Page - 83 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 01/01

Religion, Belief and Medial Layering of Communication | 83www.jrfm.eu 2015, 1/1, 75–88 up in the main atrium to view a World War I fighter plane, as a Salvation Army band played alongside. a “redemption store” completed the ensemble. This mall’s blend of war glorification, religion, consumerism, profiteering, and promises of eternal sal- vation prompted the conception of the video and later the installation. I read the 1990 video as a history of media condensed to nine minutes and fifty seconds and encompassing sign language and spoken language, the handwritten and the printed word (with elements of both the narrative and the poetic genres), mu- sic, sounds, and moving pictures (both with and without sound). along with gong strokes, footsteps and other such noises, children’s crying, and music, the entire video is accompanied by a voice-over.28 Whatever the setting, those who watch and listen to the video undoubtedly feel they are being addressed directly: “This is Your Messiah speaking”. The video begins with a dual image. The viewer sees or looks down on what is possibly a blackboard (the limited field of vision prevents identification until later in the work, when the surface becomes recognisable as a floor) on which English words handwritten in white paint are running from the bottom to the top of the screen; superimposed on this first image is a transparent overlay with more handwriting. Two hands appear at the upper edge of the screen, as if holding the board or the overlay, or as if pointing towards the text. it is only subsequently that the viewer might make the association with the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments, especially when the text, which is rhythmically divided into stanzas, ends with the imperative: “Do shop around.” simultaneously, a voice can be heard speaking, apparently from a face (frenkel herself) shown in a frontal shot. Throughout the video, the mouth of this face moves in synch with the voice-over; both slow down occasionally as the video shifts into slow motion. later in the video, the voice and the face are dissociated. The video begins by addressing its viewers both orally and in a written text – “Don’t worry. No one will ever force you to do anything you don’t want to do” – in an almost hypnotic repetition. a chime sounds (a modulated piano) and the spoken and written words are then translated, like a refrain, by a sign language interpreter who appears on the screen. The video continues with a view of legs clothed in trousers and boots walking across the lettered blackboard/floor, while the spoken text is translated into sign lan- guage and/or displayed as written captions or subtitles – stylistic elements that evoke silent film. The interpreter’s face is usually seen from the front, directly facing the viewer, while her facial expressions – integral components of her communications in sign language—are supplemented by the gestures she makes with her hands. The interpreter’s face and hands are brightly lit, while her body, clad in black, is almost entirely absorbed by the black background (fig. 1 and 2). 28 The voice-over text is published in schade 2013, 131–133.