On Tuesday, October 30, 2007, composer Melissa Grey held a preview screening of her work, Psychodrama, an experiment of sound, narrative, perception, and investigation of horror film score at Sugar Bar/Lounge in NYC's Tribeca. Over a hundred guests gathered -- some in Hitchcock inspired Halloween costumes -- to watch the well-known shower sequence in his 1960 film Psycho, set to the eerie but contemplative sounds of Grey's sonic compositions.
Many audience members believed the sequence -- pulled directly from the film and left intact -- was actually re-edited by Grey to accompany her scores, when, in fact, viewer perception is slightly thwarted when watching this popular scene to a score that registers reactions at different moments than the original score by Bernard Herrmann.While this work is not a criticism of Herrmann's brilliant score, it intends to play with the manner in which we read film and sound as viewers/listeners. It deliberately works with and against our expectations, both those formed through having previously viewed this film, in some cases multiple times, and as long-time audiences of other horror films.
Variations No. 9 and 11 were featured from a total of thirteen variations, which will be performed by a live chamber orchestra in winter 2008 in NYC.
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