Joanna C.Lee
小瓊:最近,一些有遠見的團體給年輕藝術家們設計了一些方案,幫助他們在備受新冠疫情打擊的當下來充分發揮自身才能。彈射歌劇團(Catapult Opera)是紐約新興的歌劇團體之一,8月下旬,其宣布創辦的“加速比賽”項目反響非常熱烈!
小薇:根據官網(www.catapultopera.org)的介紹,本次比賽的目的旨在“激發在保持社交距離的前提下表演形式的創新”。參賽團隊必須從四段5分鐘長的歌劇選段(分別是娜迪亞·布朗格的《死城》、大衛·赫茨伯格的《喚醒的世界》、細川俊夫的《烏鴉》、埃洛琳·瓦倫的《沉默的雙胞胎》)中選擇一個參賽。之所以選取這些選段,是因為它們只需要兩名歌手的演唱再加上鋼琴伴奏,兩名歌手之間也有很多對手戲可展現。
小瓊:確實,考慮到歐美當前的疫情現狀,鮮少能見到舞臺上的現場演出,因此過渡到網絡線上演出也是順理成章的。大都會歌劇院每晚的在線播送很好看,但最近劇目重復的頻率也太高了。
小薇:“加速比賽”最吸引人的是參賽作品的制作也需要遵守保持社交距離的規則,而且參賽者只有三周時間來準備演出視頻。
小瓊:制作現場的舞臺演出總是需要有導演、舞美設計、燈光設計,有時候還需要一些后臺工作人員。那么制作視頻短片需要什么呢?很多藝術家非常熟悉科技產品,能夠用手機自行拍攝,還有一些會用更先進的技術自己剪輯各種來源的原始片段。
小薇:最終提交的六部作品,每部都有很好的觀賞體驗。比方說,其中有一部作品,兩位同屏的歌手實際上是分開拍攝的。類似的技巧還有把視頻社交軟件Zoom的視頻框拼在一起,這樣就把屏幕分成了兩半。
小瓊:最終獲勝的團隊表演的是《沉默的雙胞胎》(根據朱恩·吉布森和詹妮弗·吉布森的真實經歷改編而來)。參賽者將真實的雙胞胎姐妹的容貌借助人工智能影像合成技術(Deep Fake)動態呈現在兩位歌手的臉上,就好像“現代的木偶戲”一樣。該團隊贏得了5000美元的獎金。而在六組決賽選手當中,另外一個團隊恰巧就用了真正的木偶動畫來詮釋他們的選段(細川的《烏鴉》)。總而言之,這幾部音樂演出視頻都制作得渾然一體,恰到好處。
小薇:目前許多音樂家都面臨經濟上的困難,參賽選手們是如何在這樣的狀況下仍制作出作品的呢?
小瓊:其實,六個團隊進入總決賽時,已經各自拿到了1000美元的豐厚啟動資金了。
Joan: Several forward-thinking groups have devised ways to help young artists utilize and display their talents in these COVID-laden times. One of New Yorks newest opera companies, Catapult Opera, announced its “Accelerate Competition” in late August and the response has been tremendous!
Valery: According to the website (www.catapultopera. org), this competition was designed “to inspire innovation in the realm of socially distanced performance.” Competing teams must choose one of four 5-minute operatic excerpts (Nadia Boulangers La Ville Morte, David Hertzbergs The Wake World, Toshio Hosokawas Hanjo, Errollyn Wallens The Silent Twins). These were selected because they only required 2 singers with piano accompaniment, and feature much internal drama between the singers.
Joan: Indeed, because of what we are experiencing in Europe and America, live performances on stage are so few and far between that moving to the online realm is a natural transition. Its wonderful to watch the nightly Metropolitan Opera Streams, but theyre getting so repetitive now.
Valery: What makes the “Accelerate Competition” all the more exciting is that the productions must follow social distance rules, and competitors had only three weeks to create the digital performance.
Joan: Live stage productions always need a director,set designer, lighting designer and sometimes backstage staff. So what does a video shoot require? That all depends—some artists are so technologically adept they can film themselves on their cell phones. Others use new, advanced technology to help them edit and manipulate raw footage from a variety of sources.
Valery: Its a wonderful experience to watch all six of the final submissions. For example, two singers appeared on screen at the same time, but were actually filmed separately. A similar trick would be to combine Zoom boxes, so the screen is divided into two.
Joan: The winning team performed The Silent Twins(based on the lives of June and Jennifer Gibbons) using images of the original identical twin sisters but animating them atop the two singers using “deep fake technology, a sort of modern-day puppetry.”They won US$5000. Of the six finalists, another team literally interpreted their excerpt (Hosokawas Hanjo) by filming puppets in animation. All in all, these musical performances were consistently well done.
Valery: With so many musicians in financial trouble, how did the teams even work under these circumstances?
Joan: Actually, when the six finalist teams were picked, each team was given a generous $1000 grant to get started.