Theme: temporal movement
Outcome: one short film per group (1-3 minutes)
Film experience: not required
Tutor: Gül Kaçmaz Erk
Unlike drawing and photograph, film is a medium of representation that is not used on a daily basis in architecture. If ‘the medium is the message’, filming architecture and the city deserves exploration. Film makes use of design variables such as color, light, movement, pattern, texture, scale and transparency as a significant aspect of its narration. Form, space, time, nature, sound, text, fabric and other design elements are all included in the core of a film. So how can we benefit from filmmaking to express our ideas on architecture and the city? With this question in mind, we will benefit from fiction films to talk about urban architecture, and to re-produce Dublin through filming. Doing so, we intend to develop an awareness of the relationship between city/architecture and cinema.
The target of the workshop is to make a fiction or documentary film (1 to 3 minutes long) within the boundaries of Dublin city (center). As a Dubliner, or an outsider to the city, you will be making a film in and about Dublin within the theme of TEMPORAL MOVEMENT. The theme may include sub-themes such as history, story, change, transformation, mobility, and spatial movement, which we will be talking about throughout the workshop in relation to the films screened and produced.
In this workshop, theory and practice are brought together. A theoretical basis on the relationship of film and urban architecture will be provided (not by the tutor through lectures but by the participants through discussion). We will explore the world of cinema to portray our ideas about cities and the built environment. The participants are expected to familiarize themselves with the software of their choice before the workshop. More information about film format will be provided.
The workshop starts on Monday at 10 with the screening of film extracts, and their discussion in terms of their architectural and urban qualities. The workshop includes but is not limited to extracts from Robbins’ West Side Story (1961), Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange (1971), Kar-Wai’s Chung King Express (1994), Proyas’ Dark City (1998), Meirelles‘ City of God (2002), and von Trier’s Dogville (2003). Basic reading on the subject will be provided for theoretical basis. The participants of the workshop, then, form into groups of one to three people, and each group selects an architectural/urban theme which is derived from one of the films. The group theme will be related to ‘temporal movement’, the main theme of the workshop. The themes will be revealed through the representation of the city of Dublin in short films. On Monday afternoon, the participants explore the city center (on their own), and sketch for the (A3) concept board and (A3) storyboard of their film. (Other media may be used for the boards such as collage.)
In the second meeting of the workshop on Tuesday at 10, we will pin up concept boards and storyboards and discuss the group theme and film proposal. We will also watch and talk about the film extracts selected and provided by the participants. (Each participant is expected to bring one film extract or short film related to the theme, not longer than 3 minutes, for screening and discussion.) In the afternoon, the groups will start shooting the footage/raw material for their short film in the city center.
In the third meeting on Wednesday at 10, we will look at the raw material and discuss the ideas about the final product further. In the afternoon, the groups continue shooting the footage for their short film in the city center, and start editing the raw material.
In the fourth meeting on Thursday at 10, groups work on their film at Richview. Participants help each other with editing, sound/music and credits. Editing, including camera editing, and sound are optional. If used, music should be instrumental, and is preferably composed and played by the participants. In the afternoon, groups are either done, or they continue working on their final product on their own.
In the fifth and the final meeting of the workshop on Friday at 10, the short films are screened and evaluated by the participants and their guests. After the review, we will party. In the afternoon, we all rest and enjoy living/being in Dublin. Selected films made in the workshop will be screened during the film screenings entitled Filming before Villa Savoye the following Thursday (22.July.10) at 5 in the Red Room at UCD Richview.
To sign up for the workshop, please email Gül Kaçmaz Erk at gulkacmaz@yahoo.com your name, major (architecture, urban design, film studies, etc.), year, email address, and phone number due 1 July 2010. Please explain why you are interested in the workshop in no more than 200 words.
Fee: 25 euro per participant
Duration: 5 days
Number of participants: maximum 20 (open to all)
Group work: possible (up to three participants)
Required equipments (per group): a digital video camera (or a digital camera that shoots film), a laptop with related editing software (as to group’s preference), and drawing instruments
Provided by the school: The Red Room arranged to sit in a circular setting and watch films, laptop, projector, sound system, and whiteboard
