Methods and process

THESIS BOOKLETS AND

FILM PRESENTATIONS

In this thesis report, I will introduce the work of five filmic notations with additional small black booklets containing stills from the films, enabling an analogue reading of the notations. The five booklets makes it possible to get a quick insight to the visual univers of the films.

The filmic notations will be unfolded in chapter 3, Analysis part 1 – Bodily and filmic explorations of the modern coastal zone of Rødby Fjord, where you will find links to websites containing the filmic notations.

The filmic notations are uploaded on vimeo.com. The notations are only accessible if you have an account. You can also acces the filmic notations on youtube.

The filmic notations will appear in the following order, supporting the narrative and structure of the thesis exploration. The links will also be attached in chapter 3. During the reading of chapter 3, it is recommended that the reader has the digital thesis open, allowing easy access to the following: / I see things that were, going quiet behind my eyes https://vimeo.com/562522826 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0Ul245IRmo

/ I see pieces of the past in the shimmering soil of the present https://vimeo.com/559718744 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDvQTeGbjSg

/ I see the forest emerging in the lee of the dike https://vimeo.com/559714817 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAj4RUJWSpU

/ I see transitions emerge through movement https://vimeo.com/609616933 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rW4zuqzbqnc

/ I see encounters between reality and dreams in the ponds of the farmland https://vimeo.com/608070078 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcYDRFyeuEc

METHODS AND PROCESS

I have approached the exploration of Rødby Fjord with a curiosity towards a historical and filmic framework in my landscape architectural practice. This curiosity has evolved into sequential and parallel workflows using different instruments and methods to unfold the multiple layers of Rødby Fjord, its history and its modern environments. Thus, throughout the thesis report, you will experience that I balance big-scale and small-scale perspectives, historical maps and present orthophotos, and that I employ moving images as well as video stills, in the making of onsite registrations and future scenarios. In the following, you will get an insight to the methods and tools I have used to navigate towards the final project proposal.

HISTORICAL AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

In my thesis, I look into the multiple steps taken from the first attempts on coastal protection in Vejleby in 1794 till the inlet of Rødby Fjord was finally fully reclaimed in 1966. I have gained knowledge of the historical transition though the detailed work of former teacher Niels E. Hyldtoft. In his book Bag diger og dæmninger i Rødby Fjord (Hyldtoft, 2009), he collects data about every reclamation and embankment attempted and executed in Rødby Fjord, and he documents the existing traces hidden in the agricultural land. This book has been my main source of information on the chronology of the transitional process, along with detailed readings of historical maps.

To gain theoretical and practical insight to the concept and practice of filmmaking in architectural and artistic work fields, I have included theory and reflections from Rikke Munck Petersen, landscape architect and professor at Copenhagen University, and Mads Farsø, landscape architect and consultant at Halsnæs Municipality. Munck Petersen and Farsø establish the film as an intimacy projection environment (IPE), as well as a resonance and transcendence medium, and they argue that the film medium is both an environment, a medium and a tool to transfer a bodily experience that can be perceived by the spectators without being physically present (Munck Petersen & Farsø, 2019). This makes the film medium relevant in an architectural context, as it offers an increased awareness on the affective aspects of architecture. In my own filmic experiments, I examine how to transfer my bodily experiences and onsite associations in the landscapes of Rødby Fjord though the film as a resonance medium of site, perceiver and conceivers (ibid.)

FILMING AND FILMMAKING AS A DYNAMIC RESEARCH METHOD

My primary research method is the filmic method. Here, I explore the experiential potentials of the film camera and the affective action of filmmaking (Munck Petersen & Farsø, 2019), both in regards to understanding the current landscapes of Rødby Fjord as well as unfolding and articulating possible future spatial indications and intentions within my site.

I used a hand-held camera and my phone to capture the appearing structures, landscape typologies and the experienced atmospheres, bringing attention to the sensuous and emotional states that occur when engaging with spaces, real and virtual: a resonance between person and space (Munck Petersen & Farsø, 2019). The filmic material was collected during a three-day site

visit in March of 2021 and a two-day site visit in June of 2021. It later went through phases of post editing, leading to the filmic presentation and interpretations of five landscape experiences from Rødby Fjord. The landscape experiences are expressed in five filmic notations unfolded in Chapter 3. The term ‘filmic notations’ is in this thesis understood to be the bringing forth of key experiences that unfold the resonance occurring as I move through the landscape.

I distingiush between filming and filmmaking. The act of filming happens though bodily presence (Munck Petersen & Farsø, 2019) anchored to a physical landscape while the act of filmmaking interprets the filmed material from a distance though the filter of the screen, but also involves presence through post-editing. The filmmaking process will be further elaborated during chapter 3, where I present the choices made in filming and filmmaking, as well the reflections these choices brought with them.

I have experimented with different ways of filming to see how the actions of the photographer influences the way we understand what is filmed: from a distance or close up, moving from one point to another, filming above and below water surfaces or using my body as a subject behind or in front of the camera. During my second site visit, I used the film camera more as a tool to collect visual data and registrations of historical traces. I also use the documentary William Kentridge –Everything is possible (Art21, 2010) from 2010 by director Charles Atlas and Susan Sollins as a source. The creative work methods and reflections of Kentridge are portrayed though studio recordings and recorded interviews, in which he unfolds his filmic method and video installations with deep historical references and intensity. I used this documentary, and his reflections on the qualities and actions of filmmaking, as a reference for understanding and articulating my own filmic process.

In the filmmaking process I worked exploratively and intuitively to express the different sensuous impressions, historical references and spatial properties. I used historical maps in relation to the filmed as a reference to the underlying historical layers, and I explored the effects of overlaying images dissolving into each other. In the process, I experienced how new environments emerging from the filmic notations provoked new meaning, new impressions and associations. As a way of understanding my own filmic creations, I worked with words and titles that help support the narrative intention.

MAPPING

Working with historical maps, and the action of mapping, have been important tools to understand the past landscapes and convergent landscape structures of the present-day landscape of

Rødby Fjord. Notational techniques are used to highlight key parts of the site in focus and make other recede in the process. I studied Generalstabens historical map from 1889, orthophotos and google maps to get acquainted with the site, the history, the cultural landscape, the differences and the similarities and the physical transition from fjord to farmland. This method becomes important in Chapter 4, when I piece together traces of the former coastal zone.

In this thesis report I refer mostly to Generalstabens map from 1889, but I have used historical maps of the parishes of Rødby Fjord to form an idea of how Rødby Fjord looked like before they started reclaiming the inlet. I also distinguish between ‘the former coast’, ‘the historical coast’ and ‘the new coast’ in order to differ between the past inlet morphology and the present inlet morphology. I am aware that the coastal outline of Rødby Fjord from 1889 was fluid and changing all the time, as well as the fact that the coastal outline was completely different 20.000 years ago. But Generalstabens historical map is interesting to me as it portrays a stage in between the past and the present thus highlighting a peripheral zone of reclaimed land. To require detailed information about specific zones of reclamation, I use Niels E. Hyldtofts thorough collection of maps and photos (2009). ONSITE REGISTRATIONS

I have made two visits to the site to get physically engaged and acquainted with the proportions, the landscape typologies and the historical traces. Where the first site visit focused mostly on the landscape experiences connected to the dike and the new coastal zone, the second site visit focused on the hinterland of Rødby Fjord and the peripheral zone of the former coast.

I have performed filmic registrations at Kramnitze Havn, Skarresø wetlands, Mygfjed Forest, Rødbyhavn and the surrounding farmlands. I approach the sites by foot, on my bike, by car and in water using movement and bodily presence as tools to explore and understand the landscapes I find myself in. As a landscape architect, the act of movement is an important tool to register the nuances and the changes within the landscape. This is closely linked to the way I mimic my movements though the camera (Munck Petersen & Farsø, 2019).

The second field trip exploration was spread out on more than 15 locations in the hinterland of Rødby Fjord as I scouted for visible physical traces of the reclamation and former coast of Rødby Fjord.