ORDINARY
KILLING
/
Tavallista
tappamista
A film by Teemu Mäki.
Extracts
from an interview with Hannu Lauerma, 17.4.2015.
With music by Antti Auvinen.
Directed by Teemu Mäki.
17 minutes, 4K, 2015–2016 / 2021.
I was directing
Antti Auvinen's opera Autuus
/ Bliss. It's based on a real incident
that took place in 19th century Finland: a
priest in the small town of Kangaslammi killed
his brother, who was a priest too.
I wanted to know more about homicides, so I went
and interviewed Chief Physician and Research
Professor Hannu Lauerma. In his profession he
has treated and researched violent criminals so
long that he knows perhaps more about this topic
than anyone else in Finland, both on the level
of particular incidents and on the level of
statistics.
I asked about the reasons and motivations of
homicides and how they differ from one country
to another and what kind of changes there have
been in them through the ages. I also asked
about the differences between physical, mental
and institutional violence and how they
influence each other. And finally I asked why we
watch so much violence, both real and fictional
violence.
The interview took an hour. I edited a short
film out of it and used it as a part of the
staging of the opera. In the third act of the
opera the film was projected onto a large
screen. The original sound of the film had to be
left out of course so as not to interfere with
Auvinen's music. The dialogue of the film was
communicated only through subtitles. Thus the
3rd act of the opera was a combination of three
elements: 1) music, 2) silent movie, 3) actions
on the stage.
I liked the end result very much and wanted to
make an autonomous film out of it afterwards. I
re-edited the film and added a few inserts:
documentary clips of violence and a home movie
extract. However, I did keep Auvinen's music in
its place, because for me, in the opera, the
strange combination of interview video and
atonal music was especially rewarding.
When we
performed the opera again, six years later, in
the Finnish National Opera, and updated the work
a bit, I reworked on the film as well. The film
is now two minutes longer and in my opinion also
significantly better:)
The 3rd act
music of Auvinen's opera is thus still the only
sound on the soundtrack of the film. I think of
the film as a combination and collision of three
separate materials: 1) documentary video,
2) a conversation about facts, distilled
into pure text, 3) Auvinen's music. These three
materials are of equal value and each of them
hopefully deals with and illuminates the theme
of violence in its own way.
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End credits of the film:
Ordinary Killing
Extracts from an interview with Hannu
Lauerma, 17.4.2015.
With music by Antti Auvinen.
Directed by Teemu Mäki.
The materials used in this film were lifted
partly from the opera AUTUUS / BLISS
Composed by Antti
Auvinen.
Libretto by Harry Salmenniemi.
Directed by Teemu
Mäki.
Autuus / Bliss is Chamber Opera for Video,
Choir and Ensemble, in 4 acts.
The music in this film is from the 2nd and 3rd act
of the opera.
Musicians & singers: defunenensemble &
Helsinki Chamber Choir.
Conducted by Nils Schweckendiek.
Studio recordings: Timo Kurkikangas.
Live recording of the opera, Helsinki Music a,
Sonore, 16.8.2015: Anders Pohjola.
Interview with Hannu Lauerma (the idea and the
questions): Teemu Mäki.
Cinematography (interview): Anna Antsalo.
Edit: Teemu Mäki.
Director: Teemu Mäki.
© Teemu Mäki 2021
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