spectrum sound that comes from a proper sound system, something apparently sufficiently outdated that many young folks working in places like Future Shop have no idea what you are talking about if you come looking for wires for components for those things… They also seem sufficiently happy with the miserable visual quality of the material on YouTube and don’t seem to be bothered by ugly visuals, bad sound or inferior production skills. If that is what you grow up with, how do you develop any critical faculties? How do you learn to actually distinguish good from mediocre? When do you learn that what you like isn’t necessarily “good” and what you personally don’t like is therefore “bad”? If you don’t care about the quality of the presentation, in the future why should anyone bother to put the effort into production values?
A healthy diet requires exposure to a variety of arts and culture, both high and low...
Given the increasing challenge of many school boards to be able to afford to bring in quality theatre for young audiences, there are literally thousands and thousands of school children in this country whose sum total of cultural exposure is whatever drivel they have seen on network television, the latest plotless exercise in violence from the Hollywood studios or the latest sneezing panda video on their computer (as someone cleverly described a whole genre of material). Lest you think I am some sort of cultural elitist, please don’t get me wrong – I love a big superhero movie and a bag of popcorn as much as anybody. I just understand that a steady diet of that will eventually rot my teeth and I will die of malnutrition. A healthy diet requires exposure to a variety of arts and culture, both high and low – a healthy ecology of the arts means some of everything available for general consumption and the societal encouragement to try new and different flavours in order to expand ones palate.
Given the increasing challenge of many school boards to be able to afford to bring in quality theatre for young audiences, there are literally thousands and thousands of school children in this country whose sum total of cultural exposure is whatever drivel they have seen on network television, the latest plotless exercise in violence from the Hollywood studios or the latest sneezing panda video on their computer (as someone cleverly described a whole genre of material). Lest you think I am some sort of cultural elitist, please don’t get me wrong – I love a big superhero movie and a bag of popcorn as much as anybody. I just understand that a steady diet of that will eventually rot my teeth and I will die of malnutrition. A healthy diet requires exposure to a variety of arts and culture, both high and low – a healthy ecology of the arts means some of everything available for general consumption and the societal encouragement to try new and different flavours in order to expand ones palate.
I worry that what we will see is only the two far ends of the spectrum – huge, visual spectacles on one side and small, experimental material on the other with everything else in between falling victim to the challenge of finding an audience willing to leave their house at that appointed time and pay good money for the privilege of doing so.
Boy, I hope I’m wrong.
Arden R. Ryshpan is the executive director of Canadian Actors Equity Association. You can also listen to her discuss the future of the arts in Canada on episode 2 of This Is The CPC (also available on iTunes)
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments are moderated. Please read our guidelines for posting comments.