Arch 443/646: Architecture and Film
Fall 2011: Course Home Page

"f/x"

Tuesdays, 10 to 2:
Q&A Seminar: 10 to 11:30ish ARC 2026
Break: approx 20 to 30 minutes to grab a bite to eat (if the film is longer than 120 minutes the start time will get pushed earlier and the Q&A shortened)
Film: 12 to 2 Main Floor Lecture Hall ARC 1001

Course Description:
This course explores the relationship between Architecture and the development of early and modern films. Students will look at the source and portrayal of architectural expression in film: precedents for imagery, its relationship to the development of early modern architecture, and its vision of the urban future.

The theme for this term is "f/x". We will be viewing a variety of films that manipulate our reading of architecture and the urban environment through the use of special effects and general manipulation of environments. Such manipulation will include the use of models and other devices that change the perception of the architectural environments. f/x for the purpose of this exploration will be taken very broadly and also include any manipulation of sound, lighting and filming angles that are used to change the depiction of space. Rather than focusing on the "Hollywood" idea of f/x (Inception, Tron, Armageddon...), we will look at more subtle ways to modify the reading of the film - ones that are able to be replicated by you when you create your own films.

We will be using FinalCutPro and Final Cut Express 4 to make our films. Adobe Premiere is also supported. The films will be required reflect on the role of architecture and urban setting with respect to f/x in film.

Pedagogic Objectives:
The course is intended to develop a critical perspective of the use of architecture in film. Students will learn to examine both the medium of film and the form and style of architecture as they relates to the development of both film media and culture. Students will engage in research to understand the choices and expression of architecture used in film and the impact of the same on the narrative aspects of the film.

Completion Requirements:
The course will be run in a seminar format. Each week we will view a film, discuss its relevance to architecture, culture, environments, and the perception of all three. The discussions will take place in a “for credit” mode and include a digital submission of an answer to an assigned question. Attendance is mandatory. Two missed classes will constitute failure of the course. Discussions to be effective require all students to be present. Students must also submit their short intro exercise film and completed final film.

IMPORTANT: IF YOU MISS SEEING A FILM
Many of these films are not in Musagetes. If you miss seeing a film in class, please arrange to see it. However I am not lending out my personal copies, so keep this in mind.

last updated Monday, November 21, 2011 6:35 PM

Fritz Lang’s Metropolis 1926 | 145 minutes | Fritz Lang

Fritz Lang's most famous silent film uses science fiction and spectacular special effects to tell a story of biting social criticism. In a futuristic time and place, an above ground city of lightness, culture and respectability is kept going only by the enslaved proletariat laboring beneath in the underground city: a nightmarish, cruel and dark place. An innovative and influential film in its day and now considered one of the hippest films of the sci-fi genre.

http://shipofdreams.net/sfmovies/metropol.htm http://www.kino.com/metropolis/ http://www.uow.edu.au/~morgan/Metroa.html http://www.activitaly.it/immaginicinema/metropolis.html http://www.silentera.com/DVD/metropolis-cmhDVD.html

We will be watching the complete restored version released in Fall 2010.

Un Chien Andalou 1929 | 16 minutes | Salvidor Dali

Acclaimed as a surrealist masterpiece, Un Chien andalou aggressively disconnects itself from narrative flow. The creators of this short film. Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí, fully intended there to be no links between successive scenes. Fortunately this didn't inhibit their dreaming up of some of the most striking moments ever to be projected upon the silver screen. The opening focuses on a man (Luis Buñuel) stropping his cut-throat razor, honing it to a perfect edge.

Un Chien Andalou:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Un_chien_andalou
http://www.film.u-net.com/Movies/Reviews/
http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/cteq/
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/bunuel6.html

A cameraman travels around a city with a camera slung over his shoulder, documenting urban life with dazzling inventiveness. This playful film is at once a documentary of a day in the life of the Soviet Union, a documentary of the filming of said documentary, and a depiction of an audience watching the film. Even the editing of the film is documented. We often see the cameraman who is purportedly making the film, but we rarely, if ever, see any of the footage he seems to be in the act of shooting!

http://www.imagesjournal.com/issue05/
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/film/journal/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_with_the_
http://www.25hrs.org/vertov.htm
http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0019760/
http://dziga.perrybard.net/
http://www.silentsaregolden.com/debartoloreviews/

Avant-Garde Shorts

Varied selections from this compilation. The number will depend on the amount of time we have available.

http://www.aracnet.com/~jester/clockdva/delivery.html

http://www.ubu.com/film/ray.html

Ballet Mecanique:
http://www.antheil.org/film.html
http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/fnf96n3.html
http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/works/ballet-mechanique/

The Heart of the World 2000 | 6 minutes | Guy Madden

Commissioned for the 25th Anniversary of the Toronto Film Festival, Maddin's acclaimed award winning short is a parody of silent Soviet Propoganda films.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0260948/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Heart_of_the_World

A German filmmaker summons his sound recorder friend to join him in Lisbon. When the latter arrives, his friend has disappeared, leaving a few cans of silent footage. The sound man will wander aimlessly through the streets of Lisbon recording sounds of the old city to match the images left by his friend.

Discussion questions for Lisbon Story will be taken up on October 11.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110361/
http://www.wim-wenders.com/movies/movies_spec/
http://www.deep-focus.com/flicker/lisbonst.html
http://archive.sensesofcinema.com/contents/

Final Cut Express Tutorial
Terri Boake will be demonstrating Final Cut Express. Use of this software is not mandatory to produce your movies but it will be "supported". The video lab at the school is set up with computers for exclusive FCP use by students.

Please note that if you are using a new AVCHD camera, FCP will not support your footage. You can only edit AVCHD material on a new Intel MacPro with Final Cut Express - or use a PC.
extra notes

Adobe Premiere Tutorial
Fred Hunsperger will be demonstrating Adobe Premiere. Please note that the 30 day free trial will not provide you enough time to complete both assignments unless you are very fast.

Excellent tutorial:
http://journalism.berkeley.edu/multimedia/tutorials/finalcut/

These also look like great help sites:
http://users.design.ucla.edu/
http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/
http://www.atomiclearning.com/finalcutprox.shtml
http://www.sjmclib.umn.edu/viscomm/finalcutpro/
http://www.lafcpug.org/tutorials.html

Apple support:
http://www.apple.com/support/finalcutexpress/
http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=936
http://www.fcpbook.com/FAQ.html

Adobe Premiere Tutorials:
http://www.tutorialized.com/tutorials/Premiere/1 http://www.adobe.com/ap/products/tips/premiere.htmlhttp://tv.adobe.com/show/learn-premiere-pro-cs5/

King Leonidas and a force of 300 men fight the Persians at Thermopylae in 480 B.C.

300 is a 2007 American fantasy action film based on the 1998 comic series of the same name by Frank Miller. It is a fictionalized retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae. The film was directed by Zack Snyder, while Miller served as executive producer and consultant. It was filmed mostly with a super-imposition chroma key technique, to help replicate the imagery of the original comic book.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0416449/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/300_%28film%29
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/300/

A short film by Chris Ware and Ira Glass will be shown first to the Arch 192 class. All 443/646 students are welcome to join them.

Sin City Extended Version 2005 | 147 minutes

This Recut & Extended Edition is the ultimate SIN CITY DVD Collection and features a new, never-before-seen extended version of the original motion picture, the original theatrical release with three new commentaries, and extensive brand-new bonus material! Also included, a complete SIN CITY graphic novel: "The Hard Goodbye."

The film was entirely shot on greenscreen, with many of the actors in the same scene, never meeting.

Pink Floyd The Wall 1982 | 95 minutes | Roger Waters

The story of THE WALL is told simply with the music of Pink Floyd, images and natural effects. There is no conventional dialogue to progress the narrative.

I am substituting The Wall for the previously posted films as I have hit a personal "wall" in finding the time to create the discussion questions for this day as I arrive back from China the night before this class. I thought the selection appropriate. I have used this film before and as it is a very large music video, thought it suited to the course!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_Floyd_The_Wall_%28film%29

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084503/

http://www.thewallanalysis.com/

Woman in the Dunes 1964 | 148 minutes | Hiroshi Teshigahara

An amateur entomologist searching for insects by the sea is trapped by local villagers into living with a mysterious woman who spends almost all her time preventing her home from being swallowed up by advancing sand dunes. The woman and the trapped man begin a strange and erotic relationship that stretches over years, as the man's hope for escape dims.

THE FILM STARTS AT 11:20AM

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058625/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Woman_in_the_Dunes

The Science of Sleep 2006 | 105 minutes | Michael Gondry

A man entranced by his dreams and imagination is lovestruck with a French woman and feels he can show her his world.

Gondry's other film is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

We are screening the film as well as the "making of" documentary. We will need to start viewing at 11:20AM.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0354899/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Science_of_Sleep
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_science_of_sleep/

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0327273/bio

Osama 2003 | 83 minutes | Siddiq Barmak

In Afghanistan, during the Taliban regime, women are forbidden to work and to walk on the streets without the company of a male. The teenager girl Osama cuts her hair and dresses like a boy to get a job and support her widow mother and grandmother. There is no men in her family, since her father and her brother were killed in previous Afghan wars, and the family has no means of survival. When Osama, disguised as a boy, is called by the Taliban to join the school and military training, the boy Espandi tries to help her.

We will also screen the interview with the director.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0368913/

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osama_%28film%29

Persepolis 2007 | 96 minutes | Vincent Paronnaud, Marjane Satrapi

Poignant coming-of-age story of a precocious and outspoken young Iranian girl that begins during the Islamic Revolution.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0808417/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persepolis_%28film%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persepolis_%28comics%29

Waltz with Bashir 2008 | 90 minutes | Ari Folman

An Israeli film director interviews fellow veterans of the 1982 invasion of Lebanon to reconstruct his own memories of his term of service in that conflict.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185616/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waltz_with_Bashir
http://waltzwithbashir.com/
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_

Q&A from Osama, Persepolis and Waltz with Bashir

SCREENING OF SHORT FILMS COMPILATION

FINAL FILM PRESENTATIONS

Undergraduate Requirements:
Weekly Comments 20%:
Each week I will distribute a series of "questions" regarding the film viewed. The answers will be submitted and discussed at the beginning of the next class. Answers are to be around 400 to 500 words in length. The answers will be posted on this webpage.

Assignment #1: The Video Short 30%
Each student will be producing a short music video (around 30-60 seconds in length) based upon some exploratory work with f/x in film. The segments will be joined and we will view the composite piece at the final class. The topic of the short is "making something extraordinary out of something ordinary".

Assignment #2: (HBAS)The Video 50%
The major work will be the creation of a Music/Architecture 'video'. Details to follow.

Graduate Requirements:
Weekly Comments 30%:
Each week I will distribute a series of "questions" regarding the film viewed. The answers will be submitted and discussed at the beginning of the next class. Answers are to be 700 to 800 words in length. The answers will be posted on this webpage. The responses are to show evidence of research and contain links out to references that pertain to the movie/question.

Assignment #1: The Video Short 30%
Each student will be producing a short music video (around 30-60 seconds in length) based upon some exploratory work with f/x in film. The segments will be joined and we will view the composite piece at the final class. The topic of the short is "making something extraordinary out of something ordinary".

Assignment #3: The Video 40%
The major work will be the creation of a Music/Architecture 'video'. Details to follow.

FORMAT FOR THE WEEKLY SEMINAR RESPONSES:
ALL students must submit responses each week. Responses are due at the end of the weekend immediately following the Tuesday presentation to allow you to refine your responses based upon the discussion in class. Questions submitted after midnight on the Sunday immediately following the Tuesday presentation will be given a grade of zero.

References:

complete list from my film library

Some of these are out of print. There are no specific weekly readings. Please conduct research as required to answer your weekly questions and to support your web projects.

Recommended:

Cinefex Magazine. Available in Musagetes.

Deitrich Neumann, editor. Film Architecture from Metropolis to Blade Runner. Prestel, 1999. (only available now through amazon.com, in their used books area link1, link2. Or try www.alibris.com as they have some and a good selection of other used books.) This is a simply amazing book that is now out of print.

Mark Lamster, editor. Architecture and Film. Princeton Architectural Press, 2000.

Donald Albrecht. Designing Dreams: Modern Architecture in the Movies. Hennessey + Ingalls, Santa Monica, 2000.

Maggie Toy, editor. A.D. Architectural Design Profile no. 112. Architecture and Film. Academy Group Ltd. 1994.

Maggie Toy, editor. A.D. Architectural Design Profile no. 150. Architecture + Animation. Wiley-Academy. 2001.

Francois Penz, editor. Cinema & Architecture: Melies, Mallet-Stevens, Multimedia. British Film Institute, 1997.

Thomas Hine. Movie Houses. Architectural Record. 04.02.

Terry Smith, editor. Impossible Presence: Surface and Screen in the Photographic Era. University of Chicago Press, 2001.

http://www.mrqe.com/
http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Lot/2976/SF_FilmResources.HTML
The Cinematic City: The City and Architecture in Motion Pictures
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/cinematiccity.html
http://shipofdreams.net/sfmovies/movielinks.htm
http://www.umich.edu/~umfandsf/film/films/
http://www.scifimoviepage.com/index.html
Filming Locations used in Many Movies:
http://www.movie-locations.com/