Fluid audio-spatial aesthetics and the communalization of popular music in the multi-clip movie Balaton method

Bálint Szimler and Rév Marcell's film Balaton Method (2016) includes 16 music videos - featuring contemporary pop and underground-rock bands - unified by the methodical use of the long take. With sound and image being recorded synchronously and uninterrupted in a single location, Balaton Method defies existing categories of music videos and its novelty is best captured by the label "live music video". While in feature cinema, the long take aesthetics may problematize the relation of time and narrative substance in a direct time-image (Deleuze 1989), adopt an analytical approach to space (Kovács 2008), and allow for the perception of the wondrous (Koepnick Citation2017), the ♭method' of Balaton Method involves the creation and management of cinematic space that serves both as a film set and a recording studio, but more importantly, one that is extremely fluid. We demonstrates how the employed digital technology highlights the fluidity of the mise-en-scéne and allows for increased spectatorial immersion in aural-visual space. In the second part of the article, we claim that, while the music videos in Balaton Method are non-narrative in the strict sense, they evoke Lake Balaton as a nostalgic and transgenerational narrative that foregrounds shared affective experiences and a communal sense of belonging.