Showreel of Tests

This is a quick showreel of tests from my years work in preparation for my final assessment on 20110616 at the Bartlett School of Architecture

Un_Reel - Synopsis

The Un_Reel is an experimental short which focuses on Hyperreality and the way in which we perceive Architecture when created through photography, cinematography and image based representation . It explores the ways in which architecture, as a practice of visual consumption can manipulate, warp and enhance the way in which we imagine and absorb the cities we live in.

The film begins with a photographic portrayal of London where all seems in order. Little by little the cityscape begins to display traits of the uncanny whereby landmarks multiple, artifice is uncovered and the physical structure of London is questioned suggesting that London is actually fake, a construct that holds no relationship to authenticity.

The time comes where the conscience of Jed Wright is introduced and suggests that what has just been documented are the visions of London through his mind. As he explores deeper into his perception of built space it becomes clear that his visions are not of his own but of what he experiences through image representation of city life.

The progression of his state of conscience develops over the years into a state of complete synthetic existence where all matter is nurtured from his consumption of visual media in photographic and cinematographic formats.

Renders

These are a couple of renders from the film. Although, as previously planned, I intended on keeping the screenplay completely contained with in the 3D modeled environment, I felt that it was more appropriate for The Man to venture out into the outside world (to escape his escapism) that we ourselves are more familiar with. I chose to do this because I felt that with this idea of his synthesized space becoming so hyper real it was hard to decipher the difference between real and unreal and therefore by compositing the computer generated built elements back into real life camera footage it plays on this idea of the two versions of reality being completely hybridized into one experience for The Man.

Case Study House #2781342

The case study house has just been commissioned as a film. It focuses on The Man as the example user of this virtual living concept. The CSH itself will provide the back drop to the screenplay and this constructed set will form an integral part of the narrative structure.

This is an article i found of #2781342

Everything Below on Two Sheets

Scene 01 Transitional Space/Overlap

This is the initial layout of the main space that the character inhabits. Establishing shots will run first with closeups of details in the room. The details will give us the clues that indicate that the focus of the screenplay is on the trail of events that an individual causes and passes through. The objects will be those which could represent characteristic traits of the individual such as types of clothing, cologne, jewellery etc...

The Second important part of this scene will be the method by which he travels between spaces. There will be one which might focus on his physical movements that occur, such as passing through a door. The alternative will be those which are more virtual which will play with the physical limits of

Scene 03 Transitional Space/Overlap

This scene is the one which he arrives at after leaving the bedroom. He will enter through the fridge as this will coincide with the slightly more abstract means of transiting between spaces. Once in the kitchen, the objects he interacts with are those familiar to all of us such as making a cup of coffee, or reading the paper etc...

At this point the screenplay establishes a set of events that occur and will continue to occur through the short. Once the events are complete he will exit once again through the fridge and continue into a world of increasing synthetic value and will hence begin to experience his own existence in a very different way that and see that the monotony of his life place right in front of his eyes.

Draft Synopsis

Film Shoot

These are some shots from a production I worked on as a set designer. The film was a no budget sci fi film directed by a friend of mine. The over all concept was that biodroids have become part of society in the near future and during their integration with humans one droid in particular goes awol. This leads to a battle between the remaining biodroids and a group of rebel forces.

The film was mainly shot on location however one scene required slightly more design. This was the armoury of the biodroids. Constructed in the same location (the warehouse) I designed it on no budget and managed to produce a set as shown below. The design mainly consisted of imitation weaponary and clever use of lightling to create the millitant feel that an armoury should possess.

Outline Plan

This is an outline plan of the configuration of spaces that will feature in the film. From todays tutorial I think more emphasis and development needs to be given to the spaces on the left of this drawing. These sketches are posted below and portray a lifestyle contained within interiors that are familiar to those of the post war case study houses. These have taken on this aesthetic due to the significance of modernity in Cinema. As the ideas of stage, simulacrum and representation are fundamental to this film it grounds itself through the developments of early 20th century cinema, in regard to set design and production design, as this was a turning point in the potential of architectural space and film.

The right hand part of this plan is now void. I have decided to concentrate on the sketches based around the characters everyday life and how these spaces are portrayed as both lived in spaces and as stages of lived in spaces.

Next I will begin to sketch out more spaces that need to be designed that follow the newer storyline and scenes as annotated on this plan.

Preliminary Ideas for Thesis Film

Stills of the London Stage

These stills are shots from the test below. I intend to work into the model alot more and build the idea that this version of London is very much so a stage set that aims to deceive the viewer or user of the space into believing that the space they inhabit is real when in actual fact it is completely developed out of artifice.

Centre Point from Richard Young on Vimeo.

As the ships pass over Centre Point the shots become tighter and focus in on specific landmarks and how they have been affect by the production of London. As this was an initial test I have not yet worked into the actual physical state of Centre Point yet but will do so in the next couple of days.

An idea on an A4 piece of paper

Starting with the idea that architecture exists within film there occurs a formation of boundaries between narrative, production and existing space. ‘Movies and cities have different kinds of temporalities, and are constituted, through different imperatives, of various spaces and events’. It is these events that form the blurred boundaries between the three above-mentioned types of space.

Narrative space will always take ‘place’. It is this translation from narrative to place that presents an analytical viewpoint through which the imagined or perceived world of the film simultaneously occurs with the referential aspects of the film itself taking ‘place’. As a viewer, and individual, that experiences space, both imagined and materialized, there is a consideration towards the film whereby attention and perception of space must slide between the location of the fiction and the real world that the film resides within.

Individual perception and experience of space are what I think will drive the content of the project. Through analysis of existing space I wish to dissect selected cinematic spaces that, through visual digestion influence and inform our experiences of landscapes. By stating that there are three main architectures of cinematic space the analysis of these will produce a newly formed composite space comprised of the three aspects that contribute to an individuals perception.

The choice of specific location could be endless so I may choose one film or theme that is set or part set in London as a starting point for the investigation. The main focus will be on the formation of new spaces constructed out of the processes behind filmmaking itself. Elements such as logic behind the narrative form geographies of the city and some times impossible geographies for example in situations when the camera is used to cheat and bend the reality of space to conform to the needs and requirements of the production process and the direction of film. The production process itself whereby physical entities are used to create synthetic space that form part or entire sequences of the motion picture. Fabricated landscapes, such as built sets or virtual environments are the physical and virtual constructs of the cinematic spaces that exist in fiction and non-fiction. This leads to the final contrasting architecture, which resides in reality. Location shoots for instance, occur in the realm of everyday life and there then becomes a duality of existence between the two. Where do the borders of the cinematic space end and the borders of reality begin? At anyone site of filming there will always be a governing force through which the blurry borders occur, and this is governed by what the camera sees and intends to show the viewer. It is only when you step just outside of this zoning that the blurred borders become apparent. From this establishment of cinematic space you can then begin to break down how any one space involved in the process of film production defines multiple borders that respond to time, physical and metaphysical based parameters.

What comes from the aforementioned components of film is the ability of individuals to consume this information, digest it and form perceptions of what cinematic spaces look, feel and act like. Obviously from one film to the next the experience of space may differ but it is these variations in experiential visual space that all combine to allow ones mind to enter into the fictional or non-fictional existence of filmic space. Further to the cinematic space contained within the duration of any film it is important to also understand how these visions and interpretations of space contribute to the data bank of information we hold within our minds of landscapes. Can one fully understand a space simply through the visual portrayals of it in cinema and how do these interpretations affect the experiences we may have or have had of existing space.

At this moment in time the over-riding interest I have in these issues is how the fabrication of physical or virtual environments form the elements, landscapes or even worlds of the narratives found within film. Further to on screen existence they are obviously conceived through various processes of thought and one in particular is how they may be formed and arranged with respect to the cheating of space though camera techniques, requirements and visual manipulation. It is these environments that I wish to draw focus to and begin to dissect and illustrate how that no matter what level of reality they may hold they will all have to exist somewhere and it is that somewhere which I intend to create the proposition of cinematic architecture within.

The cinematic city will be constructed out of multiple spaces and composited together. The imagined landscapes of the city will grow out of the abstraction of the pragmatisms and logistics of film making processes.

Abstraction of Fabric through Film

What Next?

From a more abstract point of view I'm looking to begin experimenting with the concepts of people inhabiting space on more of a film production level.

People's lives are always subject to change and it's at these points of change, that events and external forces can heavily influence the choices we make in life.

From this I ask the question of what or who is directing these changes?

So I want to get involved with the 'sets and stages' of our lives engrained in the spaces we inhabit and uses in everyday life. It's these spaces that form the fabric of our cities which present themselves for dissection and manipulation when used for the purposes of film making, as seen when shooting on location and in studios.

Once this, now semi-real world, enters the camera the spaces no longer hold true to their original functions and as the creator of those filmic spaces the new constructs no longer need to conform to the rules of the real world. As the filmic spaces become more and more fictitious the boundaries of the real world start to become more and more blurred along with people's experiences of spaces.