Rupture is when we set rules and expectations at the start of an experience and then we break them. We set up the audience to believe it will be a certain way, and then disrupt it. We set it up so the audience feels a sense of comfort at the outset (”I know how this will go… I know how this ends”), and then we rupture those expectations.

When rupture is done well, audiences are suspended for the rest of the experience. They can no longer trust their own instincts, they can no longer watch in comfort. They should feel they were lured into some kind of trap at the start, and now, anything is game.

As an artist, when you are creating a story or experience, at the outset, you get to create the rules. There are rules inherently embedded in the medium that your story is presented in. And then there are rules in your actual story. Those rules can also be seen as expectations.

EXAMPLES OF RUPTURE

• Medium-level Expectations
  • Film: Film realism, film language, certain runtime
• Story-level Expectations
  • Character tropes
  • Story structure: 3-acts, expectations of how a story should resolve itself
• Genre-level Expectations
  • Film Realism / The General Language of Film
  • Commercial Music: It’s audible
• Setting-level Expectations
  • Movie Theater: No disruptions, quiet, no audience-engagement
  • Art Gallery: Quiet, sterile, contemplative

Why is rupture important?

I’m not sure it is. It’s only a device. In my view, it can make a piece more interesting and more worthwhile to experience. Of course, a piece can still be interesting and very worthwhile without it.

But, I also think some mediums “demand” it more than others. For example, a short film, in my opinion should have some form of rupture. If we’re going to ask the viewer to sit down and pay attention to 11 minutes of something, it better be worth it.