Ideas and Concepts BAFI103 - 6th October

Tuesday 6th October 2015 

Course Module - BAFI103                          Ideas and Concepts                       Lecture - Dan P

Constructive Environment

World Of Tomorrow (1939) - (gives the impression of Las Vegas) - A film we viewed during class 

We looked at a short film portraying New York's World's Fair, it gave a sense of what America could be like in the future, it gives the idea that they are great in power. Throughout the film I picked up on the content, it could be seen as propaganda as they make it seem like it's the biggest country, and forms of racism because the coloured people were treated like a sideshow. The buildings within the film looked imposing as they were grand, dominated by ornate architecture, the whole piece was edited clearly and everyone looked happy, symbolised through the dancing and events going on in the images. Political and cultural messages might be invisible to some people, driven by capitalism (my own opinion). 

Googie Architecture - Modern 

Walkways on stilts (concrete struts), pyramid structures

Different angles - Logo McDonalds, shaped for looking like carriers that you get for your chips

Primitive aspirational, past and future.

Boomerang shapes for roofs, common feature, (symbolising the wing of a delta bomber plane). 

Large domes, often made of concrete. 

Cars were built to look like Jets 

Googie buildings appear to float - a few attracting the motorists, glass fronts acted as virtual billboards.

Atomic Energy - Americas abilities to generate the products and the power is fulfilling.

We went out for a walk with the class to look at the city and see what things stood out or could be interpreted in different ways, looking at reflections, shadows, with a specific area of focus at materials used, whats the potential for the place we are looking at. Explored Plymouth City Centre, went to places like the bank, drakes circus, shops, car park, court, guildhall, water features. 

My Concepts and Ideas

Drakes Circus - The entrance to the shopping precinct is shaped and it looks like the bottom of a bridge deck, bottom of a boat.

Around by the Billabong Surf shop there was a blue box which was positioned on the outcrop of a building, looks really significant and can be seen from far away, gave me the impression of the TARDIS police box in Dr Who, I thought this could perhaps be linked to our short film as not only would it link into the journey but also it's as if by shooting on film that we have travelled back in time - could be enhanced by film grain and colours (sepia tones). 

We looked at various buildings around the city centre, they were modern, ruins, pubs, shops, banks, theatres, parks etc. Lots of buildings had the decrepit feel to them by this I mean that after analysing them on a 360 point, we started to see different shots, vertigoes, glass panels and the fact that in some places the buildings were crumbling, structures have been built in places for cover from the loose debris that have fallen in the past. 

The photographs above were taken on my mobile phone - Images by Luke Curno - October 2015  - Plymouth City Centre. 

RESURGAM - Will rise again (linked to the bombed church) Time traveling (TARDIS box), when were they built, what has been left. At night it could be said that the City Centre looks like a ghost town apart from Union street which is full of bars and night clubs.

Reference 

The World of Tomorrow (1939) Directed by Fredrick Ullman Jr. [Short Documentary]. USA: PerescopeFilm.com