Architecture beyond the frame filmmaking and the adjacent space

Abstract

Filmmaking operates behind the closed doors of the studio system. Entire compounds of private space are devoted to the practice of film. Generic city streets, practical sets, a digital environments have had a long history of substituting for real locations. My thesis proposal examines the inversion of this concept. What if the city were to be the new studio backlot for student filmmaking? How would filmmakers and designers frame the urban context with cinematic motion? Greater London has its own film history, playing home numerous period, fantasy, drama and action set pieces. Its privatized industry hosts six major film studios as well as a multitude of smaller studios. More importantly, the city has a large number of performing arts and film academies spread throughout. The proposal approaches cinema through ascending scalar operations. A series of instruments explore design's agency within the scope of student filmmaking. One, a helmet that incorporates a director's toolkit. Two, a diffuser for grips to light a scene to desired effect. Three, a set of participatory devices that facilitate paradigmatic cinematography in public space. The final component of the proposal is a pop-up infrastructural framework that facilitates camera choreography. The dispersion of this framework across London's iconic fabric provides a platform for students do any number of camera set-ups with enormous amounts of production value. The intent of this new framework is to provide new opportunities for ephemeral contexts, stages and sets. The instigator of each of framework is site and a scenario that shares common visuals with action, fantasy, drama and romantic comedy genres.