Ideas on liveness

In general, the idea of remediation conveys that new(newer) technologies remediate  the older ones, as film and TV remediate the theatre. But on analysing all these three medias, we find relevant traces of reverse-mediation too. Today even the position of a spectator present at the site of a live event has moved away from that of a participant to a spectator. This is due to him enjoying the live event though ‘removed from reality’ medium as interface. For example a person sitting in the audience for the prime ministers speech at the Redfort, watches it on the screen in front of him and hears his amplified voice. He may also be reading a rolling subtitle of the transcript of the speech itself, seeing the speaker through multiple camera angles and also occasionally watching his fellow audience. The extend of this conditions can be to the extreme of seeing himself on the screen, while in a live event. Thus the experience of a live performance has very well come close to that of a TV experience.

Mediatised experiences as talked about in the example are now an essential ingredient in live performances. This is partially due to experimenting interactions between mediums and also due to the change in the sensibility of the audience regarding their idea of liveness. 

In some cases live events are influenced and altered by the medium of TV. Formerly a speech by a popular spiritual leader would pull a crowd of thousands. Those events had huge stages with huge colourful cut outs and props to cater the farthest person with a visual impact of liveness. Even the speaker used to walk around the stage to achieve this effect. Today such a speech is basically staged for the camera where changes have occurred in the position of the speaker being stationary and confined to a space suitable for the camera to capture him. The audience is delivered on the monitors in front of them with their own private pieces of liveness. 

The incorporation of mediatisation into live setting can be seen in the changes in the classrooms from conventional chalk and talk setup to modern smart classes. The liveness of a class is incorporated with a mediatised representation, like a video footage or picture projected on a projector. This change is due to audiences’ likeness to such collaborations. Mediatisation for them enhances their live experiences. This idea operates through the directors of filmy stage shows where they try to re-create near film experience on stage by using projected backgrounds, props, lights, sound etc. Thus we can say that mediatised embedding in the modern real life experience is what we come across in most ‘live’ events.

The magic of live performances still holds its charm in such an environment. This is mainly because mediatisation makes the audience think about achieving the next level experience, the live one. This urge can be seen in the day to day life when a person is being appreciated for being present in a program ‘live’, when all the others might have watched it in TV as live. It may be the result of the nostalgia for liveness which operates in the society.

Songs are also been analysed for their inclination to liveness. Generally singers do studio recordings and live performances. But the latter adds to their reputation, credibility etc. The idea of something live as original, directly from author, authentic etc are attached to this nostalgia of liveness.