Development Portfolio
Short Description
PT Y3 Final Portfolio Submission...
Description
unit15
time machines
development portfolio
a d v a n c ed a r c h i t e ct u r a l d e s i g n 0 2
carolyn garden
PTY3
unit15
time machines
brief: Imagine that you are on a rock that is rotating at 652mph and travelling through space at 67,000mph. Imagine that this rock is 4.54 million years old, has a mass of 5.9 x 1018 tonnes and is home to 8.7 billion different species. Imagine that you are located somewhere on that rock within an area of 610 sq miles that is home to 13 million of the rocks most advanced species. Imagine that your specic location enables you to move freely for over 21 miles at a maximum speed of 50mph and potentially brings you into contact with 192,000 of these advanced life forms every day. Imagine that you are asked to analyse and record that location with respect to movement, space, and time. Imagine that you can slow time down or speed it up, or even stop it completely: that you can travel forwards or backwards in time, or create endless loops of time. Imagine that you select a specic part of that location and propose an intervention that constitutes a ‘Time Machine’. Imagine that within your ‘Time Machine’ you have the capacity to construct spatial narratives that inherently communicate your values as a designer. Welcome to Unit 15.
1 . 0 | c o n t en t s
06
07
08
09
10
chronogram analysis
1.1 |
star guitar music video synopsis
16
2.6 |
1.2 |
star guitar video stills
17
space-time analysis video stills 02
26
2.7 |
2.16 | space-time analysis
space-time analysis video stills 03
2.8 |
28
13
1.4 |
star guitar chronogram
2.9 |
2.0 |
2.1 | space-time analysis docklands light railway
20
space-time analysis video stills 05
29
space-time analysis introduction
21
2.10 | space-time analysis
2.2 |
space-time analysis location plan_poplar
22
2.11 | space-time analysis
image 01
30
14
15
thematic analysis
b r i e f
19
space-time analysis video stills 04
12
31
space-time analysis animation 01
23
2.12 | space-time analysis
chronogram 01
2.3 |
32
space-time analysis chronogram
24
2.13 | space-time analysis
chronogram 02
2.4 |
33
space-time analysis video stills 01
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2.14 | space-time analysis
chronogram 03
2.5 |
2.15 | space-time analysis
chronogram 04
34
chronogram 05
35
b r i e f
3.0 |
animation 01
36
star guitar chronogram analysis
18
27
technical analysis
1.3 |
11
impossible scenarios places of the dlr
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3.1 |
impossible scenarios places of events 01
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3.2 |
impossible scenarios introduction
3.3 |
impossible scenarios location plan_bank
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3.4 |
impossible scenarios places of the dlr
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3.5 |
impossible scenarios london city scape 01
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3.6 |
impossible scenarios london city scape 02
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3.7 |
impossible scenarios london city scape 03
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3.8 |
impossible scenarios london city scape 04
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b r i e f
3.9 |
impossible scenarios my version of bank
3.10 | impossible scenarios 3.11 | impossible scenarios video stills 01
video stills 02
3.12 | impossible scenarios
3.13 | impossible scenarios
video stills 03
video stills 04
3.14 | impossible scenarios 3.15 | impossible scenarios video stills 05
chronogram
4.0 |
impossible spaces places of the dlr
4.1 |
impossible spaces spatial edit 01
4.2 |
impossible spaces spatial edit 02
1 . 0 | c o n t en t s
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4.3 |
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impossible spaces spatial edit 03
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4.4 |
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impossible spaces spatial edit 04
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4.5 |
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impossible spaces spatial edit 05
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impossible spaces spatial edit 06
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impossible spaces spatial edit 07
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4.8 |
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impossible spaces spatial edit 08
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4.9 |
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impossible spaces spatial edit 09
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4.10 | impossible spaces
4.11 | impossible spaces
chronogram part 1
chronogram part 2
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5.0 |
b r i e f
impossible spaces dlr city_spatial brief
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b r i e f
5.1 |
5.2 | impossible spaces dlr city_thesis abstract
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6.4 |
5.3 | impossible spaces dlr city_thesis method
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impossible spaces dlr city_lm tests 04
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6.5 |
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impossible spaces dlr city_sequence 01
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6.11 | impossible spaces dlr city_sequence 07
impossible spaces dlr city_case study 01
6.6 |
dlr city_sequence 08
impossible spaces dlr city_case study 02
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impossible spaces dlr city_sequence 02
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6.12 | impossible spaces
5.4 |
6.7 |
dlr city_sequence 09
impossible spaces dlr city_case study 03
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impossible spaces dlr city_sequence 03
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6.13 | impossible spaces
5.5 |
6.7 |
dlr city_sequence 09
6.0 | impossible spaces dlr city_case study 04
71
impossible spaces dlr city_sequence 03
80
6.13 | impossible spaces
5.6 |
6.8 |
72
impossible spaces dlr city_sequence 04
81
6.14 | impossible spaces dlr city_sequence 10
impossible spaces dlr city_spatial brief
6.9 |
dlr city_sequence 11
impossible spaces dlr city_lm tests 01
73
impossible spaces dlr city_sequence 05
6.9 |
6.15 | impossible spaces dlr city_sequence 11
6.2 |
impossible spaces dlr city_lm tests 02
74
impossible spaces dlr city_sequence 05
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6.15 | impossible spaces
6.1 |
dlr city_sequence 12
impossible spaces dlr city_lm tests 03
75
6.10 | impossible spaces
6.11 | impossible spaces
dlr city_sequence 06
84
6.16 | impossible spaces
6.3 |
dlr city_sequence 07
85
6.17 | impossible spaces dlr city_sequence 13
6.17 | impossible spaces dlr city_sequence 13
1 . 0 | c o n t en t s
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6.18 | impossible spaces
6.19 | impossible spaces
dlr city_sequence 14
96
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6.31 | impossible spaces dlr city_collage fragments
116
bibliography
108
6.32 | impossible spaces dlr city_chronogram
109
6.32 | impossible spaces dlr city_chronogram
110
6.33 | impossible spaces dlr city_summary
111
6.34 | impossible spaces dlr city bricolage 01
112
6.35 | impossible spaces dlr city bricolage 02
6.36 | impossible spaces dlr city bricolage 03
dlr city bricolage 04
6.30 | impossible spaces
dlr city_collage fragments
114
6.37 | impossible spaces
dlr city_sequence 20
105
6.29 | impossible spaces
dlr city_sequence 24
113
6.24 | impossible spaces
dlr city_sequence 19
104
6.28 | impossible spaces
dlr city_sequence 24
95
6.23 | impossible spaces
dlr city_sequence 19
103
6.28 | impossible spaces
dlr city_sequence 24
94
6.23 | impossible spaces
dlr city_sequence 18
102
6.28 | impossible spaces
dlr city_sequence 23
93
6.22 | impossible spaces
dlr city_sequence 17
101
6.27 | impossible spaces
dlr city_sequence 23
92
6.21 | impossible spaces
dlr city_sequence 17
100
6.27 | impossible spaces
dlr city_sequence 22
91
6.21 | impossible spaces
dlr city_sequence 16
99
6.26 | impossible spaces
dlr city_sequence 21
90
6.20 | impossible spaces
dlr city_sequence 15
98
6.25 | impossible spaces
dlr city_sequence 21
89
6.19 | impossible spaces
dlr city_sequence 15
97
6.25 | impossible spaces
7.0 |
88
dlr city_collage fragments
115
6.38 | impossible spaces dlr city bricolage 05
7.0 |
bibliography
1 . 1 | s t a r g u i t a r
chemical brothers
structure Star Guitar is Guitar is approximately 126 beats per minute and in the key of F major.
pontdu
The song contains a four measure-long acoustic guitar sample from the beginning of the David Bowie song, ‘Starman,’ hence its name,Star name,Star Guitar . This sample is repeated throughout the track, with various musical elements playing off of it as a main theme. The song also contains an electronic sample of ‘Fly to Venus’ by Electronic System.
robinet
video pierrelatte’s train station
pont du robinet
pierrelatte’s station
The music video, directed by Michel Gondry, features a continuous shot lmed from the window of a speeding train passing through towns and countryside; however, the buildings and objects passing by appear exactly in time with the various beats and musical elements of the track. The video is based on DV footage Gondry shot while on vacation in France; the train ride between Nîmes and Valence was shot ten different times during the day to get different light gradients. The Pont du Robinet as well as Pierrelatte’s station can be seen. Gondry had experimented with a different version of the same effect in his video for Daft Punk’s ‘Around the World’, where he had represented each element of the music with a dancer. Gondry actually plotted out the synchronization of the song on graph paper before creating the video, eventually ‘modelling’ the scenery with oranges, forks, tapes, books, glasses and tennis shoes.
m u s i c v i d e o s y n o p si s
1 . 2 | s t a r g u i t a r
chemical brothers
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video stills
1 . 3 | s t a r g u i t a r
chemical brothers
b r i e f make a survey drawing of this video... s i t e : t r a i n j o u r n e y b e t w e e n n i m e s a n d v a l e nc e My rst attempt at mapping a chronogram for the Chemical Brothers Star Guitar Video. Has anyone ever tried to make a literal mapping of something that actually doesn’t exist in reality? At rst glimpse, and many viewings thereafter, I did not fully comprehend comprehend the tech niques involved to construct this master piece. It took hours of mapping the towns and landscapes of the French countryside to learn that most of the footage, stills and architectural objects within the piece had been fabricated, repeated and manipulated. I found merely 3 stills of the 4 minute piece that were a true representation of the train journey between Nimes and Valence, Pierrelatte’s Station being one of them. The drawing shows a sequence of built objects found in the video, mapped out on Graph Paper. Each sequence is repeated 4 times to replicate the 4 minute duration. The audio track is made up of 126 beats per minute, and 504 beats for the total duration, The graph layout grid denoting this scale. The SLR wireframe shown in the glass reection shows that the camera position is static, and does not move or rotate throughout the entire piece. This is also replicated on 4 occasions, capturing 4 stills of the composition that fall within the landscape...or not as the case may be! The visual audio wave is placed to travels through the lens of the SLR’s, fading and sharpening as the stills appear alongside the railway route, representing a continual mapping of the train journey.
chronogram analysis
1 . 4 | s t a r g u i t a r
chemical brothers
2 . 0 | b r i e f
space-time analysis
“….just as we perceive things where they are present, in space, we remember where they have passed in time…” Gilles Deleuze, The Time Image “The fact is that space ‘in itself’ is ungraspable, unthinkable, unknowable. Time ‘in itself’, absolute time is no less unknowable. But that is the whole point: time is known and actualized in space, becoming a social reality by virtue of a spatial practice. Similarly space is known only in and through time.” Henry Lefebvre, The Production Of Space “A space exists when one takes into consideration vectors of direction, velocities, and time variables. Thus space is composed of intersections of mobile elements. It is in a sense actuated by the ensemble of movements deployed within it.” Michel De Certeau, The Practice Of Everyday Life b r i e f You are required to visit the site and record your visit. You are required to record as much of the site as you can, by whatever means you feel is appropriate. You may wish to visit parts of the site a number of times to record them under a number of different conditions. You are required to make a space-time analysis of your visit. Your analysis needs to identify your interests both thematically and representationally. You are to present your initial ndings on Wednesday 10th October Your ndings should be presented in such a way that they are able to go straight onto your blogs and into your portfolio...
docklands light railway
2 . 1 | i n t r od u c t i on
space-time analysis
initial trip and observations The Docklands Light Railway (DLR) is an automated light metro or light rail system which opened in 1987 to serve the redeveloped Docklands area of London. It reaches north to Stratford, south to Lewisham, west to Tower Gateway and Bank in the City of London nancial district, and east to Beckton, London City Airport and Woolwich Arsenal.
Stratford International
Bow Church
Pudding Mill Lane
Stratford
The system is not entirely unmanned, using minimal stafng on board trains and at major interchange stations.
Stratford high Street
Devons Road
Abbey Road Langdon Park
Tower Gateway
West Ham Star Lane
All Saints Limehouse
Westferry
Poplar
East India
Canning Town
Blackwell
Shadwell
The DLR is operated under a concession awarded by Transport for London to Serco Docklands, part of the Serco Group. The system is owned by Docklands Light Rail Limited, part of the London Rail division of Transport for London. In 2011 the DLR carried over 86 million passengers. It has been extended several times and further extensions are being planned.
Custom House Royal Victoria
Prince Regent
Royal Albert
Cyprus
Be ck ckt on Pa Pa rk
Beckton Ga l io ns ns Reach
West India Quay Bank Canary Wharf West Silvertown Heron Quays Mudshute
Cutty Sark
Deptford Bridge
Lewisham
South Quays Crossharbour
Island Gardens
Greenwich
Elverson Road
Pontoon Dock
London City Airport
King George V
Woolwich Arsenal
docklands light railway
2 . 2 | l o c a t io n p l a n
poplar interchange
scale 1:2500
2 . 3 | a n i m at i o n 0 1
poplar interchange 2400 hrs
impossible scenarios This animation is a space time analysis, recording movement transitions of space through time. The given site is the Docklands Light Railway (DLR). This is made of four main lines running through Poplar interchange. This station is central to the four intersecting lines, which is the reason for placing my site survey in this location. Over the selected 2400 Hours, the DLR runs for approximately 17 Hrs (beginning at 06:50 and nishing at 23:47), running through four platforms of the Poplar inter change. A train will pass each platform exactly 100 times during this 2400 hour period, calculating 400 journeys in total. A single hour at 1200 Hrs was used to recorded the movement of the DLR. This sequence was taken and subsequently manipulated to represent the 100 journeys travelling through each platform, totalling 400 separate journeys across the 2400 Hr period. This animation has condensed 2400 Hrs of train movements into 1 hr of real time footage. This single hour has been condensed to record the space time analysis, plotting the movement transitions of space through time, into a 60 second animated clip. The genuine carriages representing real-time, remain in sequence and exactly as they appeared through the hour record. The additional carriages used to represent the 2400 Hr period are evidently apparent... Effects and Audio have been added, in addition to the choreography of 400 + layers in Adobe After Effects. Lev Manovich (What is digital cinema?), sums up my intention perfectly...”something which is intended to look exactly as if it could have happened, although it really could not...”
thematic analysis
2 . 4 | a n i m at i o n 0 1
poplar interchange 2400 hrs
2 . 5 | a n i m at i o n 0 1
poplar interchange 2400 hrs
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videostills 01
2 . 6 | a n i m at i o n 0 1
poplar interchange 2400 hrs
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videostills 02
2 . 7 | a n i m at i o n 0 1
poplar interchange 2400 hrs
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videostills03
2 . 8 | a n i m at i o n 0 1
poplar interchange 2400 hrs
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2 4 00 h r s | v i de o s t i l l s 0 4
poplar interchange 2400 hrs
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videostills 05
2 . 10 | i m ag e 0 1
poplar interchange 2400 hrs
space-time analysis
2 . 1 1 | c h r o no g r a m
poplar interchange 2400 hrs
platform 01
2 . 1 2 | c h r o no g r a m
poplar interchange 2400 hrs
platform 02
2 . 1 3 | c h r o no g r a m
poplar interchange 2400 hrs
platform 03
2 . 1 4 | c h r o no g r a m
poplar interchange 2400 hrs
platform 04
2 . 1 5 | c h r o no g r a m
poplar interchange 2400 hrs
platform1
impossible scenarios
2 . 1 6 | a n i m at i o n 0 1
poplar interchange 2400 hrs
t i t l e : p o p l a r i n t e r c ha n g e 2 4 0 0 h r s To construct a lm, with no prior knowledge of how to technically produce a motion image, I took comfort in using a program I know well; Adobe Photoshop. Having chosen a site (Poplar Interchange), and collecting ‘still’ not ‘motion’ footage (as described in thematic analysis), I was confronted with 2000 image stills , at 25 frames per second, with a duration of 1 minute and 20 seconds to ll. After analysing the footage and counting the number of trains trains to pass each platform during the 1 hour duration of 1 second time lapse images, I calculated how many more trains were required per track, to accumulate to the total number of trains that would pass each platform during the 24 hour period. To construct an impossible scenario,in scenario, in Adobe Photoshop, I tirelessly cut out every train combination per track, which equated to 6 full trains, 1 per platform with 2 carriages, and 2 additional trains with 3 carriages for platforms 1 and 4, for a larger capacity of passengers. Each full train image collection ranged from 31 stills to 54 stills, totalling 258 trains to cut out individually using the ‘polygonal lasso’ tool! Once cut out and saved down with a transparent background, I was able to open each of the 6 layer sequences into Adobe After Effects. An additional 374 trains were required to construct the impossible scenario of the full 24 hours of trains to pass through Poplar in a single hour worth of footage. To construct the additional layers, the 6 sequences were duplicated and placed between the appearances of those trains which actually appeared in reality. This alone highlighted issues; no ‘false’ trains were able to appear at the same time as another train where the platforms of the two crossed. This is because the factual train...
...is embedded into the still images forming the background footage of the animation. Should the layers overlap, the ‘false’ train sequence will appear ontop of another train, and the impossible scenariois scenario is revealed a fallacy. Additional issues were raised after placing together the footage and realising that there had been movement of the tripod during the shooting of footage. Due to additional layers being overlaid onto the background footage, the ‘false’ trains ended up in all places; above and below the tracks, off the tracks to the side, and oating in mid air! To avert this issue, each layer of train stills had to be analysed across their appearance and the ‘x,y’ dimensions of the layer position altered. Movement of auto focus during shooting also meant that the lens automatically tried to focus on the trains as they appeared in shot. Because of this setting, the camera is not as still as I would have liked it to be. The saving grace however of fast speed image motion is that it is relatively discrete across the entire lm. Many attempts to track the camera motion were applied, but due to this movement taking place across the ‘z’ axis, it had little or no affect on the overall improvement settings. Improvements to the image stills includes a daylight fade in and out of the lm at both dawn and dusk. Following the lighting is a sun path that is tracked at the sun angle across the lm from left to right as it would move through the sky in reality. Attached the the spot light used to imitate the sun path, is camera are with a 105mm prime lens, providing subtle but realistic effects onto the raw footage. Additional image improvements includeUnsharp includeUnsharp Mask to Mask to provide further clarity to the 2000 image stills; stills;B&W B&W colour colour correction; Rotation at 0,08 degrees to straighten the vertical alignment of buildings;Scale, buildings;Scale, set to 55%; 55%; Brightened & Contrast ...
...to provide deeper tonal variations throughout the footage; and lastlyPosition, lastlyPosition, used to accurately move the images / layers to ensure both the factual and false footage aligned convincingly, ensuring the trains appeared on the track, as indeed they should! To ensure the nal edit provided moments of build and surprise, I chose an instru mental music composition appropriately named‘time-lapse’, named‘time-lapse’, by a composer named Paul Mottram, Mottram, sourced from Audio Network. The original music composition lasts for approximately 4 minutes, which required editing with Adobe Premier to cut the most appropriate sections and collage them semlessly together into the duration of the lm edit, which in total, lasted 01:30:00. This audio required coreographing with every layer to ensure the piece as a whole worked in-situ with one another. This alone was i ncredibly time consuming with the nal number of layers that were used in the construction of the animation. In total, the nal Adobe After Effects le had acquired 451 l ayers, each individually cut and placed into sequence, most of which can be broken into a further 54 layers - A time consuming lm edit to say the least! Since using Adobe After Effects for the rst time, It was only then that I realised that this program was able to mask areas of an image with just a few clicks of the mouse to select the areas you want to reveal or conceal. The careful cutting of 258 individual stills needn’t have been necessary, in additional to the individual colouring of every train (an effect used for the rst variation of the lm). Live and learn...By going through the process of my rst lm, I have gained the knowledge of a few short cuts along the way ready for the next animation...
technical analysis
3 . 0 | b r i e f
impossible scenarios
s it e :
p la ce s o f t h e d o c kl an ds l ig ht r ai lw ay
”A photograph passes for incontrovertible proof that a given thing happened. The picture may distort; but there is always a presumption that something exists, or did exist.” Susan Sontag, On Photography ”Something which looks is intended to look exactly as if it could have happened, although in reality it could not.”Lev not.”Lev Manovich, What is Digital Cinema? Cinema, the Art of the Index ”Cinema works hard to erase any traces of its own production process, including any indication that the images which we see could have been constructed rather than recorded. It denies that the reality it shows often does not exist outside of the lm image, the image which was arrived at by photographing an already impossible space, itself put together with the use of models, mirrors, and matte paintings, and which was then combined with other images through optical printing. It pretends to be a simple recording of an already existing reality - both to a viewer and to itself.” Walter Benjamin, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction brief: Visit places of the Docklands Light Railway and record its current space in time. Create a space-time analysis of the site moving forward. Record places of the Docklands Light Railway through the art form of photograph, lm, and construction drawings of the space-time analysis proposition. Create a program of event within the social space of the docklands light railway and its connective places. Create a self contained, stealth architectural spatial design of the propositional event to construct a false reality; an impossible scenario. Expose an Architectural sub-reality through cinematic propositions.
p l a c e s o f t h e d l r
3 . 1 | p l ac e s o f e v en t s
impossible scenarios
t r a f a l g a r s q | c a n a r y w h a r f
3 . 2 | i n t r od u c t i on
impossible scenarios
initial trip and observations Situated along King William Street in the City of London, Bank is in the rich heartland of the nation’s capital. King William Street is known for its investment banks and other nancial institutions, although this is hardly surprising when you consider its proximity to the Bank of England. Ofce space in Bank will bring you together with some of London’s most important nancial institutions and if you work in the industry, this can be enormously benecial.
Stratford International
Bow Church
Pudding Mill Lane
Stratford
The tube station is the eighth busiest on the underground network, serviced by ve lines ain addition to the Docklands Light Railway. This makes travel in and around London particularly easy.
Stratford high Street
Devons Road
Abbey Road Langdon Park
Tower Gateway
Star Lane
All Saints Limehouse
Westferry
Poplar
East India
Canning Town
Blackwell
Shadwell
Bank is connected to ve major lines; Central, Northern, Waterloo and City, District, Circle, and to the Docklands Light Railway. The Waterloo and City line means con nections to Waterloo, a large mainline hub to the South West.
West Ham
Custom House Royal Victoria
Prince Regent
Royal Albert
Cyprus
Be ck ckt on Pa Pa rk
Beckton Ga l io ns ns Reach
West India Quay Bank Canary Wharf West Silvertown Heron Quays Mudshute
Cutty Sark
Deptford Bridge
Lewisham
South Quays Crossharbour
Island Gardens
Greenwich
Elverson Road
Pontoon Dock
London City Airport
King George V
Woolwich Arsenal
bank
3 . 3 | l o c a t io n p l a n
bank
scale 1:2500
3 . 4 | p l a c e s o f t h e d l r
impossible scenarios
3 . 5 | l o n do n c i t y s c a p e
‘building bank‘
d o u g p a t t e rs o n o r i g i n al s
3 . 6 | l o n do n c i t y s c a p e
‘building bank‘
d o u g p a t t e rs o n o r i g i n al s
3 . 7 | l o n do n c i t y s c a p e
‘building bank‘
d o u g p a t t e rs o n o r i g i n al s
3 . 8 | l o n do n c i t y s c a p e
‘building bank‘
d o u g p a t t e rs o n o r i g i n al s
3 . 9 | l o n do n c i t y s c a p e
‘building bank‘
m y v e r s i on o f b a n k
3 . 1 0 | a n i m at i o n 0 2
‘building bank‘
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p l a c e s o f t h e d l r
b r i e f Image processing within the parameters of digital cinema is the sole methodology explored within the Advanced Architectural Design Portfolio; based upon the Dockland Light Railway (DLR), London, fabricating my own ‘DLR City.’ I am exploring the systems of digital cinema to reconstruct London as a collage, a false reality; an elusive cinematic city, isolating buildings, stations, lines, dynamic fragments and entire districts to recongure a place of endless possibilities, offering spatial possibilities of coll age-London, far from any reality, and only ever subsisting on the cinematic-screen. To enable a cinematic collage of existing spaces to become juxtaposed and enhanced to create illusive and dynamic spaces of sub-reality, I am using a process known as 2.5D in the Adobe After Effects Application. 2D graphics are used to create images or sceneries of 2.5D space giving the impression of three-dimensional space. Two-dimensional planes are cut and paste together and fragments placed along the Z axis, this technique providing the illusory appearance of objects placed either in the foreground or background. Tried and tested in computer game engines, these projections have also been used for geographic projections to visually interpret cognitive spatial environments of 3D space. Utilising the techniques of 2.5D space and collage, I am exploring the existing DLR network to fragment, collage and reconstruct my own DLR city. To gradually build from the real to computer generated screenscapes of sub-reality, rst, an introduc tion of the existing spaces of the DLR will be explored through 2.5D space. Following this brief are motion picture test stills outline the ways in which existing places have been constructed using 2.5D space Adobe After Effects. This short test is a construct of the DLR, not yet incorporating collage means.
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d l r c i t y _ s p a t i a l b r i e f
Image processing within the parameters of digital cinema is the sole methodology explored within the Advanced Architectural Design Portfolio; based upon the Dockland Light Railway (DLR), London, fabricating my own ‘DLR City.’ I am exploring the systems of digital cinema to reconstruct London as a collage, a false reality; an elusive cinematic city, isolating buildings, stations, lines, dynamic fragments and entire districts to recongure a place of endless possibilities, offering spatial possibilities of coll age-London, far from any reality, and only ever subsisting on the cinematic-screen.
www.googlemaps.com
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dlr city_thesis abstract
abstract
Indexing the Cinemac City Unpacking Kino-Collage Techniques in the Urban Environments of Digital Cinema
Carolyn Garden
Postproduction has become an increasingly integral part of the lm-making process with the advent of digital technologies. Based upon this principle, my research interests lie in urban collaging techniques used in digital cinema today. This paper will discuss the modern methodologies and intentions of urban collage within motion picture exemplars; with postproduction forming the basis of the lm image, digital cinema conceals the authenticity of its production, fabricated to dictate a false reality. Described astutely by media theorist Lev Manovich, digital cinema has become, “something which is intended to look exactly as if it could have happened, although it really could not.”1 Indexing the Cinematic City: Unpacking Kino-Collage Techniques in the Urban Environments of Digital Cinema, is a thesis prompted by Lev Manovich’s paper, What Is Digital Cinema? Cinema, the Art of the Index, where Manovich explores cinema’s identity from primitive through to present methodology techniques. Highlighted are 100 years of cinemas existence, from birth to its reinvention on a computer screen as a space of endless possibilities. Cinema, as described by Manovich, has always been understood as, ‘the art of motion’, an art that has succeeded in creating an illusive dynamic reality. Superseding its predecessor, digital cinema has become the front-runner for both creating and exhibiting moving images: “Rather than being a surface which passively accepts projected images of reality recorded by camera, computer screen becomes an active generator of moving image events.”2 My point of departure is the methodology of collage to construct cinematic cities. Theorised by Director and Theorist Dziga Vertov, Kino-Eye became the model in which notions of collage became evident in lm-making; “Kino-Eye uses every possible means in montage, comparing and linking all points of the universe in any temporal order, breaking, when necessary, all the l aws and conventions of lm construction.”3 The premise of Kino-Eye lay the foundations for the philosophy of Lev Manovich, who discusses the “mutability of digital data”4, as Kino-Brush; “cinema becomes a particular branch of painting - painting in time. No longer a Kino-Eye, but a Kino-Brush.”5 Instead, I propose the art of Kino-collage as a construct for urban cityscapes within cinema; a theory explored utilising cinematic case studies within this thesis. 1 2 3 4 5
L. Manovich, What is Digital Cinema? Cinema, the Art of the Index, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass, London, 2001, p. 04. Ibid, p. 11. Dziga Vertov, Kino-Eye: The Writings of Dziga Vertov, 1929, From Kino-Eye.com L. Manovich, What is Digital Cinema? Cinema, the Art of the Index, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass, London, 2001, p. 11. Ibid, p. 11.
i n d e xi n g t h e c i n e m a t i c c i t y
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dlr city_thesis methodology
methodology statement Indexing the Cinematic City: Unpacking Kino-Collage Techniques in the Urban Environments of Digital Cinema, is a thesis prompted by Lev Manovich’s paper, ‘What is Digital Cinema? Cinema, the Art of the Index’. Whilst the revolution of digital cinema becoming an art of computer generation has been widely acknowledged, a discourse on the evolution of digital city spaces is currently underdeveloped, identifying the signicance of this thesis opportunity. Manovich’s paper, appearing in 2002, became the rst theoretical piece to recognise the use of collage as a medium for constructing lm physical reality. Expanding upon the theories of William Mitchell, depicting the inherent properties of photographic stills to replicate that of painting, Manovich applies this philosophy to lm, theorising digital cinema as a series of paintings. “No longer a Kino-eye, but a Kino-Brush”1, Manovich suggests that the malleability of digital data has meant that cinema, “becomes a particular branch of painting.”2 With this in mind, and based upon the equivalent premise, I propose that actually the identity of digital cinema lies in ‘cut and paste’ lm physical reality. Far from Kino-Brush, digital mutability sees architectural photomontages juxtaposed together. So, whether based upon the footprint of original data, or choreographed utilising fictional visions constructed through computer-generated imagery to compose a false reality, architectural photomontages have emerged through digital techniques that I suggest are based upon the premise of ‘collage’. While the outcomes of Manovich’ theory and my point of departure refer to a uniform methodology, I discuss this cinematic technique to posit the idea of Kino-Collage. This architectural thesis sets out to explore the indexing of digital cinema, unpacking urban collage techniques. Postproduction, animation, and special effects, are all a mediation of tools used to enhance or create a cinematic experience that makes one production unique from another. Urban environments in digital cinema are explored through collage hybrids, constructed of fragments of existing city spaces, in addition to the creation of computer-generated ctional visions. These lmic techniques allow for possibilities of false spaces to occur as a super genre. This thesis will identify the methodologies of digital cinema that has led to the worldwide success of urban settings depicted within lm physical reality, resonating to provide meaning to such cinematic city spaces. Featuring current research ideologies of digital cinema through spatial and urban representation, existing links and new ideas within the digital cinematic eld have been formed. This theoretical paper is a written research journal that assesses a series of literatures consisting of text, image and motion picture case studies. The topics of this thesis cover An Exploration into Cinema and its Representation of the Urban Metropolis, The Evolution of a Digital World, A Study into Collaged Architectures of Digital Cinema, and Cinematic Congurations of Existing Spaces within 1 L. Manovich, What is Digital Cinema? Cinema, the Art of the Index, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass, London, 2001, p. 11. 2 Ibid, p. 11.
Digital Cinema. A selection of exemplar motion pictures that utilise collage in cinema, pre-digital and digital, are explored - certifying authenticity in cinematic origins - sequenced in order of release and allowing them to inter-relate as motion picture advances. This paper aims to encompass the methodologies of Digital Cinema to understand the techniques and representations present within urban environments of lm physical reality. Each subheading will consider the architectural representational possibilities of combining hybrid art forms to achieve successful collage through cinematic space, seeking opportunities to provide and create environments of fragmented realities and computer-generated spaces within the Advanced Architectural Design Portfolio.
and The Dark Knight Rises (2012). There is no greater ctional city apparent in digital cinema today; these three exemplars truly explore collage of a cinematic city. Cinematic Congurations of Existing Spaces within Digital Cinema, explores the nal case study, Christopher Nolan’s masterpiece of digital cinema, Inception (2010). The methodologies present include the compositing of fragmented spaces and re-ordering sequences of time, past, present and future. Inception, of all the exemplar methodology examples, truly depicts a false reality through lm physical reality.
Comprising Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927), Jean-Luc Godard’s Alphaville (1965), and Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (1982), An Exploration into Cinema and its Representation of the Urban Metropolis, provides an introduction into cinema and the evolution of the urban city through the art of live-action moving imagery. The choice of precedents are purposely paradigms of pre-digital cinema and the most relevant methodology; among them employing a collage of sets, models, mirrors, and matte painting techniques to depict the ultimate cinematic city.
The choice of methodologies wholly represents the combination of both pre-digital cinema and digital cinema, each differing in their techniques of collaged space and urban environments. The successes in the selection of case studies lie across the era at which cinema evolved, from 1927 through to the digital age of 2010. This allowed a greater depth of knowledge to be sought through the parameters of an extensive research period. By presenting examples across the century, a comparison of collaging techniques was ever present, verifying cinemas advancement as a digital ar t In contrary, should the opportunity prevail, an improvement upon the methodology techniques could enhance this exploration somewhat. While the setting and growth of cinema has been depicted within a study the rst to highlight urban representation through the art of motion picture - which I believe was required to set the foundations of cinematic collage - to truly interrogate the means of collage techniques, the ideology of contrasting just a select few case studies utilising opposing methodologies of digital cinematic construction would seem the most valuable. By evaluating two exemplars of the same era, the most successful digital hybrids of all to represent urban environments would set the precedent for future explorations of the digital world.
The Evolution of a Digital World is explored by the cinematic examples Dark City (1998) by Alex Proyas and the Star Wars Trilogy by George Lucas, featuring The Phantom Menace (1999), Attack of The Clones (2002), and Revenge of the Sith (2005). The methodologies present provide an introduction into the digital era of cinema and evolution as a computer generated art form, the reason for their selection. This is demonstrated through the use of digital software and hybrid montages consisting live action cinematography, graphics, still imagery, 2D and 3D computer animation, and special effects, forming lm physical reality based on the collage of new media techniques.
The hypothesis outlined in this thesis paper highlights the visual impact in which computer software employs upon digital cinema today, generating a hybrid montage of live-action cinematography in almost all forms of commercialised productions, lmic or otherwise. Uncommon now that cinema will not endure some form of postproduction, the interests of this research paper lie within the digitally manipulated collaging techniques of urban environments. With postproduction forming the basis of the lm image, it is now uncommon that the images we see are recorded, as opposed to constructed. Erasing evidence of its production, cinema is fabricated to dictate a false or heightened reality.
The most apparent in urban collage of all, based upon existing typologies, is A Study into Collaged Architectures of Digital Cinema. The juxtaposition of collaged cities within digital cinema, employing the visual aesthetics of media hybridity, explores a ctional world through the methodology of an additional motion picture. Truly representing cinematic architectures, congurations, and post produced collaged edits based upon fragments of existing urban environs within digital cinema, the methods and techniques used to achieve such spatial complexities are depicted through Gotham City; Christopher Nolan’s trilogy series, comprising Batman Begins (2005), The Dark Knight (2008),
Here lies an area for further exploration into the visuals of collage through the Advanced Architectural Design Portfolio. The comprehensiveness of this thesis study would not be absolute without the attempt of manually constructed images present in my own work, exploring the techniques founded to improve upon the study, with the potential to discover new ideologies and proving its validity as a cinematic urban study.
The topics outlined are represented by a number of case study exemplars, based on their content and date of release, that focus on the re-arranging of existing cities, in fragment or whole, the construction of entirely new spaces, and the creation of cinematic environments within digital motion picture. The studies have been selected based on urban impact and their evolution of cinema and digital cinema, the only form of methodology practical to explore a digital city, of which repeatability occurs.
i n d e x in g t h e c i n e ma t i c c i t y
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Cinema | An Exploration into Cinema and its Representation of the Urban Metropolis Thesis extract: Case Studies Include; Lang, Fritz | Film: Metropolis (1927), Godard, Jean-Luc | Film: Alphaville (1965), Scott, Ridley | Film: Blade Runner (1982). Runner (1982). “
An exploration into cinema and its representation of the urban metropolis begins with a cinematic example based wholly on this concept;Metropolis concept; Metropolis,, a silent German expressionist science ction lm directed by Fritz Lang. Shot in 1927, pivotal for its time, Metropolis is set in futuristic urban dystopia. “Metropolis, you know, was born from my rst sight of the skyscrapers of New York in October 1924. The buildings seemed to be a vertical sail, scintillating and very light, a luxurious backdrop, suspended in the dark sky to dazzle, distract and hypnotize…I thought that it was the crossroads of multiple and confused human forces, blinded and knocking into one another, in an irresistible desire 1 for exploitation, and living in perpe tual anxiety.”
As depicted by Lang, the appearance of the urban city of Metropolis Metropolis was collaged together from the architecture dominant in New York City, in addition to the styles located in other major cities such as Chicago and Berlin.2 Precisely the premise set out my Manovich, Lang’s interpretation of producing, “art out of a footprint” 3, takes the urban Metropolis one step further. Although not constructed from, “lens-based recordings of reality” 4, the basic principal in developing art through the vision and imaginations forged by the City of New York, which Metropolis soon became famous for, allowed Lang’s masterpiece to achieve a visual so dominant, its impact still inspires today. The representation of New York City was a fundamental factor in the representation of ctional Metropolis, Metropolis, providing inherent qualities into the cinematic stage.
I ma ge st st li l o f t he ur ur ba n c ti yf ro ro mt he ci ci ne ma ti c c ase st st ud y Me tr op ol s i
I ma ge st st li lo f t he ur ur ba n c ti y f ro mt he ci ci ne ma titic ca ca se st st ud y Me tr op ol oli s
I ma ge st st lil of of th th e u rb an ci ci ty fr fr om th th e ci ne ma ti c c as es tu dy Me Me tr op ol oli s
The rst in urban cinematic studies, Metropoliswas Metropolis was constructed using special effects and large-scale sets, inuenced signicantly by Art Deco and gothic movements. The style and appearance that became apparent of Metropolis of Metropolis was developed in Germany. With its focal aim of optical expression, Lang’s ambition was to generate a reactive response to the audiences of Metropolis of Metropolis.. Editor David Hudson claims that, “German expressionism was an exploration into juxtaposing light and shadow. It was a descent into madness and obsession in an urban setting complete with architectural structures.” 5 Cited by Luis Buñuel, “If we look instead into the compositional and visual rather than the narrative side of the lm, Metropolis exceeds all expectations and enchants as the most wonderful book o f images one can in any way imagine.” 6 ” 1 2 3 4 5 6
F. Lang, Fritz Lang Interviews Interviews,, University Press of Mississippi, 2003, p. 68. Ibid, p. 68. L. Manovich,What anovich, What is Digital Cinema? Cinema, the Art of the Index , MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass, London, 2001, p. 01. Ibid, p. 01. D. Hudson,German Hudson, German Expressionism, From Green Cine on the Web, 2005 D. Hudson,German Hudson, German Expressionism, From Green Cine on the Web, 2005
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Digital Cinema | The Evolution of a Digital World; Thesis extract: Case Studies Include; Proyas, Alex | Dark City (1998), City (1998), Lucus, George |Star Wars Episode I; The Phantom Menace (1999), Lucus, George | Star Wars Episode II; Attack II; Attack of The Clones (2002), Lucus, George | Star Wars Episode III; Revenge of the Sith (2005). “
The exact moment in which digital cinema prevailed, saw the release of George Lucas’ Star Wars saga lms; Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Menace, the rst of the trilogy prequel to the original Star Wars collection. Released in 1999, The Phantom Menace is an American blockbuster space opera lm, truly considered the rst exemplar of di gitally constructed environments.
The Phantom Menace is primarily constructed using extensive computer generated imagery, CGI effects, with many characters and settings entirely computerized through digital technology, far from any reality:
Computer generated imagery from the cinematic case studyThe Phantom Menace
Computer generated imagery from the cinematic case studyThe Phantom Menace
Computer generated imagery from the cinematic case study Attack of the Clones Attack
“The new technik of cinema – the German term evoking ‘technology’ as well as ‘technique’ – registered such a shift in the eld of human perception, one that worked to sensitize people to aspects of the world that had previously gone unnoticed; that were not previously recognized or even recognizable as reality.” 1 “Writing the script was much more enjoyable this time around because I wasn’t constrained by anything. You can’t write one of these movies without knowing how you’re going to accomplish it. With CG at my disposal, I knew I could do whatever I wanted.” 2 The Phantom Menace required the input of three visual effects supervisors, consisting of approximately 1,950 special effects; merely one single lm sequence remained untouched of digital manipulation. This apparent model of collage is a principal demonstrated in my own design project, expanding the parameters of kino-collage through digital cinema methodologies to advance my capabilities. Unknown to the audience of The Phantom Menace the extent of digital manipulation, I too am encompassing cinematic collage in every frame of the portfolio motion picture, building throughout the lms progression to gradually reveal a scene intense with visual effects and distinct collage. Attack of the Clones, released in 2002, the second in the Star Wars Episode trilogy, became one of the rst motion picture lms to be shot entirely on a digital 24-frame high denition camera. This classic space opera exemplar became known as the rst of its kind to be constructed utilising a medium described by Producer Rick McCallum as “virtual lmmaking” 3, constructed through various hybrid techniques and utilising methods shot far from one another, and composed years apart.”
Computer generated imagery from the cinematic case studyThe Phantom Menace
Computer generated imagery from the cinematic case studyThe Phantom Menace
Computer generated imagery from the cinematic case study Attack of the Clones Attack
1 D. B. Clarke,The Clarke,The Cinematic City , Routledge, p. 13. 2 G. Lucas, The Making of Star Wars, Episode I - The Phantom Menace , LucasBooks, 1999, p. 105. 3 G. Lera,State Lera, State of The Art: The Previsualization of Episode II , 2002.
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Collage in City | A Study into Collaged Architectures of Digital Cinema Thesis extract: Case Studies Include; Nolan, Christopher | Film: Batman Begins (2005), Nolan, Christopher | Film: The Dark Knight (2008), Knight (2008), Nolan, Christopher | Film: The Dark Knight Rises (2012).
“
Cinema has long been used as a platform to display a collage of urban cities, whether ctional or depicted from fragments of already existing architectures. ‘Gotham ‘Gotham City ’ is possibly the greatest all time ctional city, which originates from the DC Comic book series, Batman . The evolution of Gotham City arose City arose in 1940, revealed in Batman #4. Depicted in numerous ways by various artists, Gotham City is City is continually evolving. Gotham City is City is most commonly placed on the Northeastern coast of the United States of America, adjacent New York City, Manhattan. “Batman’s Gotham City is Manhattan below Fourteenth Street 1 at eleven minutes past midnight on the coldest night in November.” The representation of Gotham City is that of urban darkness and apprehension. Widespread crime and corruption infest the metropolis into a feat of decay; ‘no mans land’. Garrick Theatre
Based upon real interpretations of existing architectural styles, Gothic, Art Deco and Art Nouveau period characteristics are exaggerated. Such features are utilised to dramatise and enhance the cinematic city.
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Chicago Board of Trade Building
In more recent years, Gotham City , portrayed by Christopher Nolan, the director of Batman of Batman Begins (2005), The Dark Knight , Knight , (2008) and The Dark Knight Rises (2012), features distinct Chicago Architecture, based upon the DC map of Gotham, far left. Batman Begins , constructs Gotham through an augmented CGI version of Chicago, while The Dark Knight more Knight more clearly features genuine Chicago architecture and infrastructure. Methodologies put into practice in Batman Begins, Begins, are research developments represented within the Advanced Architectural Design Portfolio motion picture.
35 East Wacker
The Walled Cit y of Kowloon
With the DLR as the setting for the urban exploration, only selected fragments that are recongured make up the metropolis for the restructured cinematic city space; represented in the adaptation of London City. Expressed by Manovich, “In digital lmmaking, shot footage is no longer the nal point but just raw material to be manipulated in a computer where the real construction of a scene will take place. In short, the production becomes just the rst stage of post-production.” 2 ”
Collaged architectural fragments used to construct Gotham City in Batman Begins
1 D. O’Neil, Batman: Knightfall , Bantam Books, New York, 1994, p. 344. 2 L. Manovich, What is Digital Cinema? Cinema, the Art of the Index, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass, London, 2001, p. 05.
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Collage in Edit | Cinematic Congurations of Existing Spaces within Digital Cinema Thesis extract: Case Studies Include; Nolan, Christopher | Film: Inception (2010)
“
The digital indexing of Urban Cities in Christopher Nolan’s science-ction thriller,Inception thriller, Inception,, is a vast undertaking. Unlike the Batman Trilogy, this urban study within cinematic examples of collage does not collect fragments to construct one entire city. Instead,Inception Instead, Inception,, appearing on screen in 2010, travels the innite world of dreams, and is based upon the architecture of the mind; dream spaces are constructed of already existing worldly city fragments, and enhanced digitally to create a cinematic collage of false spaces, a sub-reality of urban environments, explored through digital cinema. The cinematic sub-realities of Inception put into practice a theory of actuality suggested by Ernst Cassirer in Rowe & Koetter’s Collage City ; “where we do not reect on myth but truly live in it, there is no cleft between the actual reality of perception and the world of mythical fantasy.” 1 The entire production is an assemblage of diverse city fragments in an imaginative and enhanced collage, providing inherent qualities of diverse city settings. Inception, Inception, deriving from the beginning of a concept, sees almost the entire lm edit taking place within interconnected dream spaces. Each environment creates a structure where actions within one space are transferred across others, as dream worlds within dream worlds co exist. The premise of this cinematic production is created with an obvious juxtaposition of urban spaces, as fragments are interrupted or surpassed as the dream levels are penetrated; a surrealist lm making precedent.
Image still of the bistro explosion scene in Inception
“The actualization of the virtual must involve the creation of invention of the unforeseen, the emergence of an event that is not deductible from the conditions which preceded it.” 2 Thus, lm physical reality is experienced; a scenario only ever possible through the art of digital cinema. Inception has raised the bar in creating the unimaginable. Cultural and Urban theorist Paul Virilio, in The Aesthetics of Disappearance, Disappearance, dictates a notion that seems ever present in this ctional fabricated world of cinematic congurations most of all, “The trick, intelligently applied, today allows us to make visible the supernatural, the imaginary, even the impossible.” 3 Utilising Manovich’s expression “elastic reality” , Inception became the most plausible exemplar to produce a new kind of realism. A lm physical reality that can only but be d escribed as,“something as,“something 4 which is intended to look exactly as if it could have happened, although it really could not.” ”
Image still of the Paris enfolding scene in Inception
Image still of the CGI constructed city of Inception
1 2 3 4
Colin Rowe & Fred Koetter, Collage City, The MITPress, London, 1978, p. 09. J. Crary, Visionary Events in Olafur Eliasson Exhibition catalogue, 1997, p. 05. P. Virilio, The Aesthetics of Disappearance, MIT Press, 2009, p. 62. L. Manovich, What is Digital Cinema? Cinema, the Art of the Index, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass, London, 2001, p. 04.
collage in edit_inception
6 . 0 | i m p o ss i b l e s p a c e s
d l r c i t y _ fi l m t e s t s
c o l l ag e i n c i t y & c o l l ag e i n e d i t _f i n a l f i l m The Advanced Architectural Thesis allowed me to explore cinema, digital cinema, collage in city and collage in edit, looking in detail at exemplar case studies that were able to inuence my design techniques and lm construction methodologies. The prevailing examples explored have heavily impacted the intentions of my nal lm, allowing me to explore collage and the construction of city spaces. As previously outlined, the dlr is the selected site used to construct the sequences in my nal lm. I am collaging cityscapes and spaces across London to construct a digital edit that encompasses a journey to the DLR city terminus. The edit begins with introductory sequences of the Docklands Light Railway, and spaces that appear untouched from digital manipulation. As the lm progresses, the edits become more obviously collaged and the pace picks up speed to indicate a journey across London City. The lm terminates at the DLR Termius Termius and all tracks emerge together as the journeys come to an end. The techniques utilised include the layering of both 2D images and 2D motion footage, constructed in 2.5D space to give the illusion of three dimensional space. Using After Effects, the images are made into 3D layers to position and rotate them across the X, Y and Z axis, implementing camera movements and effects. Collage of time, speed and space are explored, in conjunction with dark and light manipulation. The contrast in depth of eld also provides the scenes with three dimensional authenticity, helping to portray real space-time. Further tests allow the evolution of sequences as they are revisited through the lm, with collage becoming more and more prominent in every showing. The intention is to develop a sequence of journeys through sub-real spaces that can only ever but exist on the cinematic screen. To quote Lev Manovich, the intention for the nal lm is to create; “Something which is intended to look exactly as if it could have happened, although it really could not...”
s p a t i a l b r i e f
6 . 1 | i m p o ss i b l e s p a c e s
d l r c i t y _ fi l m t e s t s 0 1
canary wharf underpass
6 . 2 | i m p o ss i b l e s p a c e s
d l r c i t y _ fi l m t e s t s 0 2
canary wharf turret
6 . 3 | i m p o ss i b l e s p a c e s
d l r c i t y _ fi l m t e s t s 0 3
doorat bank
6 . 4 | i m p o ss i b l e s p a c e s
d l r c i t y _ fi l m t e s t s 0 4
sidepillars at bank
6 . 5 | i m p o ss i b l e s p a c e s
d l r c i t y _ fi l m s e q u en c e 0 1
introduction
6 . 6 | i m p o ss i b l e s p a c e s
d l r c i t y _ fi l m s e q u en c e 0 2
c a n a ry w h a rf s t a t io n 0 1
6 . 7 | i m p o ss i b l e s p a c e s
d l r c i t y _ fi l m s e q u en c e 0 3
p i l l a rs a t b a n k
6 . 7 | i m p o ss i b l e s p a c e s
d l r c i t y _ fi l m s e q u en c e 0 3
or m int nsf Po Tr achor Ansition Poale tion Scientation Or ota ion t XR ota ion Y Rotat Z Racity p O
0.0 .0, 0.0 540 20 0% 0o, .0, 0.0, 10. 05. 96.00, -20.0, 1.0o, 1 340, 1o1, 105 11 5.0 0o 10 + 0.0o 0x + 0.0o 0x + 0. 0x0% 10
or m int nsf Po Tr achor Ansition Poale tion Scientation Or ota ion t XR ota ion Y Rotat Z Racity p O
0 , 0. 8.5 .0 50 .5, 0 o, 5, 3350810.0% . 0.0 6 0 49666.5,0.0, 1.0o, 1 490, 1o1, 100 11 0.0 0o 10 + 0.0o 0x + 0.0o 0x + 0. 0x 0% 10
or m int nsf Po Tr achor Ansition Poale tion Scientation Or ota ion t XR ota ion Y Rotat Z Racity p O
0 , 0. 8.5 .0 50 .5, 0 o, 5, 3350810.0% . 0.0 6 0 49666.5,0.0, 1.0o, 1 490, 1o1, 100 11 0.0 0o 10 + 0.0o 0x + 0.0o 0x + 0. 0x 0% 10
or m int nsf Po Tr achor Ansition Poale tion Scientation Or ota ion t XR ota ion Y Rotat Z Racity p O
0 , 0. 8.5 .0 50 .5, 0 o, 5, 3350810.0% . 0.0 6 0 49666.5,0.0, 1.0o, 1 490, 1o1, 100 11 0.0 0o 10 + 0.0o 0x + 0.0o 0x + 0. 0x 5%
The Pillars at Bank sequence was constructed of just 3 layers. The 2D images were built from a single photo, and deconstructed into background layers to sit just in front of the moving footage, the escalator scene, taken from Canary Wharf underground station. To construct a 2.5D space with the illusion of 3-dimensions, using Adobe After Effects, each layer was made into a 3D layer and each set back along the Z axis to give depth to the composition. As the camera pans along the X and Y axis, zooming in and out across the Z axis, the layers closer to the camera obstruct the layers in the background to provide the illusion that it has been taken from 3D footage, as it would do in real space. To enhance the shot into moving footage, an escalator sequence was masked out, and placed behind a solid layer with reduced opacity made into translucent glazing with an opacity of 50%. Being a 3D layer, material changed were made to enhance the shinyness and metal effects to give a real-life illusion of glazing.
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6 . 8 | i m p o ss i b l e s p a c e s
d l r c i t y _ fi l m s e q u en c e 0 4
c a n a ry w h a r f p l a z a 0 1
6 . 9 | i m p o ss i b l e s p a c e s
d l r c i t y _ fi l m s e q u en c e 0 5
gerkin reflections
6 . 9 | i m p o ss i b l e s p a c e s
d l r c i t y _ fi l m s e q u en c e 0 5
gerkin reflections explained
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c a n a ry w h a rf s t a t i on 0 2
6 . 1 1 | i m p o s si b l e s p a c e s
d l r c i t y _ fi l m s e q u en c e 0 7
bank reflections
6 . 1 1 | i m p o s si b l e s p a c e s
d l r c i t y _ fi l m s e q u en c e 0 7 or m nt nsf Poi Tr achor Ansition Poale tion Scientation Or Rotation XR ota on Y otati Z Racity p O
0.0 .0, 480 .0 .0% .0, 2.0, 0, 300 0 4 10 , -50300.0.0o, 0.00.0, .0o, 0 30 o, 0 o 0.0+ 0.00o 0x + 0.3o 0x + 0. 0x0% 10
or m nt nsf Poi Tr achor Ansition Poale tion Scientation Or otation XR ota on Y Rotati Z Racity p O
0.0 .0, 480 .0% .0, , 0.0, 300 0 4 10 0, 0.000.0.0o, -4.0.0, .30o, 0 30 o, 0 o 0.0+ 0.00o 0x + 0.3o 0x + 0. 0x 0% 10
0.0 .0, 480 .0 .0% .0, 2.0, 0, 300 0 4 10 0, 56 00.0.0o, -4.0.0, .30o, 0 30 o, 0 o 0.0+ 0.00o 0x + 0.3o 0x + 0. 0x 0% 10
or m nt nsf Poi Tr achor Ansition Poale tion Scientation Or Rotation XR ota on Y otati Z Racity p O
or m nt nsf Poi Tr achor Ansition Poale tion Scientation Or otation XR ota on Y Rotati Z Racity p O
.0 9, 0 350 .5,, 0.0 5.0% 6 6 49 , 0.05.0, 2.0o, 0.0.0, 2.0o, 0 25 o, 0 o 0.0+ 0.00o 0x + 0.0o 0x + 0. 0x 0% 10
or m nt nsf Poi Tr achor Ansition Poale tion Scientation Or otation XR ota on Y Rotati Z Racity p O
.0 9, 0 350 .5,, 0.0 5.0% 6 6 49 , 0.05.0, 2.0o, 0.0.0, 2.0o, 0 25 o, 0 o 0.0+ 0.00o 0x + 0.0o 0x + 0. 0x 0% 10
The Bank Reections sequence was constructed of just 5 layers. The 2D images were built from a single photo, and deconstructed into a background layer to sit just in front of moving footage, and glazing to give the illusion of trains moving behind facade. To construct a 2.5D space with the illusion of 3-dimensions, using Adobe After Effects, each layer was made into a 3D layer and each set back along the Z axis to give depth to the composition. As the camera pans along the X and Y axis, zooming in and out across the Z axis, the layers closer to the camera obstruct the layers in the background to provide the illusion that it has been taken from 3D footage, as it would do in real space. To enhance the shot into moving footage, a DLR carriage positioned on the bridge between Canary Wharf Station and Heron Quays was masked out, and placed behind the translucent glazing with an opacity of 50%. Being a 3D layer, material changed were made to enhance the shininess and metal effects to give a real-life illusion of glazing.
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6 . 1 2 | i m p o s si b l e s p a c e s
d l r c i t y _ fi l m s e q u en c e 0 8
c a n a ry w h a rf p l a z a 0 2
6 . 1 3 | i m p o s si b l e s p a c e s
d l r c i t y _ fi l m s e q u en c e 0 9
w h a rf s i d e r o a d
6 . 1 3 | i m p o s si b l e s p a c e s
d l r c i t y _ fi l m s e q u en c e 0 9
or m nt nsf Poi Tr achor Ansition o P ale tion Scientation Or otation XR ota ion Y Rotat Z Racity Op
0.0 .0 .0, 000 % 540 0, 1 0.0 .0, 638..7, 1o0, 0 6 , 9 6.5 243 .0 964.4, 0o, 0 16 o, 00. o 0.0+ 0.0o o 0x + 0. 0.0 0x + 27 0x 0% 10
or m nt nsf Poi Tr achor Ansition Poale tion Scienta ion Or Rotattion XR ota ion Y Rotat Z acity p O
0.0 .0, .0 % 640 0, 0 0.0 .0, 20. , 11 9600.0, 1410.0 .0o, 960.0, .0o, 0 11 o, 00o 0.0+ 0. .0o 0x + -110o 0x + 0. 0x 0% 10
The Wharf Side Road sequence was constructed of just 2 layers. A 2D image was manipulated to lengthen the pillars of the facade, and the back wall was removed to allow for the moving footage of the side road to be positioned in its place. Lights were added to achieve realistic shadows over the road and cars as they passed. To construct a 2.5D space with the illusion of 3-dimensions, using Adobe After Effects, each layer was made into a 3D layer and each set back along the Z axis to give depth to the composition. As the camera pans along the X and Y axis, zooming in and out across the Z axis, the layers closer to the camera obstruct the layers in the background to provide the illusion that it has been taken from 3D footage, as it would do in real space. To enhance the shot into moving footage, a road across London was positioned masked out, and placed behind the pillars at 100% transparency. Being a 3D layer, material changed were made to enhance the light and shadow effects to give a real-life illusion of an impossible space.
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6 . 1 4 | i m p o s si b l e s p a c e s
d l r c i t y _ fi l m s e q u en c e 1 0
c a n a ry w h a rf s t a t i on 0 3
6 . 1 5 | i m p o s si b l e s p a c e s
d l r c i t y _ fi l m s e q u en c e 1 1
east london
6 . 1 5 | i m p o s si b l e s p a c e s
d l r c i t y _ fi l m s e q u en c e 1 1
The East London sequence was constructed of 3 collaged layers. The background of a 2D image was removed to allow moving footage to be placed behind the background layer, and masked behing the tower block. The second layer of moving footage used a techinque in Adobe After Effects called rotoscoping, where a train from Tower Tower Gateway platform was cut from its background and overlaid on top of the footage to enable a dynamic change in sequences as the train passed. The reason for such a range in the locations of both the 2D images and moving footage, is because of the bricolage intentions of the lm. The intention is to combine an array of footage in diverse and unique congurations to build impossible spaces that do not exist in reality.
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or m int nsf Po Tr achor Ansition Poale n Sc io
.0 540 0 .0, 75. 9603.0, 55.0%o 20.0, 6 0.9 65 + 27 0x 0% 10
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0 25. , 11 5.0 5.0 112 % 11225.0,100.0 11 0.0, 0o 10 + 0. 0x 0% 10
e r m ag t f o ot la f o p ilm way h f te us ga b r
or m int nsf Po Tr achor Ansition Poale tion Scientation Or otation R ta n XR o io Y at
0 , 0. 0.0 0.0 , - % 54 6.3 0.0 .0, , 1140, 2o0, 0 9649.0200. .0 190.0, .0o, 0 20 o, 00o o 0.0+ 0. 0.0 0x + -30o 0x + 0. 0x0% 10
east london explained
6 . 1 6 | i m p o s si b l e s p a c e s
d l r c i t y _ fi l m s e q u en c e 1 2
c a n a ry w h a rf p l a z a 0 3
6 . 1 7 | i m p o s si b l e s p a c e s
d l r c i t y _ fi l m s e q u en c e 1 3
wharf towers
6 . 1 7 | i m p o s si b l e s p a c e s
d l r c i t y _ fi l m s e q u en c e 1 3
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wharf towers explained
6 . 1 8 | i m p o s si b l e s p a c e s
d l r c i t y _ fi l m s e q u en c e 1 4
c a n a ry w h a rf s t a t i on 0 4
6 . 1 9 | i m p o s si b l e s p a c e s
d l r c i t y _ fi l m s e q u en c e 1 5
p o p l a r w a l k wa y
6 . 1 9 | i m p o s si b l e s p a c e s
d l r c i t y _ fi l m s e q u en c e 1 5
or m nt nsf Poi Tr achor Ansition o P ale tion Scientation Or otation XR ota ion Y Rotat Z Racity Op
0 , 0. 0.0 0.0 100 144 .0, .0% .0, 11310, 1o5,0 0 6 9 0.0, 50. .0 9600, 1.0o, 0 15 o, 0.0o 0.0+ -8 .0o 0x + +1.0o 0x + +0 0x 0% 10
or m nt nsf Poi Tr achor Ansition o P ale n Sc tatio Ro acity Op
0.0 0.0 .0, 100 540 .0, .0,2400.0 % 0 6 9 56, 300 11 0.0, o 30 +3.5 0x 0% 10
or m nt nsf Poi Tr achor Ansition o P ale tion Scientation Or Rotation XR ota ion Y otat Z Racity Op
0 , 0. 0.0 0.0 100 144 .0, .0% .0, 1200, 11o0, 0 6 9 0.0, 10.0 .0 9600, 1.0o, 0 11 o, 0 .0o 0.0+ -8 .0o 0x + +1.0o 0x + +0 0x 0% 10
or m nt nsf Poi Tr achor Ansition o P ale tion Scientation Or otation XR ota ion Y Rotat Z Racity Op
0 , 0. 0.0 0.0 100 144 .0, .0% .0, 1200, 11o0, 0 6 9 0.0, 10.0 .0 9600, 1.0o, 0 11 o, 0.0o 0.0+ -8 .0o 0x + +1.0o 0x + +0 0x % 50
The Poplar walkway sequence was constructed of 5 layers. The 2D images were built from a single photo, and deconstructed into a background layer, the Poplar walkway frame, its glazing, and the tension support cables. To construct a 2.5D space with the illusion of 3-dimensions, using Adobe After Effects, each layer was made into a 3D layer and each set back along the Z axis to give depth to the composition. As the camera pans along the X and Y axis, zooming in and out across the Z axis, the layers closer to the camera obstruct the layers in the background to provide the illusion that it has been taken from 3D footage, as it would do in real space.
or m nt nsf Poi Tr achor Ansition Poale tion Scientation Or ota ion t XR ota ion Y Rotat Z Racity p O
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.0 .0 0, 0 00 40. , 10 % , 14200.0110.0 0 . 9600.0, 110.0, .0o, 9600, 1.0o, 0 11 o, 0 .0o 0.0+ -8 .0o 0x + +1.0o 0x + +0 0x 0% 10
To enhance the shot into moving footage, a DLR carriage positioned on the bridge between Canary Wharf Station and Heron Quays was masked out, and placed behind the translucent glazing with an opacity of 50%. Being a 3D layer, material changed were made to enhance the shinyness and metal effects to give a real-life illusion of glazing.
poplar walkway explained
6 . 2 0 | i m p o s si b l e s p a c e s
d l r c i t y _ fi l m s e q u en c e 1 6
c a n a ry w h a rf p l a z a 0 4
6 . 2 1 | i m p o s si b l e s p a c e s
d l r c i t y _ fi l m s e q u en c e 1 7
escalator screen
6 . 2 1 | i m p o s si b l e s p a c e s
d l r c i t y _ fi l m s e q u en c e 1 7
or m nt nsf Poi Tr achor Ansition Poale tion Scientation Or Rotation XR ota ion Y otat Z Racity Op
.0 0, 0 .0 40. .9, 0 .0% 0, 510380, 2o25 . 0 968.7, 225. .0 , 715.0, .0o, 0 22 o, 00o 0.0+ 0.0o 0x + 0.0o 0x + 0. 0x 0% 10
or m nt nsf Poi Tr achor Ansition Poale tion Scientation Or Rotation XR ota ion Y otat Z Racity Op
.0 0, 0 0.0 40. 5.7, .0% 0, ,51342, 1o55 . 0 9698.4163. .0 , 190.4, .0o, 0 11 o, 00o 0.0+ 0.0o 0x + 0. .0o 0x +-33 0x 0% 10
or m nt nsf Poi Tr achor Ansition Poale tion Scientation Or otation XR ota ion Y Rotat Z Racity Op
0.0 0 .0, 00. 960 0, 5 .0% .0, 960., 225 9 5 , 0 o 1359.0225. .0 , 135.0, .0o, 0 22 o, 00o 0.0+ 0.0o 0x + 0.0o 0x + 0. 0x 0% 10
or m nt nsf Poi Tr achor Ansition Poale tion Scientation Or otation R ta n XR o io Y otat Z Racity Op
0.0 0 .0, 00. 960 0, 5 .0% .0, 960., 225 9 5 , 0 o 1359.0225. .0 , 135.0, .0o, 0 22 o, 00o 0.0+ 0.0o 0x + 0.0o 0x + 0. 0x 0% 10
or m nt nsf Poi Tr achor Ansition Poale tion Scientation Or otation R ta n XR o io Y otat Z Racity Op
0.0 0 .0, 00. 960 0, 5 .0% .0, 960., 225 9 5 , 0 o 1359.0225. .0 , 135.0, .0o, 0 22 o, 00o 0.0+ 0.0o 0x + 0.0o 0x + 0. 0x 0% 10
The Escalator Screen sequence was constructed of 5 layers. The 2D image of a Canary Wharf glazed screen was taken from a 2D photograph. photograph. This was then deconstructed into a window frame and glazing panels to sit just in front of moving footage. The glazing was made into a 3D layer and given an opacity of 50%, where materials were added to give the illusion of transporters moving behind the building facade. To construct a 2.5D space with the illusion of 3-dimensions, using Adobe After Effects, each layer was made into a 3D layer and each set back along the Z axis to give depth to the composition. As the camera pans along the X and Y axis, zooming in and out across the Z axis, the layers closer to the camera obstruct the layers in the background to provide the illusion that it has been taken from 3D footage, as it would do in real space. To enhance the shot further, a mist layer was built using the effects in Adobe After Effects to run across the glazing and moving cloud footage. This adds realism into the shot to make the sequence more realistic and life-like.
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escalatorscreen explained
6 . 2 2 | i m p o s si b l e s p a c e s
d l r c i t y _ fi l m s e q u en c e 1 8
c a n a ry w h a rf s t a t i on 0 5
6 . 2 3 | i m p o s si b l e s p a c e s
d l r c i t y _ fi l m s e q u en c e 1 9
bank arches
6 . 2 3 | i m p o s si b l e s p a c e s
d l r c i t y _ fi l m s e q u en c e 1 9
or m nt nsf Poi Tr achor Ansition o P ale tion Scientation Or ota ion X Rotation Y Rotat Z Racity Op
0.0 5 .0, 17. 540 0, 1 .5% .0, 540.5, 1102o, 0 6 , . 9 7.2 112 o, 0. 912.5, 40.0 11 o, 3 o 0.0+ 0.0.0o 0x + 200o 0x + 0. 0x 0% 10
or m nt nsf Poi Tr achor Ansition o P ale tion Scientation Or ota ion X Rotation Y Rotat Z Racity Op
0 , 0. 0.0 .0 % , 58 0, 5 0.0 0.0540..0, 1o0, 0 0 , 1 0.0 100 .0 960.0, .0o, 0 10 o, 0 o 0.0+ 0.00o 0x + 0.0o 0x + 8. 0x % 15
or m nt nsf Poi Tr achor Ansition o P ale tion Scientation Or ota ion X Rotation Y Rotat Z Racity Op
.0 5, 0 06. .0 , 35 0, 0 6.5540.21.30%o, 6 9 , . 4 0.0 1.3, o, 0 96.3, 240.0 21 o, 3 o 0.0+ 0.0.0o 0x + 200o 0x + 0. 0x 0% 10
The Bank Arches sequence was constructed of 3 layers. The 2D image of a the arches at bank was taken from a 2D photograph shown at the back of the layers. This was then deconstructed into a facade and glazed openings to sit just in front of the white solid layer and then the moving footage. The glazing was made into a 3D layer and given an opacity of 15%, where materials were added to give the illusion of transporters moving behind the building facade. To construct a 2.5D space with the illusion of 3-dimensions, using Adobe After Effects, each layer was made into a 3D layer and each set back along the Z axis to give depth to the composition. As the camera pans along the X and Y axis, zooming in and out across the Z axis, the layers closer to the camera obstruct the layers in the background to provide the illusion that it has been taken from 3D footage, as it would do in real space. To enhance the shot further, a CC Glass layer was built using the effects in Adobe After Effects to run across the glazing and moving footage. This adds real ism into the shot to make the sequence more realistic and life-like.
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6 . 2 4 | i m p o s si b l e s p a c e s
d l r c i t y _ fi l m s e q u en c e 2 0
c a n a ry w h a rf p l a z a 0 5
6 . 2 5 | i m p o s si b l e s p a c e s
d l r c i t y _ fi l m s e q u en c e 2 1
f l a t s & t r a i ns
6 . 2 5 | i m p o s si b l e s p a c e s
d l r c i t y _ fi l m s e q u en c e 2 1
or m nt nsf Poi Tr achor Ansition Poale tion Scientation Or ota ion X Rotation Y Rotat Z Racity Op
0.0 .0, .0 540 0, 0 .0% .0, 62. 100 9607.0, 484.5, .0o, 380.0, .0o, 0 10 o, 00o 0.0+ 0.0o 0x + 0. o 0x - 0.5 0x 0% 10
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The Flats and Trains sequence was constructed of 8 layers, and I believe was the most succesful of all of the sequences used. The 2D image was manipulated and mirrored, and deconstructed into a background layer. DLR moving footage of a train carriage positioned on the bridge between Canary Wharf Station and Heron Quays was masked out, in addition to segments of the background to continue the background building across the additional footage above and below. To construct a 2.5D space with the illusion of 3-dimensions, using Adobe After Effects, each layer was made into a 3D layer and each set back along the Z axis to give depth to the composition. As the camera pans along the X and Y axis, zooming in and out across the Z axis, the layers closer to the camera obstruct the layers in the background to provide the illusion that it has been taken from 3D footage, as it would do in real space. To enhance the moving footage, lights were used to cast shadows on the moving carriages below, to give the impression that the tracks above are blocking out daylight, as they would in a real-life scenario. Although not an impossible space, the varying sppeds of the moving DLR carriages provide additional interest, in addition to the panning camera through After Effects 3D space to enhance the 2.5D illusion of real space-time.
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f l a t s & t r a i ns e x p l ai n e d
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The City Reections sequence was constructed of 3 layers. The 2D image of a reective city tower was taken from a 2D photograph shown at the back of the layers. This was then deconstructed into a facade and glazed openings to sit just in front of the moving footage. The glazing was made into a 3D layer and given an opacity of 15%, where materials were added to give the illusion of transporters moving behind the building facade. To construct a 2.5D space with the illusion of 3-dimensions, using Adobe After Effects, each layer was made into a 3D layer and each set back along the Z axis to give depth to the composition. As the camera pans along the X and Y axis, zooming in and out across the Z axis, the layers closer to the camera obstruct the layers in the background to provide the illusion that it has been taken from 3D footage, as it would do in real space. To enhance the shot further, a CC Glass layer was built using the effects in Adobe After Effects to run across the glazing and moving footage. This adds real ism into the shot to make the sequence more realistic and life-like.
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city reflections explained
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The nal sequence shot was the longest and most difcult lm sequence to complete. To visualise a DLR City using fragments of London and the DLR network, 342 individual screen shots were taken from www.bingmaps.com, and compiled together using Adobe Photoshop to construct a DLR Super City World. s e q u e nc e o f c o n s tr u c t i on :
carriage p e n t o o l | c a r r i ag e p a t h ecco precompose bridge masks cc lightrays t r a n sf o r m | s c a l e t r a n sf o r m | r o t a te w a rp | f i sh e y e l e n s lensflare blacksolid | fade
The intention was to build a terminus where the journeys travelled throughout the lm would emerge from the tracks and come together where they then terminate into a black worm hole. To construct this sequence, a singular train carriage was mapped along a series of paths - shown opposite - and then used an effects called ecco to turn that single carriage into 2, 3, 4 - 10, 20 carriages and so on. Some travelled quickly, others slowly, however they all terminated at exactly the same time as the sequence comes to an end. The layers were precomposed to allow masks to be drawn for every individual train carriage, 100 carriages in total, to enable the mask to cover only the track the carriage was related to, and notg the layer that fell beneath it in the sequence. This sequence was rendered out, taking 87 hours in tota, and on this layer cc light rays were added to every individual train to make the sequence more realistic and life-like. Again, this method utilised many effects in Adobe After Effects, and therefore also took a long time to render, approximately 37 hours in total. On top of this layer, the camera movements were added, positioning the scale and rotation factor to reveal a spinning, DLR City World. To enhance the curvature of the world further, a warp was added on top within an adjustment layer, and given a sh eye effects . To complete the sequence, a lens are was added to close the sequence, and a black solid fades to end.
DLR cityexplained
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dlr carriage
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d l r c i t y _ c o l la g e f r a g m e nt s
www.digimap.com
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dlr city_collage fragments Olympic Stadium E15 London Bridge Bermondsey Street SE12 Victoria Terminus Place S W1 0 St Pancras International Pancras Road NW12 Stratford Station Station Street E151 Waterloo Station Approach Road SE17 Stratford Station Station Street E151 London Bridge Bermondsey Street SE12 MitreWay NW106 Euston EustonSquare NW12
PoplarDLR Station Castor Lane E140 Battersea Power Station
www.bingmaps.com
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dlr city_summary
summary This academic year has been a great exploration for my nal year Architectural Diploma. Due to studying part-time, it was the second phase of my nal year project. After having completed the technical phase of the Design Realisation project las t year, this year was about exploring new avenues and software to develop in areas that I have not yet been exposed to during my academic studies, that became more playful and design orientated. We began the year by looking at precedent case studies and theoretical texts to develop our Architectural Thesis topic and design aspi rations for the second phase of my nal year project. Having read and explored a number of texts by Architectural historians and media theorists, one particular text by Professor Lev Manovich, What is Digital Cinema? Cinema, the Art of the Index, caught my attention. With an interest in photography and an ever growing enthusiasm for digital cinema, this text began the development process for my nal year with Unit 15, Nic Clear, Mike Aling, and Simon Withers; an absolutely fantastic unit choice with both both learning and development opportunities, and fantastic leadership and organisation. Software workshops with technical tutor, Mike Aling, enabled myself and the unit to become familiar with new and exciting software of which we were to adopt as methods to develop our design projects. The software studies included Blender, Adobe Premier, and my chosen methodology, Adobe After Effects, which soon became my favourite construct for the production of my design portfolio and lm exploration. Alongside t he research developments of our Advanced Ar chitectural Thesis, methodologies and techniques began to be explored, in addition to nding the capabilities of our own design ambitions and software boundaries, of which I never found any! This almost was a downfall on my behalf, because without knowing the true boundaries of the software capabilities, I was also unaware what could be achieve within this vast eld of lm effects and production; however it has been a great learning process, and I have truely learnt an enormous amount in the short time I have spent exploring the software. The Manovich text outlined a concept, or theory if you will, that became the enthusiasm and drive in both aspects of my portfolio, stating that digitl cinema has become: “Something which is intended to look exactly as if it could have happened, althouigh it really could not...”
With this statement providing the inspiration for my design project, kino-collage and bricolage techniques became the sole focus for both my theoretical thesis and lm developments throughout the year, exploring ways in which real life motion pictures and 2D spatial arrangements could be made into a digital cinematic exploration of sub-realities, creating impossible life-like scenarios. Taking forward the principals of Lev Manovich, kino-collage and bricolage were techniques and methodologies explored within every frame of my nal lm. With the Docklands Light Railway as the principal site for the lm, collaging cityscapes and spaces across London became the methodology to construct a digital edit that encompasses a journey to a DLR City Terminus, made up of fragments of London. The edit begins with introductory sequences of the Docklands Light Railway, and spaces that appear untouched from digital manipulation. As the lm progresses, progresses, the edits become more obviously collaged and the pace picks up speed to indicate a journey across DLR City. The lm terminates at the DLR Termius and all tracks emerge together as the journeys come to an end. The techniques used to create such illusory sequences include the vast layering of both 2D images and motion footage, constructed in 2.5D space to give the illusion of three dimensional space. Using After Effects, the images are made into 3D layers to position and rotate them across the X, Y and Z axis, implementing camera movements and effects. Collage of time, speed and space are explored, in conjunction with dark and light manipulation. The contrast in depth of eld also provides the scenes with three dimensional authenticity, helping to portray real space-time. Further tests allowed the evolution of sequences as they are revisited through the lm, with collage becoming more and more prominent in every showing. The intention is to develop a sequence of journeys through sub-real spaces that can only ever but exist on the cinematic screen. To create a playful and developing lmic sequence, not one single shot was without digital manipulation and collage; methodologies explored within case studies of the Architectural Thesis. This aspect of the two major projects certainly became useful while developing the two simultaneously, enabling one to inform the other and develop and a consequence.
My nal lm intended to take forward the successful qualities of my rst ever lm, Poplar Interchange, of which was said to build well and leave the viewer not fully understanding the true complexities and collaging of 400+ layers to construct an impossible space. I am really happy with the nal edit, having produced sequences that are realistically spatial, but however do not exist in reality. The fun part about this project was just that, building upon existing spaces in and around London and the docklands light railway, and piecing fragments together to create new and existing spaces, some of which could practically exi st, and perhaps do in parts of the world. And it is those sequences which I found were the most successful. The areas in which I would like to develop and improve upon, are some of the more simple sequences. Due to studying part time, I spent more attention in some areas over others, and cosequently were not as happy with the outcome of these. If I were to revisit the project, ideally I would rework some of the shorter sequences, in order to be truely happy with the entire edit as a whole. The nal lm sequence was intended to become a busy DLR Terminus, Terminus, which I believe it to have achieved, however however given more time I would love to revisit this sequence and add additional effects and collages to give it the realism of some of the most successful sequences. Due to my small area of expertise within this vast eld, I perhaps would have constructed this sequence using a different software. The reason for this is because of the vast amount of repetition in effects, masks, paths, echos and camera movements, which the software took two days to render. Therefore there was not as much room for error which was found while testing earlier sequences. If I had the knowledge I have now prior to building this scene, I would have constructed it differently to enhance it’s visual impact. However, overall I am really pleased with the nal outcome - I certainly have come a long way since the beginning of the year, having never used this software, or the audio editing suites before. This nal year of my diploma has been a great development year, and I have learnt an incredible amount, as well as thoroughly enjoying studying new and exciting digital means to construct architectural spaces, techniques and skills, which I will take forward into my future academic, work and personal projects. Thank you Unit 15 for making my nal year Diploma not only benecial, but also incredibly enjoyable and fun!
finalfilm
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7 . 0 | b i b l i og r a p hy
7.1 |
Allen, Stan | Practice: Architecture Technique & Representation (2008)
7. 11 | Crary, Jonathan | Suspensions of Perception (2001)
7.21 | Jameson, Fredric | Postmodernism (1992)
7.2 |
7.3 | Antonioni, Michelangelo | Blow-Up
7.12 | Crary, Jonathan | Visionary Events (1997)
7.22 | John Smith | The Girl Chewing Gum (1976)
7.31 | Lucas, G | Star Wars II 7.32 | Lucas, G | Star Wars Attack of The Clones (2002)
Aronofsky, Darren | Requiem for a Dream (2000)
(1966)
III Revenge of The Sith (1999)
7.13 | Eisenstein, S. M | Battleship Potemkin (1925)
7.4 |
Barthes, Roland | Camera Lucida; Reections on Photography (1993)
7.14 | Flusser, Vilem | Towards a Philosophy of Protohraphy (2000)
7.5 |
Barthes, Roland | Image Music Text (1993)
7.15 | Friedberg, A. | The Virtual Window (2006)
7.23 | John Warwicker & Karl 7.24 | Krause, L. & Petro, P | 7.25 | Kreimeir, K | The Ufa Hyde | Mmm...Skyscraper I Love You (2000)
7.33 | Mannoni, Laurent | Eyes, Lies and Illusions (2004)
Global Cities (2003)
7.34 | Manovich, Lev | After Effects of Velvet Revolution (2006)
Story (1999)
7.35 | Manovich, Lev | After Effects of Velvet Revolution Part II (2006)
7.6 |
Banjamin, Walter |
7.7 |
(2008) The Work in the Art of Mechanical Reproduction
7.16 | Godard, Jean-Luc | Alphaville (1965)
7.26 | Lang, Fritz | Metropolis (1927)
7.36 | Manovich, Lev | Cinema as a Cultural Interface (2002)
Bouzereau & Jody | The Making of Star Wars, Episde I (1999)
7.17 | Godard, Jean-Luc | Passion (1982)
7.27 | Lera, Gary | State of The Art (2002)
7.37 | Manovich, Lev | Cinema by Numbers (2006)
7.8 |
Burch, Noël | Life to Those Shadows (1990)
7.18 | Gordon, Douglas | 24-Hour Psycho (1993)
7.28 | Linklater, Richard | AScanner Darkly (2006)
7.38 | Manovich, Lev | Image Future (2006)
7.9 |
Chandon, Alex | Borderline (2009)
7.19 | Harbord, Janet | La Jetée (2009)
7.29 | Linklater, Richard | Waking Life (2001)
7.39 | Manovich, Lev | Understanding Hybrid Media (2006)
7.10 | Clarke, D. B | The Cinematic City (1997)
7.20 | Hitchcock, Alfred | Psycho (1960)
7.30 | Lucas, G | Star Wars I The Phantom Menace (1999)
7.40 | Manovich, Lev | What is Digital Cinema (1996)
7 . 0 | b i b l i og r a p hy
7.41 | Marey, Etienne-Jules | 7.42 | Marker, Chris | APassion for the Trace (1993)
7.51 | O’Neil, D | Batman Knightfall (1994)
7.61 | Sontag, Susan | On Photography (1979)
7.71 | Walter Ruttmann | Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis (1927)
7.43 | Matsuda, Keiichi |
La Jetée (1962)
7.52 | Peter Greenaway |
The Technocrat Retrot of London (2009)
7.53 | Proyas, A. |
AZed & TwoNoughts (1986)
7.62 | Tati, Jacques | Playtime (1967)
7.72 | Welles, Orson | The Trial (1962)
Dark City (1998)
7.63 | Tatopoulos, P. | Dark Empire (1997)
7.44 | Mitchell, W. J. | The Recongured Eye (1992)
7.54 | Pynchon, T. | Slow Learner (1984)
7.64 | Underworld | Cowgirl (1994)
7.45 | Mulvey, Laura | Death 24x a Second (2011)
7.55 | Roman, Alex | The Third & The Seventh (2009)
7.65 | Vertov, Dziga | Man with AMovie Camera (1929)
7.46 | Mulvey, Laura | Visual Pleasure & Narrative Cinema (2008)
7.56 | Rossi, A | The Architecture of The City (1984)
7.66 | Virillio, Paul | The Aesthetics of Disappearance (2009)
7.47 | Nolan, Christopher | Batman Begins (2005)
7.48 | Nolan, Christopher | Inception (2010)
7.57 | Rowe, C & Koetter, F | 7.58 | Scott, R. | Collage City (1978)
7.67 | Virillio, Paul | War & Cinema (2009)
7.49 | Nolan, Christopher | The Dark Knight (2008)
7.59 | Smith, John |
Blade Runner (1982)
Leading Light (1975)
7.68 | Wachowski, A. & L. |
7.69 | Wachowski, A. & L. |
The Matrix (1999)
The Matrix Reloaded (2003)
7.50 | Nolan, Christopher | The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
7.60 | So. Soki | Spacetime Hybridity (2009)
7.70 | Wachowski, A. & L. | The Matrix Revolutions (2003)
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