DIY research

This year, on my course, we were allowed to write the brief for our end of term project. As exciting as this may be, with just 2 weeks from start to end, it doesn’t allow for much scale or depth, I think. I had a couple of floating ideas that I wanted to develop but at the end I settled for something ‘stupid’ simple which opened up a huge field for research. Initially, I was torn between the desire to explore moving image, play around with after effects and the chance to produce some formal print material (the joys of which I discovered recently).

Trying to set my ideas somewhere in between I decided to use the worn out principle of form follows function and see how that could be adapted to moving image work. The phrase was originally coined by the architect Louise Sullivan in 1896, and although extensively used in Modernist architecture and industrial design, it also managed to infiltrated into the field of graphic design. Leading the way of the International style, this principles has turned into a mantra which is chanted even in the 21st century. Being aware that such major movements usually spread across all creative fields, I searched for some relevance in the sphere of film. The only close attempt to tackle the issue of form was done by avant-garde film makers and especially evident in Structural Materialism. Looking formally into the structure and the making of films, this theory, as exciting as it is, could not directly be linked with present digital film making practices because it is limited by the materiality of film. Not finding any satisfactory visual reference of form follows function in the moving image field, I started questioning how the idea could be interpreted as form follows motion, and if such an interpretation could be visually and theoretically justified. Borrowing the formalist principles of modernism, I jumped at the opportunity to employ them in the abstract representation of form.

Using architecture as a starting point, I also did some further reading on different subjects which deal with form, motion through space and the representation of it.
– Jean-Baptiste Lamarck’s theory of evolution, as opposed to Darwin’s, looks into adaptivity of the form in correspondence of its use and movements.
– The Neu Typografie, visual elements such as shape, colour and position are strictly dependant of the function they employ.
– Interactive design manipulates form depending on given imput, as opposed to reactive design which is based on conditions.
– “and he built a crooked house” a science fiction short story by Robert A. Heinlein whose character decides to built a house which can react to the human movement inside it.
– Film/Architecture/Narrative exhibition at The architecture centre looks at how film, a powerful cultural medium, can be engaged in the design and communication of architecture. Also, vice versa, employing architectural principles in the building of moving image imagery/landscapes.
– Mosley, Jonathan and Stickells, Lee (2008) Imaginary Construction: Filmic processes within the architectural design studio.

All those seemingly unrelated fields treat form in their different ways and at the same time liberate it from stillness, which undoubtedly provides a wide field of visual investigation through the medium of the moving image. Given the time frame I had I decided to simplify my process, focus on architecture and execute the notion ‘form follows motion’ in a very direct way. I have selected 3 groups of architectural materials/texture close-ups/, offset them on a candy coloured backgrounds in order to be completely isolated from their usual environment and started experimenting with shape masks and motion paths.

…more to follow soon