Fifteenth International Conference on Technology, Knowledge & Society

Abstract

Through a series of studio projects this paper discusses how the moving image and film editing vocabulary and technique can be used as resources for understanding light, sound and time in the design process. The iPhone has allowed for the constant presence of video in our daily lives. Capturing information as still or moving images; what format to shoot in; standard rectangular, time lapse, slow mo[tion], video, square or pano[ramic] format has become an innate activity. Our framed view becomes objective as the device determines the image boundaries. This familiarity with the smart phone as both a mediator and conveyor of experience combined with the predication of how we place ourselves with[in] space might allow us to utilize these devices as design tools. In studio, students analyzed films including Blade Runner. The character Deckard uses an “Esper” machine to navigate a 2d image 3 dimensionally, enabling the viewer to inhabit the photographic space and understand the spatiality and relationships of elements within the room through a perceived occupancy including light and reflection. This scene is an important reference as it allows navigation through a filmic image while using calibrated coordinates, reinforcing the importance of data collection as a design tool. Film/video has proven to be a relevant tool for students as they formulate their ideas about space into something experiential and not representational. The results are progressive and sometimes unconventional, but speak to the vital relationship between the phenomenological and the spatial when designing environments for occupancy.