Cinematic Site-Device

Week One: Cinematic Site-Device

Identify course structure and design brief.
Analyse and discuss cinematic devices and ways of looking at the site through a cinematic lens.
Design and make a cinematic device to document the project site.
Develop spatial sequence from your site documentation.
Set up a blog for studio paper and develop the first blog entry which documents and analyses the first week of studio experimentation.
Research pre-cinematic devices and cinematic spaces.

Weekly Learning Outcome

Chapter One: Giuliana Bruno’s Public Intimacy p.17-21

An examination of architecture and art as a screen of vital cultural memory that considers museum culture, visual technology, and the border of public and private space. Cinema emerged from an interactive geo visual culture. Indeed, tracing the relation of film to the history of exhibition tactics reveals how early museographic spectacles and practices of curiosity gave rise to the very architecture of interior design that became cinema.

As we returned to class for our final semester, we began analysing the brief and were introduced to our first task for our Cinematic Space project. In class we discussed pages 17-21 of Public Intimacy by Giuliana Bruno. At first the text made me slightly confused, however after breaking it down with my peers and focusing on specific quotes, I was able to gain a deeper understanding of the text. Something that intrigued me was how Bruno suggests the intimacy that historic cinema portrayed, the imagination it needed from its audience to come alive before 'film' was created. I was also introduced to the various spaces of viewing that I never previously considered as 'cinema' for example, cabinets of curiosity, wax museums, cosmorama rooms, panoramic and dioramic stages, urban viewing boxes, window display and view paintings. With that being said, I enjoyed the reading as I felt it connected me deeper to the 'film' we know today and I am looking forward to further developing my research. What I found most intriguing is how Bruno states "Memory interacts with the haptic experience of place; it is precisely this experience of revisiting sites that the architectural journey of film sets in place and motion. Place live in memory and revive in the moving image. " Thinking about architecture, memory and film I am drawn to the concept of how these idea symbolise a point in time. The fragmentation between the present and the past and the link of human interaction. I'd like to try explore this idea and see how I can create a device that manipulates perspective or encourages a sense of feeling of change eg. using colour filters, mirror, framing etc.

Montage in Architecture: Sergei M. Eisenstein

Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein was a Soviet film director and film theorist, a pioneer in the theory and practice of montage. He is noted in particular for his silent films Strike (1925), Battleship Potemkin (1925) and October (1928), as well as the historical epics Alexander Nevsky (1938) and Ivan the Terrible (1944, 1958).

His writings and films have continued to have a major impact on subsequent filmmakers. Eisenstein believed that editing could be used for more than just expounding a scene or moment, through a "linkage" of related images—as Kuleshov maintained. Eisenstein felt the "collision" of shots could be used to manipulate the emotions of the audience and create film metaphors. He believed that an idea should be derived from the juxtaposition of two independent shots, bringing an element of collage into film. He developed what he called "methods of montage":

Five methods of Montage:

- Metric

- Rhythmic

- Tonal

- Overtonal

- Intellectual

Pre-Cinematic and Cinematic Device Research

Pin Hole Photography

A pinhole lensless camera is a light-tight box with a very fine round hole in one end and film or photographic paper in the other. Light passes through the hole; an image is formed in the camera.

How it Works

A pinhole camera is a camera without a conventional glass lens. An extremely small hole in a thin material can create an image when all light rays from a scene go through a single point. In order to produce a reasonably clear image, the aperture has to be about 1/100th the distance to the screen, or less. The shutter of a pinhole camera usually consists of a hand operated flap of some light-proof material to cover and uncover the pinhole.

A common use of a pinhole camera is to capture the movement of sunlight over a long period of time. This type of photography is called Solargraphy. Pinhole cameras require much longer exposure times than conventional cameras because of the small aperture; typical exposure times can range from 5 seconds to hours or days.

I experimented with Pin Hole photography in highschool, I remembered it being quite and interesting yet surprisingly challenging process as you had to be careful of over exposing the image. The difficulty is something that intrigued me once again because of how this strategy has developed over time, what I mean by this is how it is simply easy to take a photo at the click of a button. With care and consideration is when altering images to have a unique sense of feeling to it is when it becomes more modernly challenging. Personally I struggle with altering the shutter speeds along with IOS and the exposure cohesively to capture the image I desire and this is why I think it should be appreciated. It takes a grand set of skills and understanding to master the art. Although I may not take my photos of the site in an "pinhole format'' I do like the idea of manipulating the lense, eg a small hole that views the subject.

Fish Eye Lense

"A fisheye lens is an ultra wide-angle lens that produces strong visual distortion intended to create a wide panoramic or hemispherical image. In 1906, Robert W. Wood invented the fish eye lense to replicate how a fish sees the world from underwater - he initially used a bucket full of water, pinhole camera, mirrored glass and a lot of light.

I want to explore a fish eye lenses because I find it interesting how it was used so long ago, yet I still see it being used in the modern day world. For example, in album covers, people seem to get a sort of authentic unique aesthetic when they use a fish eye lenses. Its wide angle allows to alter your normal perception and I think this could be a cool way to investigate the site along with some more innovative modifications to the device.

Glass Filters

Around the end of the 18th Century and during the 19th Century when landscape emerged as a subject to admire and depict for its aesthetic values many aids were used by artists as well as tourists to strengthen the experience of the view expanding before them. The aim of the different tools were to appropriate the landscape to facilitate the viewing of it as an image instead of it being three-dimensional.

Colour is always a fascinating way to investigate. Whether its the change, development, saturation, translucency, or vibrancy. The way its displayed caters a lot to how it is perceived, the way it can make us feel. After reading how coloured lenses were originally used to alter three dimensional views into looking more two dimensional, I found it interesting how this has developed over time and is used more as an accent, whether its glass stained windows, glasses, plates etc. Its been transformed into new ways that reflect colour among us. With that being said, I'd also like to explore this concept and see how colour can change the site, if different colours affect the way I perceive the site. If there's certain aspect that stand out more in one colour than other. I'm excited to try an incorporate colour lenses into my device and putting it to action.

Walls Full of Dreams. Cinematic Projector

magic lantern elephant drawing etc.usf.edu magic-lantern_1_lg.gif

Origin Story

"At Combray, as every afternoon ended, long before the time when I should have to go up to bed, and to lie there, unsleeping, far from my mother and grandmother, my bedroom became the fixed point on which my melancholy and anxious thoughts were centred. Some one had had the happy idea of giving me, to distract me on evenings when I seemed abnormally wretched, a magic lantern, which used to be set on top of my lamp while we waited for dinner-time to come: in the manner of the master-builders and glass-painters of gothic days it substituted for the opaqueness of my walls an impalpable iridescence, supernatural phenomena of many colours, in which legends were depicted, as on a shifting and transitory window. "

This device called the 'Walls Full of Dreams' stood out to me because of the narrative above. It's historical aspect intrigued me and reminded me of the sort of 'cinematic' devices that I presume Bruno was talking about. Although the story is short and due to there only being images, I also think there is no sound, this allows the user to use their imagination with the help of the projector. The ability to manually change the scenes is something I find intriguing, I feel that I could experiment with this in my sketche and see what forms I could create for my device.

http://piratesandrevolutionaries.blogspot.com/2009/11/walls-full-of-dreams-proust-du-cote.html

Cinematic Spaces - Aren.a

Hymn to the Big Wheel - Liz West

"The luminous installation stands as an immersive architectural pavilion which explores the illusion and physicality of color and natural light within the urban space. The occupiable artwork takes shape as one multi-colored octagon nested within an larger octagonal structure and encourage the viewer to reorient and align themselves with the changing color-ways. as the viewer moves within the ‘big wheel,’ they are immersed within a continually transforming scope of colors."

Colour in an architectural space that is showcased through glass rather than a opaque material has always interested me. The way light can change the atmosphere and angle of colour reflected- how it affects the viewers perspective making it an everchanging design. Although there are multiple colours in one space, they all compliment each other and work cohesively to display an illusion. This is something I'm interested in exploring as I develop my device.

Device Making

Filter Lenses Device:

Making my lenses was surprisingly challenging due to the glue and the cellophane material. However, once I got the hang of it I was able to get it done efficiently. The square shape was made as I felt it would be clear and easy to look through as the main part is what is creates, it also is easy to carry and allows me to layer one on top of the other.

Originally instead of black paper, I used popsicle sticks as I thought it was produce a sturdier frame- This was not the case. It was difficult sticking the pieces together and ended up becoming a mess.

Overall I am happy with the outcome and am looking forward to testing my device with a 'Fisheye Lense Filter' at the Fort Lane Site.