Rain is something I generally associate with going to the movies, and this past Thursday was no exception. With Friday looming over the horizon, I found myself shuffling through the rain toward the Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center building for an evening of experimental media. This was my first show at the new building, and I was rather impressed with the number of personnel on hand, pleased as punch to hold the door for me. I unfortunately arrived as the lights were dimming and didn’t get too good a look around; however, I found the chairs to be very comfortable and accommodating. I always find comfort to be a key element in entertainment that can be easily overlooked—and boy were these chairs something.
Spectropia was projected across three different screens in the studio, while creator Toni Dove and her assistant sat to the side waving their arms like frantic conductors. Although it was a very interesting concept, I feel as though movies are simply meant to be watched; that there’s no real need for the interaction. Essentially, Dove controlled the rate at which the film played by rotating her hand in a circular motion, and her assistant seemed to have some control over the sound effects. Any time either of them interfered with the show, it didn’t seem to add much; the sounds were loud, harsh and just unappealing to hear. I suppose it was to add to the atmosphere, but perhaps moderation was in order.
In addition to the main story, two characters, controlled by Dove and her assistant, would appear on screen to comment on the movie or audience. They held a question-and-answer session after the show where they actually explained what was happening; the only problem was that not many stayed to listen. It would have made the film experience seem more impressive had the audience been aware of what Dove was actually contributing to the film.
Withdrawing from the experimental portion, I found the movie itself to be rather confusing and quite honestly wasn’t sure of what was happening until maybe 20 minutes before the show was over. The protagonist, Spectropia, lives in a futuristic dystopia, in a lab where she is developing a sort of time machine. Spectropia’s family history is shrouded in mystery, and she attempts to discover what happened by jumping into another character’s body at a different time in history. This is where I think the film lost me; what with Spectropia jumping between two different story lines, I felt as though I was being slammed with information that seemed too jumbled to understand until the end. However, this is the type of film to see more than once due to of the amount of different things occurring simultaneously.
Even though I was confused, I feel as though that is what Dove was aiming for. To submerge her audience completely into the film, she surrounds them with strange sound effects, characters’ thoughts while they were speaking, and the narrator’s point of view to put us into the very confused mind of Spectropia. The sheer wealth of time and thought Dove must have put in is astounding. I feel as though Dove has hooked me on EMPAC; I mean, if this is where the technology is at now, I can’t wait to see what’s next.
