Flood full version_small (Translation)

Background The space between a visual image/event/environment and its sonic accompaniment has been referred to by Walter Murch as the "metaphoric gap". The argument is that the more this audiovisual relationship is stretched, the greater space for the audience's imagination to inhabit - as long as sonic exaggeration maintains enough tethering to an internal logic that it is intuitively processed to subliminally amplify emotion. When designer Shen Li placed the drab loungeroom from the Australian production of The Flood into the pit of a decrepit empty swimming pool for the Mandarin language remount of the production in Shanghai, this audiovisual relationship was stretched, at times, to breaking point. Contribution It was clear that there were moments where the domesticity of former sound design elements couldn't keep pace with both the conceptual conceit as well as the revised visual imagery. The research in this project explored the extent to which the new visual design had outstripped the permissions granted by the old sound to determine the points at which the audio needed to be completely revised. Research questions: At what point does the functionally interesting frisson of an audiovisual design mismatch move from being intriguing to problematic? How can these delicate audiovisual relationships be adjusted to accommodate not only conceptual and environmental changes in the visual design, but also subtle adjustments to hue and luminescence in the sound design... Significance The production was an important litmus test to witness the fine grain on which the elements of design interact, and how changes to one can necessitate unanticipated and significant adjustments to another. The production itself was funded by Australia China 45, Creative Victoria, Australia Council, Sofitel on Collins, Catalyst Federal Funding and Air China and led to a successful sell-out season in the Shanghai National Theatre.