PERSISTENCE OF VISION: A Film-Making Collaborative
KRISTINA BUCHLER
| M.ARCH THESIS 2012 | SAVANNAH COLLEGE OF ART & DESIGN
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Persistence of Vision: A Film-Making Collaborative
Architecture Department A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the (Put Name of Department Here) in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the of Architecture Architecture Degree of (Put MasterMasters of Fine Arts or Master of Arts Here) in (Put Major Here) Savannah College of Art and Design
By Kristina M.Full Buchler (Student’s Name) Savannah (Put Campus Location Here – e.g. Savannah, GA) May 2012 Here – e.g. November 2011) (Put Month and Year Thesis is Submitted
sincerest gratitude to: my family, for showing me unconditional support. Andrew, for always understanding.
special thanks to Leslie: I just love it when we make things!
“AND ABOVE ALL, WATCH WITH GLITTERING EYES THE WHOLE WORLD AROUND YOU BECAUSE THE GREATEST SECRETS ARE ALWAYS HIDDEN IN THE MOST UNLIKELY PLACES. THOSE WHO DON’T BELIEVE IN MAGIC WILL NEVER FIND IT.” -Roald Dahl
Beasts of the Southern 0.0 Wild (2012), Benh Zeitlin
CONTENTS: ONE TWO THREE FOUR FIVE SIX SEVEN
| List of Figures | Introduction | Story & Time, Reality & the Senses | Beginnings & the Independent Spirit | Film-Making Processes | case study: making of Passing Through Traveling Down | Urban Context & Site Analysis | | Collaborative Paradigm & Programmatic Needs | case study: spatio-programmatic studies | Schematic Design & Design Development |Final Design & Exhibition | Conclusion
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LIST OF FIGURES 0.0 Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012), Benh Zeitlin Introduction: I.1 - Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010), Werner Herzog I.2 - The Fountain (2006), Darren Aronofsky I.3 - Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010), Apichatpong Weerasethakul I.4 - The Tree of Life (2011), Terrence Malick Chapter One 1.1 - Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010), Apichatpong Weerasethakul 1.2 - “The Park”, Bernard Tschumi, Manhattan Transcripts 1.3 - “Korean DMZ”, Lebbeus Woods 1.4 - “Retreating Village”, Smout Allen 1.5 - “Shipbreaking #11”, Edward Burtynsky, BLDG Blog Book 1.6 - “The Baker’s Garden”, CJ Lim and Ed Liu, Short Stories: London in Two and a Half Dimensions 1.7 - 1.8 - author 1.9 - Red Desert (1964), Michelangelo Antonioni 1.10 - Bladerunner (1982), Ridley Scott 1.11 - Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), Guillermo del Toro 1.12 - author Chapter Two 2.1 - Solaris (1972), Andrei Tarkovsky 2.3 - photo retreived from tcf.ua.edu 2.4 - Arrivee d’un Train en Gare de la Ciotat (1895), Lumiere Brothers 2.5 - Son of Rambow (2007), Garth Jennings 2.6 - author 2.7 - photo retrieved from davidlynch.de 2.8 - photo retrieved from silverscreeningroom.blogspot.com 2.9 (1974), John Cassavettes 2.10 - Amelie (2001), Jean-Pierre Jeunet Chapter Three 3.1 - There Will Be Blood (2007), Paul Thomas Anderson 3.2 - 3.3 - author
4.23 - photo retrieved from gardenguides.com 4.24 - photo retrieved from 4.25 - photo retrieved from rpgcover.com 4.26 - photo retrieved from butlerparkpitchandputt.com 4.27 - author 4.28 - 4.32 - author Case Study: Film-Maker Interviews B.1 - “Made-Up True Story”, Sam Winston B.2 - B.9 - author Chapter Five 5.1 - 8 1/2 (1963), Federico Fellini 5.2 - 5.13 - author Case Study: Spatio-Programmatic Studies C.1 - In The Mood For Love (2000), Wong Kar-Wai C.2 - photo by Echo Park Film Center C.3 - photo by Meghan Charland C.4 - photo by Echo Park Film Center C.5 - author C.6 - photo courtesy of Computer History Museum C.7 - photographer unknown C.8 - photo by John Cook C.9 - photo by John Cook C.10 - C.11 - author C.12 - C.13 - photo by Magda Biernat, retrieved from metropolismag.com C.14 - photo by Expano Music Chapter Six 6.1 - 6.27 - author 6.28 - photo by Justin Alexander, retrieved from archdaily.com 6.29 - photo by Wooseop Hwang, retreived from archdaily.com 6.30 - 6.31 - photo by Nic LeHoux Photography, retrieved from archdaily.com 6.32 - 6.49 - author Chapter Seven 7.1 - 7.37 - author
Case Study: Making of Passing Through Traveling Down A.1 - Passing Through Traveling Down (2012), Andrew Fuhr A.2 - A.10 - author A.11 - photo by Stephen Sullivan A.12 - photo by Michael Younker A.13 - photo by Michael Younker A.14 - A.15 - photo by Stephen Sullivan A.16 - author Chapter Four 4.1 - The Tree of Life (2011), Terrence Malick 4.2 - 4.7 - author 4.8 - photo by Karen Marks, Bat Conservation International 4.9 - 4.15 - author 4.16 - photo by Richard Ditch 4.17 - photo by Steve Creek 4.18 - photo by Julia Robinson 4. 19 - photo by Ralph Barrera, retrieved from photoblog.statesman.com 4.21 - author 4.22 -photo retrieved from butlerparkpitchandputt.com 2.
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PERSISTENCE OF VISION: A FILM-MAKING COLLABORATIVE Kristi Buchler | May 2012
humanity. Film is the world’s most modern story-telling medium and is quickly becoming of social and cultural knowledge, architecture has a responsibility to respond, to process of both viewing and making. This thesis seeks to understand the independent new type of place for this craft and therefore for story. Through understanding of the
complexities while promoting connection to place and to story-telling’s human element.
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“CINEMA, LIKE ALL OTHER MANIFESTATIONS OF CREATIVITY, OUGHT TO BE IN A STATE OF COMBUSTION, A METABOLISM OF THE UNCONSCIOUS, A JOURNEY TOWARD THE CENTER OF OURSELVES AND THE WORLD” -Federico Fellini
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INTRODUCTION As it always has been, a story must begin with a question. The shape of this question takes many forms, and passes through many hands before emerging into the world. For a story by nature is an ever-evolving being and breaks free of the reigns of time and place applied to it. Perhaps for this reason, humanity has considered the many means of story-telling to be a foremost endeavor, joining basic physical needs. It is becoming clear that even the earliest ancestors sought to live on through story: their palm prints pressed into cool cave walls, glowing vermilion in a torch’s light.
telling medium, and through it light and shadow once again
I.1
I.2
I.3 top: Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010), Werner Herzog
be enjoyed in the presence of many and it is this communal
It is this process – collaborative, intuitive, intricate, and singular – that asks questions of architecture. As a that architecture embrace cinema for its ability to reveal messages and tend to wider understanding of existence. As voice, does not architecture have a responsibility to respond, to cultivate, to understand? The exploration of this question involves delving into both the industry’s rich past and its future. The process itself will be dissected and stretched, revealing threads .7
middle: The Fountain (2006), Darren Aronofsky bottom: Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010), Apichatpong Weerasethakul opposite: The Tree of Life (2011), Terrence Malick
production, and thereby the merits of a collaborative craft, deserve attention and are thus discussed in respect to many topics in these writings. Throughout, the importance of storytelling and the element of time remain constant. These factors are continuous reminders of the role of memory and sequence in both social and spatial understanding; they both individually and in concert. Through these areas of research a cohesive picture emerges of a craft both inward and outward-looking: a craft both unique and universal. Film will continue to ask questions of architecture as it evolves; the partnership of the two disciplines is responsive and forever entwined.
I.4 8.
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A note on terminology: Throughout this text, several terms are used which may have are intended to be understood. story: Most familiar is the idea of narrative as story: plot, characters, and setting. A story may also be something less invented, such as documentary footage or home movies. Lastly, a story may embody a more intangible (or perhaps abstract) form which lacks narrative construction but nonetheless embodies the idea of the telling and the elicited emotional or psychological response. The human mind is meanings – in countless forms and artistic structures.
any piece of cinematic or moving image, or the medium as a whole. Other forms of this word used extensively include (the physical object used to record and project the moving image).
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Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010), 1.1 Apichatpong Weerasethakul
STORY & TIME, REALITY & THE SENSES
CHAPTER ONE:
PART ONE: STORY & TIME The telling of a story is incredibly basic to humanity. We seek a story out, craft it and let it breathe, pass it on and hold it in, give it strength and give it “HUMAN BEINGS LIKE depth before releasing it. From the THINGS TO BE STORYcaves of Chauvet to the animations SHAPED.” of Pixar; from the ancient words of - Neil Gaiman the Cherokee to the late-night bar tale; from grandmother’s kitchens to nephew’s kindergarten, as humanity. The world is understood as a series of stories, or perhaps as one ever-expanding one. Author Neil Gaiman poetically states, “human beings like things to be storyshaped” (Lim & Liu, 2011. p. 15). In order to make things storyshaped, humans have pursued as many creative mediums, it would seem, as there are stories. out amongst these endeavors as incredibly related in intent and in process, and are connected through their views on story and time. Intrinsic to any story is the element of time. Memory, prediction, and sequence all have a role. Peter Zumthor writes in his book Thinking Architecture (2008) of his aunt’s home, which he visited as a child. He recalls with great tenderness “the sound of gravel under my feet, the soft gleam of the waxed oak staircase… a smell of oil paint issued from the kitchen cupboard.” (p. 7) His memories turn to personal story as each mind imagines their own aunts’ kitchen cupboards, their mothers’ gardens, and their childhood homes. These imaginings take on both a cinematic and architectural country cottage. In fact, Tarkovsky makes the distinction that sensuous perception”, but he also admits that architecture offers the full range of physical interaction with story (Holl, 2000. p. 56). By experiencing an architectural condition, one creates a new tale with each step – each moment relies on upon the preceding one to generate context and, in turn, meaning. This occurs all around, and with the full sensory perception. Yet like the nebulous or unaligned memories distort and reinterpret experiences, allowing their amended reliving with each time they are pulled forth from the cloudy attics of the mind. .13
And so it story, time, and human connection are the vital commonalities between these mediums. - ARCHITECTURE Manhattan Transcripts by Bernard Tschumi (1981) stands as a seminal architectural work addressing cinematic processes in spatial exploration. He uses four scenarios in New York City – the park, the street, the tower, the block – to assert the importance of action and event. He presents these stories, such as a murder in Central Park and subsequent investigation, in a collection of photographs, plans and diagrams. as the elements of an architectural experience are space, movement and events. as plans and maps, choreography, and photographs respectively (p. 8-9). He notes: “So entangled are these levels with one another that at any moment they are perfectly interchangeable.” Tschumi compares this method to the difference is notable. In fact, the Transcripts could also be on set to detail locations of camera, lights, and actors. These documents explain event and extract it into understandable this similarity, Tschumi has created a relationship not of
In the Transcripts, these processes create recognition of time in a controlled and often distorted way. Unlike a script or storyboard, one image does not necessarily relate to 1.2 diagrams in ‘The Park’, Bernard Tschumi’s Manhattan Trancripts
relationship between sequence and understanding. Tschumi merely on a single frame (such as a façade), but on a succession of frames or spaces” (p. 11). In their book Short Stories: London in Two-And-A-Half Dimensions (2011), CJ Lim and Ed Liu assert the importance of story in architecture. Collages of drawn and photographed images leap from the page as they are pulled, pushed and strung across each other like paper dolls or delicate mobiles. Each collage and accompanying drawings describe a short story which inhabits London. For instance 14.
“The Baker’s Garden” (p. 189-201) tells the tale of a baker instead turns to process and creates smells and sounds from the baking and pounding of the dough. In order to expand his ‘garden’ he builds a system of ovens that lower onto the sidewalk at night and raise up again, unseen, with the dawn. Through these collages and stories, Lim and Liu posit that architectural process (drawing, model, writing), whether the intention is to be built or not, are valid story-telling methods. They write: “…the act of binding architecture into the story of its inhabitants can only bring a new relevancy to the built environment”(p. 18). This relationship of story to richness of architectural experience is of the utmost importance. Geoff Manaugh explores this relationship in his 2009 book BLDG Blog Book. Many of the projects he writes about, including the work of Archigram, Lebbeus Woods, and many other architects, verge
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Manaugh relishes this futuristic projection. He asserts that architecture, through even the most far-fetched story, can “say something, or embody a message” (p. 17). Sometimes these stories (he refers to them frequently as narratives or condition, such as Mark Smout and Laura Allen’s work ‘retreating village’ (p. 206-209), which combats rising sea level in Great Britain. Some of them tell the tale of architectural or urban eccentricity, such as Edward Burtynsky’s photo essay of shipyards in Bangladesh (p. 94-97). Alltogether this collection of projects, each with a story hidden within, posits that architecture both is story and can be used to tell stories, and that they exist in past, present and (ever imaginative) future. - FILM-MAKING The authors of Creative Filmmaking from the Inside Out California, and their voice throughout the text is clearly one used to nurture creative minds. They additionally draw upon the expertise of over a dozen highly regarded .15
1.5 top: Korean DMZ (1988) by Lebbeus Woods middle: Retreating Village (2005) by Smout Allen bottom: Shipbreaking #11(2000) by Edward Burtynsky opposite: The Baker’s Garden by Lim and Liu (2011)
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artists from across the discipline: writers, directors, editors, actors, composers, producers, production designers, and cinematographers.
inherits and absorbs techniques from so many other mediums, including architecture (p. 118). This multiplicity is at the same time, this power establishes responsibility. The idea of ‘owning’ the work one has created (p. 119) is directly related to the responsibilities of architects. Both built works, whose users will directly be affected, and conceptual or theoretical work wherein ideas are disseminated – require a new relationships, and the impact of ideas moves the maker forward toward another project. Director Federico Fellini eloquently notes: “cinema, like all other manifestations of creativity, ought to be in a state of combustion, a metabolism of the unconscious, a journey toward the center of ourselves and the world” (Danenbaum et al, 2003. p. 149). Just as the idea of the singular powerful architect is a
skills and, Creative Filmmaking asserts that every role is a creative one. Cinematographer Conrad Hall: “the assistants are storytellers, and the operators are storytellers, and I’m a storyteller… So I urge everybody to feel that they’re telling the story as importantly as anybody” (Danenbaum et al, 2003. p. 109). Like a twist on the ‘exquisite corpse’ drawings of the surrealists, each member of the process takes ownership of some small piece – with or without knowledge of what every other member does.
director and author of Sculpting in Time (1986) who writes that (p. 62), and is unique in that it allows time to be repeated, stored and preserved. Interestingly, this partners with how Zumthor talks about architecture as an envelope for events that occur within it (2008. p 12). sort of frozen time. Tarkovsky thus sees time as a material to
up of enormous, solid cluster of living facts, .17
cuts off and discards whatever he does not need, leaving only what is to an element of the cinematic image. (p. 64) In an analogy similar to Tarkovsky’s, Michelangelo
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“catch a reality” which is ever moving and hold it in time. To the Italian director and writer, this crystallized time is more than sound or picture but is time “in it’s most modern conception” (Antonioni, 2007. p. 51). He further notes in his book Architecture of Vision that this medium, this material – time – is so important as to require a moral commitment on the part of the makers (p. 52). This view aligns with that ‘owning’ one’s work seen in Creative Filmmaking.
top: storytelling as exquisite corpse. and architecture
Director Werner Herzog speaks of a complex relationship to time and memory, asserting that images lay hidden, waiting to be made into story. In a book of interviews, Herzog on Herzog, he says of his images: Somehow, deep in your subconscious, you will
am introducing you to a brother whom you have never actually met. (Cronin, p. 61) - CONCLUSION Within the poetic notions proposed by these architects, threads. Time is something to be caught, sculpted, crafted and then meticulously cared for. Events unfold in sequence, these events demand a responsibility to what is created. 18.
Memory plays a part in both story and time, connecting them through the mysteries of human recollection. The wholeheartedly, as in ancestral tradition. Production designer Jeanine Oppewall says in Creative Filmmaking (Danenbaum “being with people who want to tell the stories that I want to tell because that’s what it’s all about, telling stories to each other.”
PART TWO: REALITY & THE SENSES
WE MUST THEN, IN MY JUDGMENT, FIRST MAKE THIS DISTINCTION: WHAT IS THAT WHICH IS ALWAYS REAL AND HAS NO BECOMING, AND WHAT IS THAT WHICH IS ALWAYS BECOMING AND IS NEVER REAL? -Plato: The Timaeus of Plato The question of reality is inevitable when exploring such Undoubtedly part of the thrill of movie-going is the chance to be absorbed into another world, escaping the normalcy of true reality in favor of a crafted reality. This idea of ‘escape’ as motive
challenges the viewer’s intelligence, demands her emotion, or confronts her worldview, there is still a desire to experience something outside of the routine or the immediate.
is assumed to live in irreality. Architecture perhaps lives somewhere in-between; it obviously holds a connection with the concrete in its built form, yet there is an aspect of subjective understanding which crafts a different ‘reality’ for each interaction and individual. Time, memory and movement all play a role, while each of the body’s senses contributes to the experience. Thus both architecture and and yet their making continues through the applied reality of their audiences.
- REALITY .19
1.9 Red Desert (Il deserto rosso) (1964), Michelangelo Antonioni
In his text Film Language: A Semiotics of the Cinema, leave a high degree of reality in its images, which are, nevertheless, still perceived as images” (1991, p. 14). When the theatre lights dim, each audience member is aware that the spectacle on screen has been fabricated. Even may be real events, the way in which those events have been sequenced, layered, and scored moves the work further from reality and introduces bias and craftsmanship.
calm reassurance to a child that “It’s only a movie” is an real experience, or of a dream. Metz (1991) asserts that this can be attributed to the factors of movement and viewer participation.
such as painting or photography. Of course, these may imply action or capture it frozen, but the actual movement this relationship of movement to perception of reality is a “general law of psychology” (1991, p. 8), and that the depth created by motion on screen heightens that perception. Juhani Pallasmaa (2005) writes of a similar quality in 20.
architecture: “It is this possibility of action that separates architecture from other forms of art” (p. 63). The absolute necessity of action, or event, as inherent to architectural space aligns with the views of Tschumi (1994), and binds motion as requisite. Pallasmaa 1.10 continues, “The ‘elements’ of architecture are not visual units or gestalt; they are encounters, confrontations that interact with memory” (p. 63). Thus the reality of a space is associated with corporeal interaction with it. Upon looking at a drawing or photo (or 1.11
fully assured of its existence without moving through and engaging with it kinetically.
directly related to questions of time and of the perception of time or sequence. Metz (1991) writes about narrative sequencing, distinguishing a typical ‘beginning-middle-end’ sequence as “closed sequences of closed events”. Films in which the ending is ambiguous or unresolved are “closed sequences of unclosed events” (p. 24). the narrative structure of an architectural experience would be an unclosed sequence of unclosed events: one does not complete the story upon exiting a building. Metz (1991) delightfully illustrates this in the realm of story-telling by noting: “Children are not fooled when being told stories. … They ask, ‘Is that the end? But afterward what does the prince do?’” (p. 18). In her book Architecture and Narrative (2009), Sophia Psarra contends that architecture expresses narrative as “representation”, “cultural messages”, and “the construction of meaning through the ordering of spaces and social relationships” (p. 2). She makes an important distinction about the ability for architecture to craft these relationships
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reality in the unreal top: BladeRunner (1982), Ridley Scott bottom: Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), Guillermo del Toro
1.12 diagram by author (of
the structured sequence which generates movement, shaping “the spatial conditions for social interaction to take place as a realization of potential rather than as determinant” (p. 6). This directly coincides with Metz’s assertion that a
in the organization of the architecture and the user as active and necessary participant are integral to the development of this thesis. - THE SENSES Beyond vision, the other senses hold an incredible stake in the body and mind’s perception of and interaction
cinematic and architectural experience. The design of evidenced in a suspenseful or frightening moment in which silence is slowly interrupted by footsteps or the creaking of a door. What tension is crafted in these moments!
Tears for a sad scene, the gripping of the armrest in fear, a leaning forward to hear quiet dialogue: each of these is a response, whether intentional or not, towards the content
cinema’s mimicry of the way human vision cuts from one piece of information to the next. Walter Murch, award winning editor and sound designer, explains in his book In the Blink of an Eye (2001) that when the human eye blinks it mimics the cut an editor makes, parceling the information into digestible amounts and creating an understandable but nonetheless discontinuous system. Murch imagines the 22.
possibility of scanning a theatre audience during a screening with infrared light so that the eyes will glow. He wonders if or not the audience blinks at the same time. He writes: “If it were true, if there were times when those thousand dots extremely powerful tool at his disposal” (p. 71).
responses. Juhani Pallasmaa, author of The Eyes of the Skin (2005) and pioneer of phenomenology in architecture, uses examples of an organ in a cathedral, a burst of applause at the circus, and the cries of waterbirds at the shore as examples of sounds that are reacted to with understanding of sanctity, community, or awareness (p. 51). The ear takes in information about emotion, but also about space. “We stroke the boundaries of space with our ears”, Pallasmaa writes (p. 51). Acoustic properties, including echo, help determine a space and give the mind cues about surroundings, both splash under water, or the wind-like noise of space heighten a viewer’s understanding of the story’s spatial grounding, whether those sounds are true to reality or not. (Contrary explosions, space is silent.) Sound thus acts as a tool for both
The tactile sense, so sacred to architects, holds incredible possibilities for story. The simplicity of stepping through a space inherently holds myriad moments of tactile understanding. The repetition of footfalls, a hand brushed over smooth walls, the grasping of a railing – each holds a special tale. The touch of things may embody emotion or memory in an intimate way. Poet Billy Collins (2002), in his poem “The Wires of the Night”, associates mourning with touching parts of a home: His death had sockets and keys, it had walls and beams. you could not lie down on in the middle of the night. These evocative images rely upon our ability to imagine the touch of such a handle. This association of memory to touch is essential to architectural encounters, and occurs more subtly than with vision or hearing through a .23
recognition of texture, temperature and weight. Pallasmaa writes that not only does touch evoke memory, but that it can symbolize time. He notes that a riverwashed pebble “expresses the slow process of its formation; a perfect pebble on the palm materializes duration, it is time turned into shape” (p. 58). Material selection for this thesis will thus seek to embody inherent or passing time. What an incredible parallel to the idea of time as a material to be touch time, just as when touching the pebble, one does not feel time itself. Time is drawn out from hiding with camera and with light and shadow just as it is with rock. - CONCLUSION -
a piece of architecture fully inhabit reality? Perhaps instead, both mediums live in an in-between where time and memory hold sway over perception, and the body’s senses craft an ever complex awareness. The connections of these questions about perception of reality directly relate to the architectural explorations demonstrated in the following chapters. Examination of the site and architectural space as living landscapes with inherent mnemonic sequence and sensory awareness allowed intuitive design decisions to be based on given factors. Additionally important is the understanding that perception of time is fully dependent upon the individual touch and sound. The story of each unfolds through layers of understanding: sometimes slowly, as a mountain emerging from fog, and sometimes swiftly, as a bicycle rounding a busy city corner. Film and architecture constantly shift based on the hands of those who made them and the projections of those experiencing them, agreeing with Plato’s contention that some things are “always becoming”.
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2.1 Solaris (1972),Andrei Tarkovsky
& THE INDEPENDENT SPIRIT CHAPTER TWO:
BEGINNINGS
PART ONE: BEGINNINGS A story is constantly evolving within that of the “ITS PERSISTENCE WILL BE FUELED BY THE UNCHANGING HUMAN NEED FOR STORIES IN THE DARK.”
- Walter Murch
audiences. When walking into the local multiplex, it is easy for the modern moviegoer to forget two important facts: When compared to painting or literature, which have
industry is young. And despite or perhaps because of its youth, it is still evolving rapidly. Motion pictures came into being just before the turn of the 20th century, kicking off a whirlwind of technological advances and artistic visions. The ability to see a moving image (and later to see it in color and with sound) is astonishingly revolutionary, yet it is easy to take advantage of given its prevalence in the current age. But within this modern story-telling form lies a fascinating history, complex, changing industry, and an historical relationship with architectural space.
collection of areas of research and inventions had to come to fruition. First of these are the earliest understandings in the medical community of the properties of eyesight. Kristin Thompson and David Bordwell write in their book Film History, An Introduction (1994) that “scientists had to realize that the human eye will perceive motion if a series of slightly different images is placed before it in rapid succession” (p. 4). Called ‘persistence of vision’, this knowledge led to the creation of toys and arcade-type amusements that showed the viewer a series of still images, implying motion. One of the most popular was the Zoetrope, invented in 1833, which etymologically is broken down into ‘life turning’, or the ‘wheel-of-life’. This name delightfully illustrates society’s hunger for seeing the world in a new way. Improvements in the photographic process were essential, such as the ability to quickly expose and reproduce photographs, and the invention of celluloid – a material .27
(Thompson & Bordwell, 1994). Of course, a light source is needed for any projection, and so the invention of the light American inventor and entrepreneur, was among the
stock conventions still used today. Edison and his assistant 2.2
pierced it with four holes, called sprocket holes, to attach to the gear mechanisms of the Kinetescope. This size and and Thompson and Bordwell note that “Amazingly, an original Kinetescope
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modern projector” (1994. p. 8). Edison and his lab also built a small studio, named the ‘Black Maria’ after the police paddy wagons it was reminiscent of – this is
The Lumière brothers in France are the industryacknowledged pioneers of commercial cinema. They 2.4 top: a zoetrope middle: Edison and Dickson’s bottom: Arrivee d’un Train en Gare de la Ciotat (1895), Lumiere Brothers
the power of the moving image before abandoning cinema and medicine. Regardless of the short tenure of their illustrious Arrivee d’un Train en Gare de la Ciotat moving towards the camera. The speed and movement is reported to have frightened viewers into panicked reactions, some even leaping out of their seats and running to the rear of the theatre! Such a genuine response is indicative
laughing, leaning forward, or gripping armrests with whiteknuckled hands.
required to show them - at an astounding rate. By 1910, movie 28.
for the regulation, unionization, production and distribution movie houses were in operation, many of them inexpensive nickelodeons - named because they cost a nickel (Corey & Ochoa, 2002, p. 25) - and later the more middle-class movie ‘palaces’. Owners of live theatres and vaudeville found that the movies were a big draw to their businesses, and they began to combine live and projected entertainment. In the early days, most of these movie houses had only one projector, so the audience would be entertained with a live song while the reel was changed (Thompson & Bordwell, 1994, p. 33). The live acts were soon a thing of the past, but the experience of the large elaborate theatre, the usher, and the nighttime social interaction remained. The owners of these businesses were entrepreneurs who helped shape the cinema-going experience enjoyed today.
democratic experience. Of course, segregation existed, and often the balconies of theatres were the only place African Americans were allowed. However all classes were welcome, and marginalized groups were catered to with special showings. Some would argue that the cinema experience remains the only one in American culture devoid of racial and soci-economic boundaries. Access to the movie theatre reinforces notions of story-telling as something belonging to everyone. Pioneering practices in editing and directing were introduced at this time, such as combining full-scene and close-up shots, cutting between two different but related storylines (intercutting), and framing the actor closely to show more emotion (Thompson & Bordwell, 1994). These was an important and often controversial step to creating the techniques considered new and innovative today were explored and practiced by early innovators experimenting with the possibilities offered by the moving image. The rise of American cinema in the world was due largely to two factors: the First World War shut down the
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regulating agency the Motion Picture Patents Company, (Thompson & Bordwell, 1994). However the MPPC was dismantled after a court decision determined they violated trade laws – the organization was made up of the movie studios themselves. This allowed a larger group of production
where sunlight and varied topography was plentiful. They settled in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Hollywood, and
The earliest studios, like Edison’s ‘Black Maria’ were outbuildings topped with glass to let in sunlight, with a turning foundation that allowed light to be captured from any direction. The move of many studios to Florida or California allowed them to capture light more readily. Sets were built inside these buildings, or outside adjacent to them. Around the same time, more on-location shooting became popular as the public demanded realism and stunning sceneries. Soon the windows on top of the studios were eliminated controllable. Large areas of land - ‘backlots’ - allowed companies to construct whole city streets if needed, leading to the common image of a studio lot as populated by characters in many period costumes wandering past facades of buildings propped up in the California sun.
was up and running at full speed, and would become one of the most powerful culturally and politically. Many technological and artistic advents - sound, color, internet, digital media tools - all moved the medium forward and ability to tell stories. It is important to remember, however, that within this evolving industry there was and is always an element of the outsider. This independent will that intends, despite obstacles of physical requirement and artistic vision, to bring his or her stories into the world.
30.
PART TWO: INDEPENDENT SPIRIT
tricky. Over cinema’s history, ‘independent’ has enjoyed many meanings and those meanings will surely continue to change as the medium evolves. The common image is that in her pocket and few seeing the product of her labors. Perhaps, in today’s world of the affordable video camera and YouTube, the image is instead a group of young people running through back-yards in homemade costumes, their stories racking up views online. Ever romanticized and often ostracized, the idea of independence is both a blessing and a curse. Yet throughout the evolution of ‘independent’, two major factors remain constant in the understanding of this distinct vision. It is a simple truth that making a movie is an expensive endeavor. Film-makers have long been known to throw their own savings into their work, or take out several credit cards in hopes of making money back upon release. More recently, the lines between independent and studio have been companies began as exclusively independent, but lost that ‘outsider’ credibility when bought by a major, such as the case with Disney’s acquisition of Miramax. Additionally, some
2.5
before receiving industry attention, and with it these not be considered independent? Surely taking the opportunity for larger viewership and the chance to make future
2.6
the conventional system.
advent of crowd-funding websites such as Kickstarter and IndieGoGo. These websites rely on small donations from many backers to reach a funding goal. Kickstarter founder Charles Adler asserts that this method is not only a way to raise money, but also a way to connect to audience, stating that .31
top: Son of Rambow (2007), Garth Jennings bottom: examples of the
each “dollar is a symbol of support and human connection” inclusiveness of a process outside of corporate structure. Emanuel Levy (1999) writes that independence relies on: “the fresh perspective, innovative spirit, and personal vision that are the determining factor” (p. 3). Some stories as a group have continually been on the forefront of what is accepted subject matter, including questions about race, nationality, sexuality, and violence. These topics live on the edge of acceptability by the mainstream, but demand exploration as a part of the story-telling tradition. It must be noted that the assertion of ‘personal vision’, not discount the collaborative effort needed to produce a
under unique conditions, a sense of community is essential to morale and quality of the work. This need for community is another barrier often of a academic institution or a company, these artists must to each other in new ways. Recent developments in social
discuss projects. Yet there is still a lack of a type of facility that This thesis seeks to imagine what such a place needs to be in order to best serve this growing craft by examining what has historically demonstrated the independent spirit and looking to that craft’s future. - EARLY INDEPENDENTS -
as a modern phenomenon, the idea of the ‘independent’ has existed alongside cinema’s full history. From its infancy, entrepreneurial spirit. Before the studio systems were truly formed, each new invention and innovation was a testament to this spirit. As the industry began to take shape, every 32.
theatres. Thompson and Bordwell write in their 1994 book Film History: An Introduction that all aspects of the industry were maker that would not adhere to the rules (p. 34). Additionally, unlike today, where performers and crew members can work
them based on whom they worked for. Florence Lawrence was known only as the “Biograph Girl” for most of her career (p. 37). In the face of these challenges set forth by the industry own companies or operated on the fringe. Rona Murray writes in her book Studying American Independent Cinema
shut by the government in 1915, these independents began of the independent sector of the industry began to create the new, more stable oligopoly that formed the Hollywood mainstream is a thread that runs through the careers of many
While
there
are
numerous
landmark
early
collaborative practices will be discussed here: David Lynch’s Eraserhead (1977) and John Cassavetes A Woman Under the
- INDEPENDENT WILL AND SPIRIT: TWO CASE STUDIES David Lynch’s Eraserhead surrealist, and dream-like, Eraserhead set the tone for Lynch’s later works. Jason Ankeny writes: “An intensely visceral nightmare, Eraserhead marches to the beat of its own slow, .33
2.7 Jack Nance and David Lynch on the set of Eraserhead (1977)
surreal rhythm: Henry’s world is a cancerous dreamscape, a place where sins manifest themselves as bizarre creatures
2.8
vision go unrealized speaks to his determination. He writes: “I delivered the Wall Street Journal a week. I would save up enough to shoot a scene the whole thing” (2006, p. 36). His friends and actors stood by him, helping to keep the ideas alive by building sets, making props, and waiting patiently while The to Lynch’s later works, and it continues to be cited as
2.9 top: Gena Rowlands, John Cassavetes, and Peter Falk on the set of A Woman Under (1974) bottom: Gena Rowlands as Mabel in A Woman Under (1974)
2004 it was inducted into the United States Library of Congress’s National Film Registry.
with challenges, especially with distribution, and A Woman is no exception. Rona Murray (2011) writes: Financed entirely by his own efforts, shot in private locations (including his home), using his wife and other friends (who were already actors) were seen as uncompromised by the business ethic of the majors and were in fact intended to challenge that ethic. (p. 8) Written for his wife Gena Rowlands to star in, A is the story of a family in turmoil due to the wife and mother’s mental instability. Cassavetes’s approach is incredibly actor-centric (he is an actor, notably in Rosemary’s Baby) and he allows his performers freedom on set. Ray Carney, in his book Cassavetes on Cassavetes (2001) explains that the director calls out directions on set, following his performers as they move spontaneously through the scene (p. 324). On camera accidents and true-to-life 34.
striking real quality. Gena Rowlands was nominated for Best Actress and John for Best Director, but not until after serious issues with distribution. No major company would show it, and so he rented several theatres in New York and Los Angeles and played it to great success. When there was still no interest to buy it, Cassavetes self-distributed it: a risky, time-consuming maneuver. But it worked, grossing six million dollars and
stories” (Carney, 2001. p. 365). In 1990 it was inducted into the United States Library of Congress’s National Film Registry.
The late 1980s and 1990s became a hotbed for the proliferation of home videos, and the acknowledgement that there is money to be made from indies (Levy, 1999). learning the trade. With so many new indies being made, ability to showcase their work. Sundance began in 1981 by Robert Redford as a laboratory for writers and directors to shape their story-telling. The festival came about as a way independent platform in the US. By giving voice to minorities, women, and young people, new stories were reaching audiences and being recognized by the mainstream industry. Levy (1999) quotes Redford: “the narrowing of the main part of the industry opens up the other part, which is (p. 39).
Quentin Tarantino, Spike Lee, Todd Haynes, Kevin Smith. As the major studios caught wind of the phenomenon, many argue that Sundance lost its ‘independent’ edge. Rona Murray (2011) writes that the festival “has itself struggled between the need for success and the ‘sell-out’ of the purity of independent production that great success symbolises” (p. 83). Regardless of this connotation, the importance of
.35
including South by Southwest in Austin, Texas. In addition to afford an opportunity for the community to be engaged with
- DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY -
The reel of celluloid and the projector are quickly becoming tremendously and will continue to do so. Walter Murch explains in the New York Times, 1999: projection and original photography are digitized
technical infrastructure will telescope in upon itself with great suddenness. This has, of course, begun to happen already: editing
schools (including Savannah College of Art and Design) no by the many video platforms on the internet and in home theatres, distribution of moving images has exploded into a
and are sent to the theatre management via satellite. Yet this digital technology and distribution considerably lowers the
rented for much less. The most recent Sundance winner, Drake Doremus’s Like Crazy (2011), was shot on a camera that costs between two and three thousand dollars! While accurately recreated with digital, the quality is increasing with every new innovation. The lowering cost of this basic 36.
tellers. talks about this in a 2010 interview: “There’s a great deal that’s not just Hollywood, that it’s not just rich people, that it’s not just white people, that one day it maybe won’t be just men.” The crux then lies in the ability for audiences to
Certainly methods offer
online a new 2.10
distribution. YouTube was just the beginning, and now streaming videos are a organized structure of progressive distribution, serving as a the video store or theatre. Both are now producing their own
making is changing so rapidly due to new technologies look in a few years, let alone ten or twenty. Some pessimists say that digital technology is the death of the medium, but Walter Murch (and this author) assert otherwise. He writes: “Its persistence will be fueled by the unchanging human need for stories in the dark, and its evolution will be sparked by the technical revolutions now just getting under way.” These ‘stories in the dark’ will continue (in spite of home-movie watching) to be viewed at the movie theatre. The experience of the darkening room, the hundred voices laughing at once and the thrill of a crowd, conversation bubbling, exiting into the night cannot be replaced. It is still magical, and it is this culture’s last remaining communal experience that crosses racial and socio-economic boundaries. Microcinemas and independent theatres already play a large role in this effort to bring rare, international, or
explored. David Lynch (2006) echoes this sentiment when he .37
“I like looking back at people’s faces in the dark!” Amelie (2001), Jean-Pierre Jeunet
says: “It’s beautiful when it’s a shared experience. … It’s best on a big screen. That’s the way to go into a world” (p. 15). - CONCLUSION In an artistic and economic climate that changes many challenges. Less expensive technology and innovative is ever-growing. A longing to be heard and to receive recognition is tempered with a desire to stay on the edge of the system. Like the pioneers of independents before them, and the innovators who began cinema over a century ago, and the distinctness of their vision to see them through a complex industry.
will and spirit required by being outside of the mainstream system - which will be addressed by this thesis. Craig Lindvahl (2011), an independent documentarian, speaks about this will by saying that he never felt the pressure of being an outsider because “it never occurred to me that it was a problem”. He recognized that some stories simply must be brought into the world. Surely an architectural response is requisite in this situation: an emerging group of artists, at the fore of an artistic and technological evolution, have the power to reach so many and to change an industry. This thesis seeks to respond by addressing the creative and collaborative needs of these story-tellers and by connecting them to a nurturing community and city.
38.
There Will Be Blood(2007), 3.1 Paul Thomas Anderson
CHAPTER THREE:
FILM-MAKING PROCESSES
FILM-MAKING PROCESSES
process. The stories they create are made with myriad motives, by numerous “A script is closer to soft, players, with varied malleable clay than to processes, and over hard stone, more vague great amount of time. direction than measured They stand as collective step. It takes hundreds of storytelling vehicles, unique hands to craft.” in the number of factors that - Tom Reilly come together to create by a single mind, it is compelled to emerge from its solitude to be coaxed into being by many; it must be raised by a “communal expression” (Visions of Light, 1992), while Pixar director John Lasseter calls it “the most collaborative artistic medium there is” (Dannenbaum et. al. 2003). This collaboration happens not just between individuals, but also between the different physical elements of the process and the time those processes take. The labyrinthine result differs with each project. Further, this in regards to hierarchies and language. This chapter will ‘when’, and ‘what’: people, timeline, language, and physical collaborative paradigm. - THE ‘WHO’: PROFILES OF THE MAKERS -
by saying, “ From the moment I could think independently I
artistic career as a painter until he realized the potential for I had a painting going, which was of a garden at night. It had lots of black, with green plants emerging out of the darkness. All of a sudden, these plants started to move, and I heard a wind…I thought, ‘Oh, how fantastic this is!’ And I .41
paintings move.” (Lynch, 2006. p. 13)
each artist or technician comes to the table with a singular point of view. Below are some of the major roles involved in
Director: The creative leader of the production, the director is responsible for bringing each element together into a for the shot design, actor’s movements, and working with the performers. Because of this role’s overseeing nature, the director interacts with all other principle crew members. Screenwriter: One or more writers craft the script used for the hyphenated title, such as writer-director. Producer: The role of a producer is varied. Often a creative role, the producer works closely with the director to make the vision of the team come to life by fundraising, securing crew and locations, handling the schedule and money of and works with the business or legal aspects of the process. A line producer handles the day-to-day budget. Cinematographer (DP): Also known as the Director of Photography, the cinematographer has intimate knowledge of the technical workings of the camera and lights as well The Big Picture: Filmmaking Lessons from a Life on Set (2009), Tom Reilly writes: “A great cinematographer makes a rock-solid, Working closely with the DP is the camera operator. First Assistant Cameraman (1st AC): This camera technician is and lenses to keep images clear and in focus. Further, the 1st AC is responsible for the maintenance and care of the
Second Assistant Cameraman (2nd AC): When shooting on
42.
the slate – the iconic board with the shot’s information – and marking the location of performers for continuity. Grip: The muscle of the set. These men and women physically accomplish what the DP needs. Gaffer: The head electrician of the set, the gaffer works under the DP to coordinate the lighting and lighting effects. The gaffer’s assistant is called the best boy, while other electricians on set are often called ‘sparks’. Assistant Director (AD): Tom Reilly, most notably the AD for I’m the guy fetching lattes for the director. It means I’m the day-to-day operations of the movie” (2009, p. 5). The AD is the manager of the set, coordinating the people, equipment and transportation. Production Designer the production designer is the head of the art department, and leads the team of art directors, prop makers, carpenters, painters, costumers, and craftspeople. Vincent LoBrutto (2002) explains how this role works with the director and cinematographer to create “a cohesive pictorial scheme that directly informs and supports the story and its point of view”. Performers and actresses, and their participation varies.
Extras -
or less. Conversely, an actor or actress may be one of the Michelle Williams had a conversation with director Derek Blue Valentine (2010) that lasted for twelve years and sixty drafts of the script. Editor sequence of images seen on screen. The term ‘cut’ is used cut and then taped back together in order. Walter Murch (2001) writes, “the cutting room was a…tailor’s shop in which time was the cloth.” (p. 75) This process is both technical and highly intuitive, and the relationship of director to editor is of great importance. .43
opposite: diagram by positional hierarchies
director producer
producer director
director of photography
producer screenwriter
producer
1st assistant camera
production director designer andof photography art department
screenwriter
camera operator director
director
3.2
gaffer and producer electricians
producer
director of gripphotography producer
director of photography
1st assistant camera performer screenwriter production camera operator designer and editor
1st assistant 1st assistant director camera
production designer and
2ndcamera assistant operator producer director
1st assistant director
gaffer and 2ndscreenwriter 2nd AD electricians sound: production location, designer and grip post department andartcomposer 1st assistant production director assistant performer
2nd assistant director
1st assistant camera
art department
camera operator
1st assistant gaffer and director visual effects electricians
2nd assistant editor director
gaffer and electricians
2nd assistant grip director
2nd 2nd AD visual effects sound:
art department
2nd 2nd AD sound: location, post and composer production assistant 44.
- THE ‘WHEN’: TIMELINE OF PROCESSES -
production is both distinct and blurred. Film’s phases are set
wide standards. These are: idea formulation and writing, preproduction, production, post-production, and distribution. The diagram below illustrates the complex way that the process overlaps. For instance, even though writing the script constantly changing throughout the process. An improvised line by a performer in rehearsal or on set may become integral to the story. While in post-production, the editor may notice a new possibility for a sequence of shots that develops
3.3 .45
a character further. In this way, the story is constantly shifting.
- THE ‘WHAT’: PHYSICAL ESSENTIALS AND LANGUAGE The simple truth is that there are several non-
The physical spaces inhabited by these processes are also a given: the maker needs a place in which to work. The idea of location becomes much more complicated when a scene calls for a pirate ship, a busy city sidewalk, or a perilous cliffside.
46.
Equipment is another essential, and even for the endeavor. The combination of a rich history of technical achievements and a rapidly evolving photographic industry means higher quality, more accessible, less expensive equipment is constantly being explored. Time and money - that unruly duo - are inevitably Films require both to a great degree. Surely the utterance ‘If only we had more time….’ has passed the lips of every working
true for those operating outside of the major studio system in the United States. Despite these challenging parameters – and thoughtfulness are made. It is perhaps (as perhaps it is in architecture) the rigorous constraints that are able to shape such a compelling story-telling medium. These constraints craft each decision and foster resourcefulness and meticulousness in the processes of the makers.
apple box: a wooden box used to prop up equipment or for sitting or standing barn doors count basie: “one more time” or, instructions to repeat the same shot again coverage: all of the camera setups used for a single scene crafty: craft services, the group responsible for food and drink on set c-47: a clothespin one inch plywood used to raise up equipment or actors, see pancake dirt: a sandbag used to stabilize tripods, as in “throw some dirt on it” dressed: everything is in place on set and ready to begin shooting : fabric raised on a metal pole with tripod legs, used to block or diffuse light martini: the last shot of the day pancake rig: a broad term for a kind of equipment set up, such as lighting or effects sides: the pages of the script being shot that day stealing a shot stingers: extension cords winnie: a Winnebago used as a dressing room
.47
Communication throughout the process (as with all collaborative endeavors) is key. Trusting that directions and discussions will be easily understood and disseminated is
Reilly (2009) writes: “Although initially recognizable, it is oddly incomprehensible, despite a litany of familiar words. What emerges is an unusual dialect, peppered with the hybrid language are traceable but incredibly diverse: technical jargon, profanity, theatre lingo, street slang and acronyms all have a place. This linguistic development varies across generations or region, but there are a surprising number of terms used across the industry. At right are some examples interviewed for this thesis. - CONCLUSION Tom Reilly (2009) writes: “A script is closer to soft, malleable clay then to hard stone, more vague direction
an evolutionary process, a sort of slow, creative ferment.� (p. 122-123)
story in their own way, with distinct foci and in a complex
a nebulous manner. The many processes may have names and ordered sequences, but willingly shed them as the work demands. The communal nature of this creative process - the architectural requirements of which are explored in Chapter Five - is distinct among artistic mediums, and expands the rich tradition of human story-telling.
48.
Passing Through Traveling Down A.1 (2012), Andrew Fuhr
CASE STUDY:
MAKING OF
PASSING THROUGH TRAVELING DOWN
CASE STUDY: PASSING THROUGH TRAVELING DOWN Passing Through Traveling Down is the story of a group of travelers: train-hopping, squatting in abandoned places, and battling the stresses of life on the road. Led by a charming but terrifying man, they face violence and a creeping mental instability.
on screen the rich textures of these characters and their environments. Costumes, hair and makeup, props, visual effects, and sets all belong to my department. Over the course of initial idea development, pre-production, and production, my involvement was total: I witnessed conversation with the writer-director - gave way to collaboration with costume and jewelry collaborative experiences were both often stressful and intensely rewarding.
A.2
A.5 .51
A.4
During production, my team was joined by a set dresser and visual effects makeup artist. We worked during each shot to ensure continuity and that the vision of the director
members of the crew had multiple roles. Throughout the process, many elements of this singular process became clear to me or were supportive of other research methods. Each of these elements have been included into this thesis’s writings and design. A balance of solitary and communal activities, the cycle of intellect and intuition, the crew’s group bond: each of these plays a role in the process and therefore in this thesis. Additionally, our experience with the local community where we were thing of place.
opposite top left: script with notes opposite top right: task list opposite bottom: journal entries below: production design reference collage
A.6 52.
A.7
A.9 above: structural sketch of abandoned house repairs Left: Costume Fittings opposite: time lapse still images of prop creation A.8
CONCLUSIONS DRAWN FROM THE PROCESS:
one person (or a small group of them) with a distinct vision that must translate to every individual artist and technician, either directly or through another person. The ability to communicate quickly and clearly can be aided by providing transparency in process and the spaces needed to meet both formally and informally.
is also important and evident. This is especially true for the writer, director, and editor, as It is often necessary to work out issues or ponder a creative decision in solitude.
.53
A.10
54.
who do not have the wallets or staff that a large studio might. It is therefore essential to
friends and family pledged to our fund raising campaign. This diverse and often new-to-
CONCLUSIONS DRAWN FROM ON-SET EXPERIENCE 1. The importance of a quickly formed and deep-set crew bond became instantly clear. This is formed by some key members very early but also among every member when on set. The long hours and often stressful and physical labor creates a group identity akin to a sports team or a military unit. It is also comparable to a very close studio culture, like the one I have often experienced in design and architecture school. This bond leads to increased trust and better communication.
schedule, casting, hiring crew, and artistic preparations - makes or breaks the on set experience. more smoothly in production and beyond. Some immediately recognizable needs for this phase include formal and informal meeting spaces, telephone and internet capabilities, drinking together. 3. Local reaction to our set was extremely positive. This, as has been reinforced in interviews, is not always the case. However that there is a potential for a positive community interaction is compelling. The neighbors of our set in rural Georgia were both curious and respectful of our set. One neighbor, Derrick, visited us every day, brought his newborn baby over to meet us, and even put up homemade signs asking cars to slow down and be quiet. Another local stopped because he had heard down at the town’s diner that we were around. He called us, “the talk of Glennville”. It made us all smile to have folks interested, and allowed us to bond over the experience of these interactions.
far right: task lists Right, Clockwise from Upper Left: -Director and Actor Talking (Photo by Stephen Sullivan) -Makeup and Hair (Photo by Michael Younker) -Watching the Monitor (Photo by Michael Younker) -Setting Up a Shot (Photo by Stephen Sullivan) -An Actor Surrounded by the Crew (Photo by Stephen Sullivan)
.55
A.12
A.11
A.13
A.14
A.16
A.15 56.
The Tree of Life (2011), 4.1 Terrence Malick
URBAN CONTEXT & SITE ANALYSIS
CHAPTER FOUR:
AUSTIN: URBAN CONTEXT AND SITE ANALYSIS Austin, Texas thrives on being just a little bit different. Somehow, over the course of its storied history, it became a place associated with “Let the city work its diversity, creativity, and a curious magic and lazy certain odd quality. In fact, charm.” since 2000 Austinites have -Ruth Pennebaker taken to the battle cry of ‘Keep Austin Weird’ as a way to honor local business and culture. Beyond catchphrases and marketing techniques, it is undeniable that Austin simply has a special character. There is a sense that things are happening here: things are being made, conversations are underway, and there just may be a surprise around the corner. This vibrancy and spontaneity their craft. It is a place where story-telling is both valued and a natural part of the city’s cultural rhythm. Austin is located in central Texas, nestled in Hill Country The city was founded in 1839 as the state’s capitol, which it remains (Humphrey). This distinction as the state seat of government as well as the site of the state’s largest university – University of Texas at Austin – has caused the city to grow steadily throughout its history. Now its population of just under of both their city founders and spirited modern citizens. The city enjoys the designation of one of the ‘greenest’ cities in the country due to its pioneering conservation measures, and it’s generally liberal political status make it a clear anomaly city is “Live Music Capitol of the World”, showing how art and music are greatly valued both culturally and economically by the city. Joshua Long, in his text Weird City: Sense of Place and Creative Resistance in Austin, Texas (2010), studies the unique urban culture of Austin. He writes: I suggest that Austin is succeeding as an attractive creative hub largely because of its history as a city that has embraced cultural attitudes of nonconformity, resistance, civic participation, and artistic innovation... Austin’s success will remain sustainable only by maintaining a sense of creativity and resistance to its cultural landscape. (p. 170) .59
opposite: genius loci diagram by author
4.2 60.
Illinois Nevada
Indiana
Ohio
Utah Colorado
Kansas
Missouri Kentucky
Tennessee Oklahoma Arizona
New Mexico Dalla
Arkansas s-Fo
Aust San
Pacific Ocean
Mexico
Ant
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orth
Mississippi
in!
Alabama
Georgia
Louisiana H
ton ous
Florida
onio
Gulf of Mexico
4.3 Austin’s location within state and country
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4.4 Site’s location within city of Austin
62.
Across its diverse population, several overall values emerge as important causes to Austinites. These have come city. NATURE: Austin’s natural wonders are manifold and its citizens are aggressive about enjoying and protecting them. Extensive caverns, verdant hills, the rolling river and its large watershed: each of these is cherished. This is related both to a concern for health and environmentalism and to the political activism which often accompanies these issues. Austin stands as a left-leaning outpost in the overwhelmingly conservative state, and its academics, artists, and west-coast transplants are proud of this distinction. Treasures such as Barton Springs, historic live oaks, and the banks of Lady Bird Lake are cared for and actively enjoyed and help demonstrate the caring nature of the city. Additionally, one of the prides of Austin is the city’s herd of Mexican free-tail bats: the largest urban bat colony in the world. 1.5 million of these creatures live in the Congress Street bridge and emerge each summer evening to the delight of the crowds of onlookers and serves as a reminder of nature’s cycles. MUSIC: motto because it contains more live music venues per capita than other major cities in the country (Long, 2010. p. 31). as South by Southwest and Austin City limits draw massive crowds and touring acts seem to consider Austin a required stop. This phenomenon reinforces the idea of Austin as embracing the rebellious and the artistic, but also points to its value of ritual. 4.3 FOOD:
Texas is certainly known for harboring a serious love of Tex-Mex and BBQ foods, but Austin takes its culinary love to and trailers peppering the city’s landscape with delicious offerings. Independent, local, and generally inexpensive, these mobile eateries emphasize Austin’s love of the offbeat and the surprising.
.63
4.5
4.6 delicious Austin! top: food truck on South Congress Street bottom: Green Mesquite BBQ on Barton Springs Road; photos by author
FILM AND TECHNOLOGY: and Dazed and Confused (Richard Linklater, 1991 and 1993) and The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick, 2011), and now
Austin Film Society, and by the numerous wonderful places to watch and talk
the technology industry in Austin – which is considered second to Silicon Valley in that industry – adds to this emphasis on new forms of media and culture. - SITE AND SENSE OF PLACE -
4.7
4.8 top: Barton Springs Pool; photo by author bottom: Austin’s urban bat colony at the Congress Street Bridge at dusk; photo by Karen Marks of Bat Conservation International
The site for this thesis is located on the south bank of Lady Bird Lake, just off South Lamar Boulevard (see previous spread for map). South Lamar crosses the lake with great fanfare, and is joined by two additional and equally vibrant bridges: a sweeping pedestrian -only bridge, and a rusty freighttrain bridge. The tracks of the railroad form the eastern edge of the site itself, and laden train creates a wonderful scene as it ambles toward downtown Austin. Beyond the tracks lies Butler Park, a new public park anchored by an events center and performing arts center. The southern and western edges of the site are clustered commercial and residential activity. This area has seen a new boom of development, yet the balance remains between old and new. A new pair of mixed-use lofts and an addition to the storied Zach Theatre join several much-loved Austin establishments for dining and drinking. The northern 64.
4.9
panoramic site views photos by author .65
66.
4.10
.67
4.11
4.12
opposite: site location above left: site area landmarks above right: adjacent building use
68.
4.13 view conditions and selected views. photos by author
.69
edge of the site – in addition to the Lake – is the Lady Bird Lake trail, a hike and bike trail that is used intensely. From the author’s journal: This trail - even on a windy, gloomy day - is full of runners, bikers and dog-walkers. in groups overhead. The air is crisp, but a bit humid from this morning’s rain. Near the tracks, the air smells of tar and railroad ties. The rumble of the freight train is welcome, and it lumbers toward the city at a lazy-seeming speed. This allows the glimpse of Dapple tree bark and bare branches create a pattern; large rough stones form the base of the train’s bridge supports; the rust of the bridge enclosure is rough and mottled. It is easy to become lost in all there is to soak in.
4.14
4.15
left: pedestrian activity
70.
4.16
4.17 Many water birds make their home, including herons, egrets, and pelicans.
Motorized watercraft are prohibited on the lake to protect wildlife and recreation. 3,000 to 15,000 people use the trail each day for walking, biking and running.
416 Acre Lake and 10 Miles of Trail
4.18
.71
4.19
Fishing (and keeping the catch) is allowed.
4.20
4.22 A family of red-tail hawks currently live on the site.
4.23
4.24
4.25 Vegetation includes pecan trees, oleander, and crepe myrtle trees.
4.21
4.26
tree canopy and vegetation in site area opposite: activities and wildlife on lady bird lake
72.
4.27 texture and color study
.73
74.
4.28
massing and rail edge: The massing of this neighborhood shifts from a distinct urban grid across the river, to large footprints of entertainment and housing facilities, then quickly into small, spreadapart businesses, trailers, and single family homes. The strategy of this site is to mimic this shift, creating a strong street edge and large mass on the north edge, and smaller masses towards the south. .75
4.29
entry and site access: There is heavy pedestrian and cycle activity along South Lamar. However, a natural access to the site occurs in the small road between Lamar and Lee Barton (the site’s western edge). Parking occurs in city lots, along the street, and in a possible new lot on the back of the site.
4.30
neighborhood connections: This neighborhood is rich
4.31
with
many
from. Cultural institutions such as the Zach Theatre and local dining favorites such as Green Mesquite BBQ are only blocks away, and recreational opportunities surround the site.
inward view conditions: Into the site, views are most prominent from the road and pedestrian bridges, which look down upon and over the site. A short view occurs along the trail, while a longer viewshed occurs at the larger back of the site. By addressing a variety of levels of transparency, unique to each edge condition, activity can be suggested at all times of day.
76.
CONCLUSION This site is incredibly exciting as both an urban location and a natural one, and provides much inspiration. It offers to this project several very important design drivers. 1. An opportunity for activity and interaction across the full site due to pedestrian patterns and the surrounding neighborhood’s diverse program. 2. Inspiration from the adjacent rail track, which has rich texture, an excellent topographical condition, and implications about indication of time and activity. 3. An ability, by virtue of the topography and geometry of the land, to create both highly public and visible areas and very private and secluded areas. 4. A rich, vibrant palate of color, texture, sound, and motion, to be both respected and complemented. In the larger picture of the city’s economy and culture, city, the Film-Making Collaborative absolutely adds to the city’s culture of participation, enthusiasm, and creativity. The goals that directly relate to those of this project when stating:
and creative spirit of who we are as Austinites, through design excellence, public art and beautiful, accessible public spaces.” “Residents and visitors participate fully in arts and cultural activities because the opportunities are valued, visible, and accessible.” “As a community that continues to stimulate innovation, Austin is a magnet that draws and retains talented and creative individuals.”
.77
4.32 overall site conditions and response 78.
Made UP True Story - hand cut paper B.1 (2005), Sam Winston
FILM-MAKER INTERVIEWS
CASE STUDY:
Case Study: Film-Maker Interviews
input was important for this research. Over the course of eight months, I sat down with each
professionals, come from varied origins, academic backgrounds, and areas of interest. and earnest. In addition to wonderful conversation and sincere encouragement, I learned or
“
originally from Mississippi
B.2
at Savannah College of Art and Design.
Even to this day when I’m sketching with a video camera I’m just always thinking, ‘what can i make with this?’. It’s always about making something. I’m always making something. I love making movies, but I like the idea of making something and participating and engaging the viewer.
”
Michael Chaney
“
originally from Illinois B.3
I think movies that are able to capture visceral feelings - especially able to capture something out of our dreams - are the most powerful.
”
graduate studies at Savannah College of Art and Design
Andrew Fuhr
originally from Dayton, Ohio graduate studies at Savannah College of Art and Design based in Los Angeles
B.4
Erin Carr Rundle .81
“
of human behavior and human interactions?
”
1. to their childhoods and early interests or ambitions. For those who were previously involved in because of these unique backgrounds. 2. conditions, which range from small, enclosed, dark spaces to wide-open outdoor areas. 3. Switching locations or taking a walk was also mentioned, showing an even greater need for variety in types of working spaces. 4. have worked many different roles and talk about the value of understanding everyone’s job. 5. Communication within groups was acknowledged as key to the success of a project. This included a distinct desire to accurately communicate a singular vision to all other artists involved.
“
I try to take my inner artist out and go for a walk in the park. ...It allows my mind to wander and allows me to look and observe things. ... I think we get stories from our experience and our observation.
”
“
There is something really beautiful about the presence of knowledge and about the presence of information. It shows potential and it shows hope. ... I get very movie theatres. When I go see a movie - especially at a festival - I’m consuming so much I start getting mad ideas.
”
“
community of writers all together.
”
“
“One of the things I love about and respect for the community. It brings money. It boosts the local economy and gives local jobs. It builds community in that way, and it’s exciting! You know, for most people who don’t live in Los still magical.
”
“
charging in front of the brigade. ... It’s a huge labor of love for the people at the top.
”
I think camaraderie is really important on a set. Psychologically, it is similar to the army or athletics: if you all suffer together, you become closer and you are trying to make something great in the with hard work if it’s done with a community and it’s done with purpose and there’s something in the end to see.
”
“
for fun because I’ve always loved movies and though ‘that will be an easy class. That will be fun: just sit around and watch movies and talk about movies. It’s what I do every day anyways.’ After taking a
“
I do think that the reason people tell stories and have always told stories is that they question themselves and they question what’s around them.
”
”
hooked.
82.
“...What originally from Illinois band teacher and Regional Emmy Awardwinning documentarian B.5
based in Southern Illinois
I do and where I am:
all never occurred to me that you couldn’t do these things. ... I’ve not been encumbered by ‘you’re not supposed to know how to do this’ or ‘you aren’t supposed to do it this way’. I’ve not been encumbered by any of that.
”
Craig Lindvahl
“
originally from Scotland graduate studies at Savannah college of Art and Design B.6
Every role. I’ve played every role. Which I think is important. ... It really helps to know what everyone’s job is. Even if you don’t know how to do it yourself.
”
editor and director based in Charleston, South Carolina
David Walton Smith
“The originally from Alabama undergraduate and graduate studies at Savannah college of Art and Design B.7
based in Savannah
pre-visualization is key to
shots out together. You watch movies together. You decide as a collective what’s the best look to tackle each shot and transition and things of that nature.
”
Whitney Hess
“
originally from Florida graduate studies at Savannah college of Art and Design B.8
I’ve always been fascinated with hearing stories and doing my best to re-tell them. And for me always there is a focus on ... making it fun the next time you tell it.
”
based in Los Angeles
Brandon Neslund
“
originally from Costa Rica graduate studies at Savannah college of Art and Design B.9
Sasha Zuwolinsky .83
based in San Jose, Costa Rica
That’s something I want to aspire to. Just to be able to transmit what I want to do perfectly so that my team can get it done and we can all work together. Collaboration is key for all of this.
”
“
Great teachers are always good story-tellers. They see that the essence of everything you want to teach is in a good story.
”
“
”
And that, I think, is one of the true measures of whether you are doing what you should do: is when you are unaware of anything else and get completely lost in it.
I hope to create work “people want to push
… All my creative thinking comes “when I’m in the car. I really like
And usually when I write, I kind of write stream of consciousness. Whatever way I can write it down the quickest. And so if it’s a piece of paper, writing notes, I’ll do that. Or if I’m near a computer I’ll type it. But it’s all about: the ideas hit me all at once and I just have to get it on paper really quick. it just kind of hits me. But when it hits me I just have to go for it.
“
”
driving. So in the car listening to soundtracks – musical scores from previous movies –really stimulates me. And gets me thinking about things.
”
where pause and turn to somebody and say, ‘you know, that makes me think about...’ and then they want to tell a story of their own.
”
“
”
You have to be able to adapt to I like to work in “because “that. You have to be on your toes I have all the time. You have to keep your ears and your eyes open. And that part to me is a lot of fun.
”
small spaces nothing else to… I have to focus and get a lot accomplished. But I’m trying to think of other things.
”
“
Each of us are so different but yet we’re working for one common goal. And you know, they think about stuff that I didn’t think about and I think about stuff that they didn’t think about and its just… it’s like the amount of information that’s shared is pretty awesome to me.
”
two (in my process) for me is “You “toStep start talking about it to people, without to get feelers out there ... telling close friends and family, ‘I got this idea’ and seeing what their feedback is on it.
”
“
person. I really really like when they don’t tell you anything, you just kind of discover. it’s not something that’s served to you.
”
can’t make anything collaborating. From the initial idea stage into making it, it’s just a matter of bringing on people that you work well with.
”
Personally, one of my goals is to I still go to the park and carry my “look “notebook for universality, and it has to do with me and just write with my background and gypsying around the world. I just want something that feels universal.
”
whatever I can. So just being under the sun, being surrounded by trees as much as possible and laying on the ground is ideal. I think ideal.
”
84.
5.1 8 1/2 (1963), Federico Fellini .85
COLLABORATIVE PARADIGM & PROGRAMMATIC NEEDS CHAPTER FIVE:
86.
PART ONE: COLLABORATIVE PARADIGM Having
established
the
profoundly
communal
the nature of collaborative processes. How does the individual mind best arrive to new ideas and creative faster, and the whole is solutions? How does greater than the sum of its collaboration magnify these parts.” idea developments? What - Keith Sawyer spatial and social elements and systems best foster the collaborative process?
“When we collaborate, creativity unfolds across
As these questions spark solutions and then both qualitative and quantitative program elements, it is easy to lose ‘program’ as something dry, categorized, coded. In fact, the program – the activities, events, and paths of the architecture – is the life of the place itself. Therefore the program for this thesis endeavors to forge a relationship to architectural conditions of site, structure, material, and detail that is both informed and informant. And what a rich program to be informed by! The collaborative paradigm within the
1. Structure, training, and order must be balanced 2. Serendipity and happenstance lead to richer creative solutions. 3. A group identity at many scales increases communication and creativity. 4. Physical and social transparency allows the program to belong to the community.
STRUCTURE AND INTELLECT MUST BE BALANCED WITH FLEXIBILITY AND INTUITION. Throughout the research conducted for this thesis – written sources, observation, and interviews – one concept continued to emerge: a balance between structure and extensive training and formal experience, their decisions must be made based on instinctual information. This is easily .87
and therefore each team member must be able to trust their instincts when choosing a light, dressing the set, or speaking a line. These improvisations affect other intuitive decisions, creating a path of creation that is often un-mapable. At a neurological level, the brain thrives off of chaos. Kevin Johnson explains in his book Where Good Ideas Come From (2010): “Neurons share information by passing chemicals across the synaptic gap that connects them, but they also communicate via a more indirect channel: are not entirely understood, large clusters of neurons is what neuroscientists call phase-locking. There is a kind of beautiful synchrony to phase-locking – millions of neurons pulsing in perfect rhythm. But the brain also seems to require the opposite: regular periods of electrical chaos, where neurons are completely out of sync with each other. … The phase-lock mode is where the brain executes an established plan or habit. The chaos mode is where the brain assimilates new information, explores strategies for responding to a changed situation. … Science does not yet have a solid explanation for the brain’s chaos states, but … researchers believe that the electric noise of the chaos mode allows the brain to experiment with new links between neurons that would otherwise fail to connect in more orderly settings.” (p. 104-105)
He talks about it from a personal standpoint, as the visionary director: “And when you’re getting into it the correct way, it feels correct. It’s an intuition: you feel-think your way through.” (p. 83) He also speaks of this in terms of the group efforts: It works the same way with all departments, whole thing is going to hold together…. Just start. And you may say, “Oh, my goodness – we’re very far away.”… Then you start talking and rehearsing. And it begins to get closer and closer. It’s an abstract sort of thing, but everybody is getting there. (p. 72) 88.
In effect, this could be considered a rare paradigm of a collective intuition. Each person brings some moment of serendipity backed by careful preparation into the heuristic By recognize the larger truth that working collectively can incite innovation. In architectural implementation, this balance is
organizing principle is applied to programmatic distribution and proximities as well as to the formal language of the design.
5.2 diagram by author (of
SERENDIPITY AND HAPPENSTANCE LEAD TO RICHER CREATIVE SOLUTIONS. Across all disciplines, the joy of the chance realization is treasured. A moment of insight - brought about by an unexpected and often unconnected source - can help the mind link ideas, craft new connections, and lead to a new or or her process. Many of these connections or ideas may be lying dormant in the mind, like Werner Herzog’s images, and need a catalyst to rise to the surface. This catalyst may be a conversation with a colleague, the reading of an article or
Architecturally, the opportunity for these happenstance encounters can be curated in several ways. First, inhabitants must be encouraged to take a walk. By moving about the building, the site, and the city, .89
someone or something of interest. This ‘philosopher’s walk’ may be a solitary action or a shared one – a conversation beginning on a routine trip to get coffee may lead to a new collaboration or inspire some critical creative choice.
and then to process those observations. This also cultivates an emotional connection to the site and the city: a connection shared among all of the artists at the Collaborative. Lastly, destination spaces that encourage conversation – coffeeshop, library, and workshop – provide places of dialogue. use extends beyond these functions in the minds of users.
A GROUP IDENTITY AT MANY SCALES INCREASES COMMUNICATION AND CREATIVITY.
different levels of camaraderie. For instance, the director and cinematographer might work together for an extensive period of time, getting to know one another closely, while a grip or assistant might only be on set for a few days. Despite this spectrum of involvement, the group’s identity – as associated with both the project and the experience of By shorthand of communication and practices and develops a commonly held responsibility to the process. This common goal, combined with a quick improvisation facilitated by great communication, is referred to by Keith Sawyer as
a boundary, however temporary or virtual, between the group’s activity and everything else” (p. 48). In this project, the group identity will revolve around
owned temporarily, and this short-term ownership may be used for experimentation, research, or exploration. The
all of those who have worked, studied or been entertained at the Collaborative gain a group identity that they carry with 90.
them throughout the city and beyond. A powerful sense of identity is thus crafted; in fact Sawyer asserts that one result greater than themselves” (p. 57).
PHYSICAL AND SOCIAL TRANSPARENCY ALLOWS THE PROGRAM TO BELONG TO THE COMMUNITY. Film-making, as unique craft and important storytelling medium, demands to engage with the public. It has historically been a somewhat secret, mostly inaccessible,
is to be valued and encouraged. In application, this physical the user’s intent. For a casual passer-by, it may be enough just to catch a glimpse of activity happening inside. At the next level, this user comes in to the building to get a cup
observation – to the motivation to get more involved by taking a workshop or helping with a project.
their craft, it is easy to forget about the process’s inherent magic. Seeing or talking with an engaged bystander reminds them of that magic and invigorates them in their work. Across all parts of the site and program, evidence of activity becomes the most important way to bring the public into the process. This occurs at three particular areas of the site: the pedestrian bridge, the street edge, and the southern view across the landscape. These are seen in the diagram at right.
Hollywood system have turned their backs to the community
independent spirit as something belonging to the people by
.91
5.3 views of site from bridge and evidence of activity from bridge via light and motion in the upper levels
5.4 views of site from street and evidence of activity from street via views inside the storefront
5.5 views of site from south and evidence of activity from south via light in the hillside
92.
PART TWO: SPECIFIC PROGRAMMATIC NEEDS In order to determine the program, the phases of the
that every phase of the process would be addressed except location (not in a studio). Additionally, there is an excellent meet studio space needs. Initial explorations included a breakdown of activities and spaces needed and a delineation of solitary activities versus communal ones. This led to a coding of information based on what was hard infrastructure (structure of possibilities). Each programmatic area was then examined for when it would be used in a twenty-four hour cycle.
5.6
5.7 top: phases of the process bottom: initial program exploration .93
5.8 when activities occur in the twenty-four hour cycle
94.
sensory and social matrix
5.9
proximity matrix
5.10
.95
5.11 visual relationships on site
96.
individual study pods
observation
computer workspaces
points
thinking spots
editing suites flex-spaces: rehearsal/audition meeting classroom
work-shop: wardrobe props
production offices
Structured Configuration:
tech support
5.12 .97
Field of Possibilities:
sound suites
open-areas: experimenting testing research
library
coffee-shop
event space: micro-cinema auditorium outdoor cinema parties
SELECTED FINAL PROGRAM DATA: Site Total: 6 acres Built Space Total: approximately 73,000 square feet Individual Study Pods: 3 Individual or Small Group Nooks: 22 Observation Points: 3 Editing Suites: 4 Sound Suites: 4 Screening Rooms: 1 Seats in Micro-Cinema: 200 Seats in Coffeeshop (Ground Level): 74
98.
USER GROUP IDENTIFICATION AND INTERACTION
throughout the program. Interactions between them are of the utmost importance to meet the four collaborative strategies.
Austin-ites: enjoy the coffeeshop, plaza, and auditorium. They take one more step of intent
Film-Crew: full range of the facilities, and work both together and alone. Their group identity is important, but they also interact with all other users collaboratively and socially.
Film-Makers: A solitary artist, either a part of a team or working alone, who uses any or all of the facilities of the Collaborative. This may be an Austinite, a shortterm Austin dweller, or someone visiting the city for a festival or event.
time of day building section
production office flex space: meeting coffee-shop loading area
event: workshop
individual study pod
library on location
open space: camera experiment outdoor landscape
5.13
coffeeshop is a hub of activity
.99
vertical circulation provides intersections
community space production office
individual study pod coffeeshop: meeting
outdoor cinema
community space
t
community space
vertical circulation provides intersections
public uses span full day and evening
100.
C.1 In The Mood For Love (2000), Wong Kar-Wai .101
SPATIOPROGRAMMATIC STUDIES
CASE STUDY:
102.
ECHO PARK FILM CENTER: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA By all accounts, the overall view of the Echo Park Film Center seems to be of a friendly, cinema. Echo Park has a long-standing reputation as a bastion for artists, left-leaning political activists, and general creative types. It was also the original neighborhood of the Los Angeles
bond within the employees and volunteers of the Film Center.
Center also supports artists’ residencies. Artists are provided lodging and a stipend., in return
C.3 left: a group of students at the Echo Park Film Center (photographer unknown) C.2
below left: a screening at the Film Center (courtesy of the Echo Park Film Center) above: a screening at the Film-Mobile (photo by Meghan Charland) opposite: plan of the Echo Park Film Center
C.4 .103
These artists add to the collective knowledge of the center and to its physical collection of
The physical space of the Film Center teaches an important lesson about the boundaries of an architectural endeavor. The space itself is small and often crowded and cluttered. However the borders of the space have not stopped those learning and making in this place from using the city as laboratory. The actual architectural space serves as a starting and returning point which provides resources but also encourages mobility and external exploration. which acts as a moving workshop, library and micro-cinema.
around the country. It proves that there is both a need for and a joy in this kind of resource. By exploring nebulous boundaries of action while asserting a strong sense of place in the physical location, the Film Center shows great balance. Additionally, the Center shows its
I
G G :
I : I G G G H G I I G I ¢
G : $ I G IG 9 I n G
C.5 104.
MIT’S BUILDING 20: CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS Building 20 was built during World War Two to house the university’s radiation laboratory and it was intended to be temporary. Instead, it stayed around for over 50 years and is renowned for it’s creative output. It’s temporary structure was nothing to look at, and stories are told of it as drafty, leaking, and perpetually dusty. But it’s many inhabitants - the school’s ROTC, a piano repair facility, and biology researchers, to name a few - embraced and loved it. Alex Beam (1996) calls it an “academic melting pot” while Dr. Jonathan Allen (1997) creativity and the exchange of ideas”. Across MIT, it was known as the place to run into someone interesting, to have an impromptu discussion, or to stay until the early hours of the morning deep in conversation. Spaces in Building 20 were appropriated at will, with walls and work areas constructed out of simple materials. The messiness of the place allowed free experimentation and transdisciplinary dialogue.
left: students playing “SpaceWar”, (courtesy Computer History Museum) below left: a Building 20 hallway (photographer unknown) below middle: Professor Lettvin’s below right: exterior detail (photo by John Cook)
C.6
C.7 .105
C.8
C.9
Building 20 was demolished in 1998, its invigorating spaces and curious characters now a thing of lore and history. In this way, Building 20 crafted great innovations and great stories. MIT’s Research Laboratory of Electronics Newsletter UnderCurrents (Allen, 1997) featured the musings of several of the Building’s inhabitants in celebration just before the demolition. These personal histories are the best way to demonstrate the collaborative importance and sense of place embodied in this piece of architecture. “A friendly place for bumping into friends and strangers was in the intersecting wings and blind corners of Building 20. ... I met a lot of people from other parts of the Institute.” -Elaine Cook
there was so much scope for interior decoration: I remember painting each pipe a and touch-me-not wall.” -Neena Lyall “Sessions typically began around 11pm and lasted until 3 or 4 in the morning. They would typically sit at a conference table, while we graduate students would sit in the background and listen in. ... the dim lights, stream of consciousness conversation, strange and exotic pictures on the wall, candles, and other artifacts associated with the research all combined to lend an air of mystery and intrigue. -Professor Alan Oppenheim “The nature of Building 20 has nothing to do with its shabbiness. It’s a building with a special spirit, a spirit that inspires creativity and the development of new ideas. New projects that seemed to have no practical application started up here. Building 20 -Professor Emeritus Jerome Lettvin
circulation analysis diagram (by author) aerial view diagram of Building 20, showing how different research groups in different areas had to pass eachother while in circulation, leading to happenstance encounters
C.10 106.
33 FLATBUSH AVENUE: BROOKLYN, NEW YORK A currently-operating (and admittedly young) example of high-functioning collaborative space is the collection of artists, architects, designers, and scientists operating out of 33 Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn. This seven story historic building, owned by community favorite Al Attara, acts as a home for independent individuals and companies who would part of the building, they also receive access to the common workshop and roof. A more intangible access is to the minds – and skills – of others in the building. Each individual or company can thus retain its unique group identity while plugging in to the community identity and resources as needed. The boundary between groups (as seen in the diagram below) is generally invisible or shifting but it exists nonetheless, with a respect for each person’s space. invisible, shifting boundaries – is essential for exploration and open dialogue.
designer Adam Lassy common model table Planetary One
C.11 .107
Terreform One
common storage EcoSystems
This organizational structure has led to much informal and formal collaboration. Avinosh Rajagopal writes in her 2011 piece for Metropolis magazine, “[Bill Washabaugh, design engineer] ’We all have different skill sets, … A project might start with one person, and a team builds up around it.’ of expertise increases exponentially the number of possible collaborations” (p. 66). Many projects begin as experiments; Avinosh Rajagopal writes: “many at 33 Flatbush believe in the
This thesis seeks to meet the same goals of 33 Flatbush Avenue of providing spaces
collection of diverse artists leading to improved creative conditions.
C.13
C.12
above left: a tenant workspace at 33 Flatbush Avenue (photo by Magda Biernat) above right: rooftop experiments (photo by Magda Biernat) right: music center (photo by Exapno Music) opposite: interior division diagram (by author)
C.14 108.
6.1
SCHEMATIC DESIGN & DESIGN DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER SIX:
.111
6.2
Layers of folded landscapes embedded, pocketed, or raised. Emphasis on circulation paths and sectional intersections is a governing factor.
112.
schematic design studies investigating site relationships and massing in plan and section:
6.3 study of courtyards and visual relationships
6.4 study of engagement with rail bridge and topography
.113
6.5
study of longitudinal expression and interior views
6.6 study of interior light integration
114.
schematic design study models, exploring folding, pocketing, embedding, and raising of volumes and planes:
6.7
6.8
6.9
6.10
.115
6.11
6.12
6.13
6.14
116.
schematic design studies exploring experiential conditions and material usage:
6.15 courtyard study sketch
6.16 ramp and pod study sketch
.117
6.17 loading area study sketch
6.18 observation point study sketch
118.
schematic design studies exploring underground conditions and light distribution in section:
6.19 underground light well studies
.119
6.20 underground volumetric section study
120.
sketches of human interaction relationships through view and path:
6.21 movement and view from street to interior
6.23 sectional study of view, viewshed, and path
.121
6.22 individual study space requirements
6.24
6.25 views from sequential movement along a path
6.26 combination of solitary and communal use in exterior space
122.
structural concept and material selection:
6.27
.123
structural concept of heavy rammed earth contrasted by delicate columns
6.28
6.29
6.30
A material “expresses the slow process of its formation; a perfect pebble on the palm materializes duration, it is time turned into shape.” - Peter Zumthor
Rammed earth was chosen for the main structural expression of the architecture for several reasons: - clear articulation of its own process that it conveys - beauty of the striations - excellent thermal mass properties - ability to protract and articulate threshold and opening - light’s effect as it washes the surface
6.31
124.
6.32 .125
Storefront creates strong street edge and opens courtyard between building and rail bridge as entry to overall site.
Building mass notches at the area of most slope in topography to direct view and activity towards atrium. Overhead, an observation point is lifted above the plaza, offering direct views of downtown and passing trains.
The tunnel emerges from under the main volume and cuts across to run along the rail line. It emerges from the other side to create two observation points over the adjacent creek and park, then folds back into the site to form a pavilion for events.
Southern portion of the site is the ‘backlot’: a group of intended for experimentation and gathering.
126.
exploded axon showing folded planes
6.33 .127
exploded axonometric
Inhabitable green roof plane folds over full building.
space, and include individual study pods and an observation point which are raised above the main volume.
The Southern portion of the site includes ‘back-lot’ temporary structures as well as pavilion which emerges from the tunnel under the train. An outdoor cinema and amphitheatre-style seating also join the landscape.
The ground level follows the natural topography, creating The Storefront anchors the Norther street edge, and the Atrium anchors the main rise in slope.
The below-grade spaces form an underground landscape that extends under the rail bridge.
128.
design development explorations of Storefront, Cinema, and Atrium
6.34 study of storefront development
6.35 study of cinema, path, and roof development
.129
6.36
6.37
130.
design development exploration of Underground spaces
6.38 study of layered tunnel condition
6.39 study sketch of tunnel experience
.131
6.40 gradient of vertical light distribution
6.41 study of tunnel sequence details
132.
elevation studies
6.42 north elevation
6.43 east elevation
6.44 west elevation
.133
6.45 south elevation
134.
sequential study of site approach, plaza and atrium entry
6.46 1. View from pedestrian bridge, showing how storefront and folded glass roof announces activity
6.47 3. View from entry to plaza, showing how site slopes up to atrium entry and observation point creates gateway.
.135
6.48 1. View from corner of street, showing how storefront corner introduces the overall building and begins the folded roof plane.
6.49 4. View from ‘big stair’ and entry to atrium, demonstrating layering of levels and vertical circulation.
136.
7.1
FINAL DESIGN & EXHIBITION
CHAPTER SEVEN:
Final Site Plan
7.2 .139
The storefront provides a strong urban street edge. The courtyard is dining and gathering space and opens west side of site.
Active zone as hill rises introduces the big stair and the terrace. Big stair provides essential meeting space and transparency into atrium. Observation point creates gate to back of site and offers views of trains and skyline.
The highest point on the site has views of both north and south plazas, creating a pause.
The tunnel terminates in an observation point connecting to next-door Butler Park.
Amphitheater and cinema are places of event, showing evidence of activity from the South. The pavilion can be used for hosting events or for selling concessions or merchendise. The backlot is a place research, with small, semi-temporary structures. 140.
Level One (lowest Underground) servers editing suites
cinema
computer lab
green room
atrium nooks mech
storage
open space
sound suite
tunnel
observation point
tunnel
pavilion 7.3 .141
Level Two (ground level at Storefront)
projection and tickets lobby
cinema
nooks atrium library
screening room storage
open space
sound suites
7.4 142.
Level Three (ground level at Atrium)
lounge deck
pod
atrium
kitchen
loading work-shop
7.5 .143
Level Four pod
observation point
pod 7.6
Level Five
7.7
144.
Exploded Axonometric View
7.8 .145
Inhabitable green roof plane folds over full building.
space, and include individual study pods and an observation point which are raised above the main volume.
The Southern portion of the site includes ‘back-lot’ temporary structures as well as pavilion which emerges from the tunnel under the train. An outdoor cinema and amphitheatre-style seating also join the landscape.
The ground level follows the natural topography, creating The Storefront anchors the Northern street edge, and the Atrium anchors the main rise in slope. This level includes the coffee-shop, entry to the cinema, individual study spaces, communal kitchen, work-shop, and loading area.
The below-grade spaces form an underground landscape that extends under the rail bridge and includes a cinema, editing and sound suites, and open experimentation space.
146.
7.9 mapping users through the site
.147
7.10 mapping program in the built space
glazing
tubular steel columns
concrete retaining rammed earth walls
walls
and
foundation system
7.11 mapping structural components
148.
- STOREFRONT The Storefront: - represents the most public face - includes the most public program: coffee-shop, gallery, and meeting space. -opportunity for material articulation
7.12 Storefront at coffee-shop corner, early morning
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150.
Storefront
7.13 Storefront corner
7.14
top: coffee-shop interior, early morning, demonstrating work use 7.15
.151
bottom: coffee-shop interior, evening, demonstrating gallery use
entry
booths
comunal tables pick-up gallery
order bulletin board
kitchen
lounge
patio Storefront: Ground Level
meeting
lounge
flexible gathering
roof deck bar study pod
Storefront: Upper Level
7.16
152.
- ATRIUMThe Atrium: -represents the communal experience -includes a communal kitchen, event space, -opportunity for sectional articulation
7.17 Atrium interior from ramp
.153
154.
Atrium
7.18 Atrium interior from East entry
.155
156.
Atrium
7.18 lvertical light distribution strategy
7.19 viewing passing time from above, below
7.20 initial exploration sketch of views, viewsheds and path at points of sectional intersection
.157
7.21 section of Atrium
158.
- UNDERGROUNDThe Underground -represents the solitary experience -includes editing and sound suites, and library -opportunity for sequential articulation
7.22 Atrium from library
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7.23 Underground Atrium
160.
Underground
7.24 Tunnel intersection, 1pm
7.25 Tunnel, 1pm
7.26
7.27
Tunnel, 9am
Tunnel and nooks, 10am
7.28 Tunnel longitudinal section (diagrammatic)
.161
7.29 study of light effects through train tracks
7.30 observation point at low and high water level
162.
Austin-ites: enjoy the coffeeshop, plaza, and auditorium. They take one more step of intent
Film-Crew: full range of the facilities, and work both together and alone. Their group identity is important, but they also interact with all other users collaboratively and socially.
Film-Makers: A solitary artist, either a part of a team or working alone, who uses any or all of the facilities of the Collaborative. This may be an Austinite, a shortterm Austin dweller, or someone visiting the city for a festival or event.
building section
time of day
7.31
.163
She is engaged civically and creatively
7.32
She frequents the coffee-shop in the Collaborative, and often spends time in the outdoor areas of the site, attending events or meeting with friends. She has met some interesting artists here, and has even gotten involved by attending a workshop. She recently supported some
The group of collaborators recently began
the Collaborative, they have moved into pre-
7.33
raising funds and keeping track of schedules. They also spread out throughout the building,
often spend time in the Atrium, seeing who else is around and keeping the ideas
He is an independent artist who adapts to many roles. He uses the collaborative to jump onto crews for projects and has made some great friends in the process.
of the Collaborative help him work out some of the creative challenges. He can meet up with others to get feedback in the cool base of the atrium, screen 7.32
the tunnel. 164.
7.33 plaza entry
.165
166.
7.34
Final Exhibition
7.35 Final Boards In Exhibition
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7.36 Site Model, 1 to 100 scale
7.37 Site Model detail
170.
CONCLUSION mark time for humanity. It is becoming clear that even the earliest ancestors sought to live on through story: their palm prints pressed into cool cave emerged as a new story-telling medium, and through it light and shadow again began to mark the time.
a powerful story-telling voice and a vessel of social and cultural knowledge, architecture has a responsibility to respond, to cultivate, and to understand process of both viewing and making. It is this process – collaborative, intuitive, intricate, and singular – that asks questions of architecture. Further, of the major industry and academic circles – is an essential element of this craft. These artists are resourceful, imaginative, and tenacious in the face of economic and temporal challenges. These independent artists need a place to come together, pool resources and ideas, and feel connected to a community. Providing this type of place can only increase the quality and telling.
sculpted, crafted, frozen – and thus a process connected to activity and event. Therefore this thesis explores the process through an understanding of its tasks, durations, and hierarchies. Research on collaborative paradigms condition to provide a set of goals: serendipity, group identity, transparency, and public interface. These, in recognition of a need for balance of structure
.171
common setting – suburban, disconnected, insular – must be reversed, siting public what has traditionally been a closed system, allowing them into the collaborators are offered to them, and an outsider’s fascination reminds them of the wonder of movie-making.
with and response to it. Constants will remain: the persistence of independent together, the importance of connection of a craft to a community, and the intuition to tell stories. This thesis has explored only one of the many paths connection will surely keep this author busy for many years to come.
tells stories. Architecture is, after all, also a thing of time: of movement in and creates a new type of place for this craft and therefore for story. The Film-Making Collaborative – a place of activity, of excitement, of community place, to time, and to story-telling’s human element.
172.
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Basel,
LIST OF FILM IMAGES CITED (IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE) Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012), Benh Zeitlin Solaris (1972), Andrei Tarkovsky Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010), Werner Herzog The Fountain (2006), Darren Aronofsky The Tree of Life (2011), Terrence Malick Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010), Apichatpong Weerasethakul Red Desert (1964), Michelangelo Antonioni Bladerunner (1982), Ridley Scott Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), Guillermo del Toro Arrivee d’un Train en Gare de la Ciotat (1895), Lumiere Brothers Son of Rambow (2007), Garth Jennings Eraserhead (1977), David Lynch (1974), John Cassavetes Amelie (2001), Jean-Pierre Jeunet There Will Be Blood (2007), Paul Thomas Anderson Passing Through Traveling Down (2012), Andrew Fuhr 8 1/2 (1963), Federico Fellini In The Mood For Love (2000), Wong Kar-Wai
178.