A collaboration with Agatha Yim and Ronan Apcar.

Performance by Ronan Apcar on piano.

Featuring Einojuhani Rautavaara Piano Sonata No. 2 "The Fire Sermon", Movement II

Director / Cinematographer / Editor – Agatha Yim

Grip – Ben Howell

Audio Engineer - Nathan Ellul

Produced by Polyphonic Pictures

Presented by Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM)

The Brief

I was approached by the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) to direct a collaborative project with several Academy musicians.  The brief was to create music videos that could be pieces of art in their own right.  The musicians would perform a work of their choosing, and be involved in the process of making the video - from building the concept to creation. We were given full creative freedom, and ANAM provided the support and resources to help achieve our vision.

Having been an Academy musician myself many years ago, it was a lovely feeling to return, though this time to make music in a slightly different way.

My first collaboration was with pianist Ronan Apcar on Rautavaara’s The Fire Sermon (2nd Movt).

The Concept

My initial conversation with Ronan was centred around getting to know him as a musician, and to hear him speak about the work in his own words. I wanted to know how he interpreted certain phrases and passages, and what the ‘bigger picture’/landscape of the music was to him – ‘the plot’ so to speak. Hearing the choice of words used was important. They not only served as tangible things from which we could bounce ideas off but they were clues to Ronan’s artistic sensibilities.

Ronan mentioned that the Rautavaara was one of his favourite works to play.  He was particularly interested in performing the second movement, which he described as going from ‘serene beauty to an absolute vortex of hell’.  There was also this idea of trauma, and how the return to the opening’s serene melody near the end of the movement brought upon a feeling that what once was, could never be the same again– this statement really stuck with me during the brainstorming process.

After my initial conversation with Ronan, I went away to stew. During my research on Rautavaara I learned about the composer’s penchant for mysticism, and in turn stumbled upon the Finnish national epic, “Kalevala”. I was particularly taken by the Creation story, which became a point of inspiration.

From the conversations, research, and repeated listenings with a score to Ronan’s exceptional performance, the idea of brutality in the act of creation began to take shape, which then further got me interested in thinking about the fine line between beauty and horror.

Fabric Paradise / Workshopping

I never thought I’d be this excited about fabric up until now. The fabric choice was important as we wanted it to be stretchy and thin so that facial features could protrude with some distinction, but without being too see-through. We ended up with Nylon Lycra, and Chiffon for a contrasting texture. I also wanted some red sinew in the final shot which ripped chiffon would be great for.

The fabric in the video served many functions. Due to it’s skin-like quality, it was a way to organically meld Ronan to the piano. We wanted him and the piano to be one – something foreign, beautiful, and horrific. We didn’t necessarily want the piano to look like a piano.

Neither of us had ever worked with material in this manner before, so after coming up with the concept of using it, Ronan and I did a few workshops to test the material to make sure that we were able to execute the ideas we had in mind. In the process we found some other interesting ways we could manipulate the fabric. Ronan brought along a collection of items to create some organic textures inside the piano such as masks, ping pong balls, and balloons.

The choice of colours for the lycra were Red and Adobe Rose. I remember we got incredibly excited at the fabric store when we noticed that if you stretched both colours of material on top of each other, then shone a light through it, the view from the underside was like being in a womb. #wombexcitement

You can see this in action during the claustrophobic moments during the violent climax of the work.

In the next blog post, I’ll go through the production aspect of making the film. In the interim, be sure to check out this fantastic interview ANAM did with Ronan on the project as it shines a light on the collaboration process from Ronan’s perspective.