Summer Blockbuster

Performed on July 10 - 24, 2005 in Whitehorse, Yukon with Bubonic Tourist.

Using audio samples from International/ Foreign films, an experience is created for viewers that felt like one is living within a movie. The spectators' emotions are manipulated and controlled through the use of audio while experiencing the piece. This is done using the same techniques that cinema commonly uses to invoke emotions in the audience that promote empathy with characters in a movie. This is seen in examples like when the sound of a screaming string quartet heightens tension, or when the sound of a melancholy piano enforces either sadness or romance in the viewer. These false emotional states situate the viewer inside the movie, so that they relate and empathize with the characters. Simmons isolates these cinematic moments and plays them in the 'real' world. The effect is a magical moment when the spectator feels like they are living everyday life in a movie. These clips are from moments of emotional change or duress in the characters' development. This situation causes a surprise emotional shifting in the spectators who experience Summer Blockbuster. The experience of the piece is that of a living cinematic moment.