Year 2
Masterclass
Narrative in Architecture
Project Length: March 2020 - May 2020
Site Location: Home, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk
Brief Focus: Representation & Dialogue
Tutors: Carlos Marquez-Diaz (Studio)
Unconventional Times
Due to the fact the project was largely affected by the first wave of the Covid-19 Pandemic, our brief and project had to adapt accordingly, thus there were various points of changes that impacted the outcome of a dynamic masterclass.
I was not able to produce the movie I had in mind at the beginning of this project due to the limitations I had with my laptop. The pandemic had proven that as a society, we were not wholly prepared for this shift and emphasis on technology. Nonetheless, I enjoyed exploring new camera techniques and learning to use it in new perspectives, which I believe will push me to explore new manners of portraying my final pieces in my course in the future. It was an enjoyable project, and I made the best of a bad situation with the pandemic going on.
Difficulties I had faced included my underestimation of the ease of filming, it can require more preparation than expected. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is something I had definitely learned over the course of this project. In the end, I was successful in achieving the shots.
The iterations of the weekly videos brought new possiblities for the path for explorations. Upon learning the tool - my camera - it is like teaching your mind how to use a pencil. You have to adapt to it and its techniques before potentially creating an art piece. And I felt the same way for this project. It brought new possible paths for my future projects and I definitely developed more self patience alongside developing tutor-individual relationship, where I was able to take criticism, and rather than feeling defensive, work upon it and take the advice to develop myself.
The final outcome portrays a “Narrative and Events” through my making. The primary narrative that appeared by the end of this project, more apparent than my movie was the narrative between myself and my eagerness to learn to use my camera more and in different manners. Changing from photography to videography.
The first wave of the pandemic caused turmoil & large disruptions around the world, consequently affecting the outcome of my masterclass. As a result of this, I titled the short-movie: Unconventional Times. As our lives became routine, the unexpected became the new expected.
The two-and-a-half minute film displays the routine lifestyle we adapted to in our contemporary lives with a twist of traditional analogue atmosphere, immitating life in the past.
Snippets of the Movie
A series of scenes extracted from the movie produced for my masterclass. These were strongly influenced by Wes Anderson’s cinematography and the aspiration of analogue cameras: 35mm film, 8mm cinematography, grainy filters to support the project’s concept.
