I always loved how Shakespeare was able to tell a story about, even make fun of, the king in a performance with the king and his entourage in the audience – watching and laughing, without even realizing they were laughing at themselves. I would never claim to have the skills nor talent of Shakespeare, but I have been keenly aware in my profession of how we are able to use music and story to shift the perceptions and emotions of an audience without the viewers being aware it is happening. In fact, this ability is at the very center of the work I am trying to do in the world – using music and film to transform the human spirit and make the world a better place.
I have been blessed with the opportunity to work on a large pop film in China called Amazing. The film is a partnership between Shanghai Film Studios (SFG) and the National Basketball Association (NBA), the latter of which is the most popular spectator sport in China, and features film stars from throughout Asia along with NBA Players. In short, Amazing is about the creation of a thought-controlled video game based on basketball in which the hostess of the game takes on emotion from the programmer. Although the drama has a moral arch and positive message built into into it, it’s focus is pop entertainment for very broad young audience.
This is where I get excited – what can I do working within a piece of popular entertainment that has a potential audience 100 million people in China alone? How can I affect the viewers and the world in positive ways without them even being aware? How can I shift, even if just a little, the nature and impact of popular media?
I personally work from two different approaches: 1) using the platform (reach) and marketing support of the film and the music (songs, artists, music videos) to bring awareness to a social concern on the ground by partnering with a organizations providing those services. In the case of a big youth-focused film about Basketball and video games, the focus is on fitness programs and value building sports for kids. And 2) using the ability of music to subconsciously affect the audiences perceptions and emotions to introduce or reinforce positive values and create empathy.
The pop media platform provides the reach and the attention of a captivated audience. The combination of music, story and visuals is the strongest recipe for shifting human consciousness. Finally, the innate properties of music bypass the critical mind and affect us viscerally and emotionally at a much more intuitive level.
Although Amazing won’t be out until the end of the summer, the seeds are already being planted. I just returned from the Shanghai International Film Festival where one of my themes from the film was performed live, with video clips from the film, for the opening ceremony. The song is called The Kiss. I recorded it with the Chinese National Symphony Orchestra and lead soprano Ying Huang. My inspiration for the song was the very old, and famous, Tibetan prayer/mantra – the Heart Sutra. My goal was to capture the essence and power healing energy of the sutra, along with a key message in the story, and infuse then into a contemporary piece of music that would resonate in the hearts and subconscious of the audience.
Below is the video of film clips that provided the back drop for the live performance at the opening. This version of the song is, like the film itself, part in English and part Mandarin.
Although we haven’t developed the technology yet to measure shifts in human consciousness, and polls seems to be the system for measuring levels of emotional engagement and shifts in public perception, most of us have witnessed these shifts, even if subtly, within ourselves when hearing a piece of music or after seeing a film, and many of us are aware of the effect music and musical icons have had on cultures throughout history. I, like others who focus on this work, rely on my professional and personal experience, my mentors and my studies of history, culture, neuro-science, spirituality and human behavior to fuel my commitment and continue to inspire me and the others I reach.
