Working through Art

Dissertation

I have always had a passion for films, and studying architecture has enhanced that passion. For my dissertation, I wanted to study the idea of sets within films and how they create a space. I studied how, over time, the set design techniques have changed from films over a span of over 70 years. The three films I looked at were “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” (1920), “Psycho” (1960) and “The Crow” (1994). The underlying thematic similarities between these films, allowed for a comparison of the set designs to show how each film conveyed the shared themes. Through the dissertation I studied what space is as a concept, and how the space can make someone feel, through different design techniques. I found that both “Psycho” and “the Crow” drew inspiration directly from “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari”, as it is a German Expressionist film that was very influential. The theme of German expressionism ran throughout my essay, which impacted my work in MArch 2, as German Expressionism was during a time of great uncertainty, and where German citizens were feeling oppressed by their leaders, which in turn, brought more of an awareness for mental illnesses such as schizophrenia.