Semiology and Simulation: A Framing Analysis of the Architecture in the Dystopian films

Semiology and Simulation: A Framing Analysis of the Architecture in the Dystopian films Blade Runner 2049 and The Hunger Games.

What Causes Familiarity Between the Architecture of Our Reality and the Dystopian Films?

Filmic Architecture - Architectural Interpretation: An Extension of The Cinematic Design Process

RUCHA THAKURDESAI 19014751 BA.ARCH

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A dissertation presented to the School of Architecture of Oxford Brookes University, in part fulfilment of the regulations for BA (Hons) in Architecture.

Statement of Originality This dissertation is an original piece of work which is make available for copying with permission of the Head of the School of Architecture.

Signed:

Rucha Thakurdesai

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Abstract This dissertation investigates the discipline of architecture and film. It consists of the evaluation of two case studies: Blade Runner 2049 and The Hunger Games, where the architectural elements are magnified: materiality, colour and light, atmosphere, mood, spatial design and architectural styles.

The analysis is applied to the design decisions between the set designer, art director and director, and depicts the key factors that cause the spectators of the dystopian film to emulate familiarity even though it is not our perceived reality, for example, totalitarianism or a post-apocalyptic world.

There is no existing literature applying the semiotic theory to two-dimensional simulated dystopian films, specifically targeted at the teenage demographic, despite the fact that it is a capitalising genre especially since 2010 onwards.

Overall, the conclusion made is that colour symbolism through materials and light alongside parallels drawn with historical architectural styles and political statements recapitulated are responsible for the familiarity that we, as an audience, feel.

Acknowledgements Thank you to my supervisor, Francesco Proto, for his support and encouragement throughout my research.

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Figure 1 Illustration (Authors own, 2021)

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Contents

Introduction Literature Review Key Terminology Methodology Chapter 1: Architectural Semiotics 1.1. Reality and Cinematic Spectatorship 1.2. Semiotic Film Theory 1.3. Fabrication of Reality 1.4. Role of the Set Designer Introducing Dystopia 1.5. Types of Dystopias 1.6. Architectonics of Dystopian Film 1.7. Reel or Real? Unattainable Realities and Escapist Architecture Chapter 2: Case Study (1) – Blade Runner 2049 2.1. Analysis: Architecture of Blade Runner 2049 2.1.1. Colour and Atmosphere 2.1.2. Spatial Design 2.2. Emulating Real Buildings: What Causes Familiarity Between the Architecture of

Our Reality and Blade Runner 2049?

2.2.1. How does the art director create a familiar simulated reality behind the

scenes during set design (pre-production)?

Chapter 3: Case Study (2) – The Hunger Games 3.1. Analysis: Architecture of The Hunger Games 3.1.1. Colour, Lighting and Atmosphere 3.1.2. Spatial Design 3.2. Emulating Real Buildings: What Causes Familiarity Between the Architecture of

Our Reality and The Hunger Games?

3.2.1. How does the art director create a familiar simulated reality behind the

scenes during set design (pre-production)?

Conclusion Bibliography Figures

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Introduction

The evolution of architecture is exhibited in many established disciplines, one of the medias being film. The minutiae considered to establish an aesthetic in film enables the convoluted nature of the fictional world that is perceived by the audience to express the intended thoughts and feelings though the linguistic device between the ‘signifier’ and the ‘signified’ (Saussure, 1959). The dialogue, soundtrack, costume design, scenography, as well as interior and exterior architecture, empower the producer’s vision to manifest. Filmic architecture is the convergence of the established disciplines that give an artistic medium through which externalised manifestation of the built world allow the interpretation of symbolism and expression of emotion. Architectural design and intention act as assets to the materialisation of ideas in film via conceptualisation of socio-political, visual, and environmental concepts.

The architect essentially engages as the role of the set designer. Their role is to manipulate the scene’s setting using spatial understanding as an asset to set the tone of the characters surroundings, as well as possibly have subliminal messaging, to evoke the emotions intended by analogising buildings.

For example, a balcony in the literal architectural sense is designed to offer views, but as a cinematic device may enable a character to escape, conceal oneself or even be used as a plot device resulting in death.

The variety of genres in film also contain a multitude of architectural styles to encompass the correct mood. Through the study of the coalesced paradigms: representation and hyper-reality, this particular dissertation is based on the question:

Semiology and Simulation: A Framing Analysis of the Architecture in the Dystopian Films Blade Runner 2049 and The Hunger Games.

What Causes Familiarity Between the Architecture of Our Reality and the Dystopian Films?

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Introduction

‘There are of course, very different kinds of films: narrative feature films, documentaries, travel films, advertising films, instructional films, abstract underground films’ (Harman, 2009. p. 2009). In this case, this dissertation is exploring narrative dystopian films. There has been a surge of dystopian capitalism and futuristic films released, particularly in the last decade, predominantly aimed at the young-teen demographic, resulting in a heavy influence on popular culture. They have always been a popular genre but Joe Queenan stated that it was the ‘golden age’ of especially the ‘grim totalitarian nightmare’ (Queenan, 2015).

Through this in-depth dive into the synergy of architecture and film and the analysis of the ways in which they are used as mediums to merge space, time and storylines, it will help gain a comprehensive understanding as to how the familiarity of the architecture in dystopian movies is achieved. The objective is to focus on materiality, spatial design, lighting, compositions, influence on the character and movements and styles, in both disciplines: architecture and film, and which are most prominent while emulating the familiarity we feel from our built world in the fictional realm. The aim is to deduce a few key elements that are obseerved as a pattern through the case study analysis and to establish key relations between the film and art departments.

Introduction

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Literature Review

Baudrillard, the French sociologist, is opposed to the idea of saying that simulation is a hallucination but believes that the linguistic device is deceptive between the ‘signifier’ and ‘signified’, the concept created by the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure. The signs between a signifier and signified are deduced by code. Roland Barthes’ phenomenon of ‘The Reality Effect’ is explored in The Rustle of Language (Barthes, 1989. Pp. 141-148). ‘According to Barthes, the gratuitous realistic detail, in its attempt to be a nonsignifying object within a field of signs, presents itself as a signifier without a signified (…) it refers to nothing other than itself.’ (Hale, 2009. pp. 229-238). In relation to cinema, the sign is the film itself, the signifier is the director and set designer, the signified are the audience, and the code is the filmic techniques, camera lens, and interwoven narrative. Baudrillard defines hyperreality as ‘more than reality itself’, essentially meaning there is no deeper form of reality.

Baudrillard’s work was influenced by structuralism, the theorists and philosophers: Henri Lefebvre and Roland Barthes, and asserted the proliferation of virtual reality. Baudrillard’s ‘long standing interest in design environments’ was evident in ambience Le Systeme des objects (The System of Objects, 1968), making his theories on reality, interior design and consumerism applicable to the research about film and cinematic spectatorship. The reception theory developed by Stuart Hall in the essay Encoding and Decoding in the Television Discourse (Hall, 1973), shows “connotative codes are the ‘linguistic’ means by which the domains of social life, (…) segmentation of culture, power and ideology (…) refer to the (…) ‘maps of social reality’”. Hyperreality originates from Barthes’ notion of the ‘empty signifier’. It is stated that ‘the environmental world invades the linguistic and semantic system.’

In Film Language: A Semiotics of the Cinema (1990), Metz states ‘a filmic mode, which is the mode of presence, and to a greater extent it is believable.’ Metz, a pioneer in the field on semiology in film, bears on the topic of structural linguistics applied to filmic language- as stated by Constance Penley, ‘Modern film theory begins with Metz.’ There are also references to the French film critic and theorist André Bazin and his study of the ‘impression of reality’ and ‘perception’. In the chapter most relevant to this dissertation, On the Impression of Reality in the Cinema, Metz expounds that ‘cinema can bridge the gap between true art and the general public’. (Metz and Taylor, 1990. pp. 4-5). Metz follows broad lines of inquiry such as the semiological study of film and psychoanalytical study of cinema. ‘Paradoxically, (…) the ‘realism’ of the film is only achieved after a threshold of ‘irreality’ has been created’ (Mambrol, 2018).

Metz and Baudrillard are tied together through their common interest in the structuralist approach to this discipline, the Saussurian approach to the linguistics and the inspiration procured from Roland Barthes. These theories and studies from both authors are relevant to this dissertation through their indepth semiosis and applicability to the architecture and cinema (the main themes throughout) through the means of the audience perception of the architecture and the cinema as s system of languages.

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Introduction

This review is an amalgamation of both established theories and previously written theses. Therefore, Filmic Architecture: Thesis-Antithesis-Synthesis; What Architecture Sees in Film written by Andri Halfidason is pertinent to this study, also due to the fact that it was written in the epitome of teenage dystopian cinema (2013). The focal relevancy is on ‘montage’, ‘filmic architecture[s]’ and whether they ‘exist in reality, or only in fiction?’. The chapter on optical devises and effects is heavily influenced by, the descriptive, Jean Nouvel, who has discussed semantics: ‘Architecture exists, like cinema, in the dimension of time and movement.’ The work of Herman Scheffauer is highlighted as ‘architecture had quickly become a character in film, no longer an ‘inert background’’. The literature is heavily based on how ‘film (...) has changed our perception of space’ and ‘presented new and novel ways of representing the effects that our constructed spaces have on us’. Through the analysis of the chosen case studies of this dissertation, the notion that ‘architects (…) wish to experiment with notions of atmosphere and perception’ is explored (Halfidason, 2013. pp. 17).

Moreover, the analysis of the case studies of this dissertation are analysed based on the fractionated elements of architecture: colour, atmosphere, spatial design, materiality and lighting. Therefore, Designing for Screen: Production and Art Direction Explained by Georgina Shorter acts as a crutch to reference the specifics. The discipline of architecture is categorised – the apropos chapters used to aid the analysis are: ‘Colour and Texture’ and ‘Creating an Environment’. Descriptions such as ‘blocks of vivid colour (…) is[are] added to soften scenes that would (…) be dominated by the striking Chinese architecture.’, in reference to the movie Hero (2002), are made, effectually applying the books Colour Theory (applied in analysing case studies 1 and 2).

Though cinema and architecture are a commonly debated topic, the surge of dystopian films in recent years has not been critically analysed yet - there was no literature found applying Baudrillard’s theory about the perceived reality or the concept of the ‘signifier and signified’, in relation to the upcoming dystopian films aimed at the teenage demographic. This gap in literature is why this dissertation focuses on applying semiology to the case studies.

Introduction

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Introduction

Key Terms and Concepts

Sign, signified: a ‘signifier’ is the form which the sign takes; and the ‘signified’ – the concept it represents (Chandler, 2019).

Fabrication: ‘the act of inventing false information in order to deceive someone, or the false information itself’ (Cambridge Dictionary, n.d.)

Reality: ‘the state of things as they are’ Dystopia: ‘an imagined state or society in which there is great suffering or injustice, typically one that is totalitarian or post-apocalyptic.’ (Oxford English Dictionary, n.d.).

Mise-en-scène: in the physical sense – the stage design of film production Déjà vu: already seen Origin: French Simulacra: the replacement of reality with a simulated one Simulation: ‘A situation or event that seems real but is not real’ (Cambridge Business English Dictionary, n.d.).

Hyperreality: Baudrillard defines hyperreality as ‘the generation by models of a real without origin or reality.’ (Baudrillard, 1994. p. 1).

Aesthetic: ‘a set of principles underlying the work of a particular artist or artistic movement.’ (Oxford English Dictionary, n.d.)

Perception: ‘the way in which something is regarded, understood, or interpreted.’ (Oxford English Dictionary, n.d.)

The seventh art: the art of filmmaking Ambience: ‘transformations occurring in the environment by and large’ it is ‘the homogenisation and levelling of the consumer’s experience through customisation of objects for personal enhancement.’

(Proto, 2020. p. 5).

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Methodology

The methodology used by Baudrillard is critical theory to establish key beliefs on simulation, semiology and hyperreality. This is based on the social philosophy of Marxism and structuralism.

As this dissertation is focused more on the semiology of the visual representation of architecture in the films Blade Runner 2049 and The Hunger Games, the methodology exercised will be framing analysis with inspiration from critical theory. This methodology is chosen above critical theory due to its focal point being on multi-disciplinary social science and more on the activity (cinema) and analysis of images (architectural still-images chosen from the case studies) and metaphors (the impact of the architecture on the narrative). Film studies ‘gradually adopted ‘new’ methodologies from cultural studies and social sciences, which displaced the speculative ideas of film theory.’ (Buckland, 2000. pp 1).

Critical theory is more focused on the power structures and social culture; this is pertinent yet not the focus of this distinct study. Therefore, the use of framing analysis is justified and better suited.

‘Wimmer and Dominick (2006:153-153) add that news frame analysis, as a from of qualitative content analysis, could be conducted for these media research purposes: -describing communication content; comparing media content to the “real world”; and establishing a starting point for studies of media effects.’ (Linström and Marais, 2012. Pp. 5). This dissertation abides by these methods of the framing methodology strategy – it consists of predominantly qualitative research due to the concepts explored being heavily reliant on visual imagery. The theoretical information of semiology, simulation and reality have been obtained via media through books, reports, interviews (secondary data) and articles. The references to the theories (such as the Semiotics Film Theory and Saussure’s Signified and Signifier concept) are applied throughout to aid the analytical approach to the research question. The structure chosen to answer the research question is split into segments; each chapter is split into sub-sections. The first chapter is a presentation of the semiotic theories applied and the context into dystopian films, setting the scene and boding as a backbone for the analysis of the case studies in chapters two and three.

The time-frame that this research has been undertaken within is a period of five months. The first three months have been allocated to gain theoretical understanding on simulation and semiology within cinema in the modern day, hence the theoretical nature of chapter one. The remaining months will be focused on the application of the literature to the case studies.

Aforementioned chapter two and three, with the focus on decisions regarding mise-en-scène, are written within the qualitative-data-collection realm which is applied to the analysis of Blade Runner 2049 and The Hunger Games. The sample data collected is in the form of still image from shots in the scenes directed by Denis Villenueve and Gary Ross for case study one and two respectively, given the unit of analysis being the major entity of architecture in dystopian film. The specific shots from the films are chosen due to the inclusion of significant architecture to the dystopian narrative. Shot by shot analysis is not required due to the focus being on the CGI and set designed aspect of the shot, rather than the filmic direction itself.

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Introduction

Introduction

The // time-frame that this research has been undertaken within is a period of five months. The first three months have been allocated to gain theoretical understanding on simulation and semiology within cinema in the modern day, hence the theoretical nature of chapter one. The remaining months will be focused on the application of the literature to the case studies.

Aforementioned chapter two and three, with the focus on decisions regarding mise-en-scène, are written within the qualitative-data-collection realm which is applied to the analysis of Blade Runner 2049 and The Hunger Games. The sample data collected is in the form of still image from shots in the scenes directed by Denis Villenueve and Gary Ross for case study one and two respectively, given the unit of analysis being the major entity of architecture in dystopian film. The specific shots from the films are chosen due to the inclusion of significant architecture to the dystopian narrative. Shot by shot analysis is not required due to the focus being on the CGI and set designed aspect of the shot, rather than the filmic direction itself.

Introduction

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Chapter 1: Architectural Semiotics

1.1.

Reality and Cinematic Spectatorship Cinema can seem surreal. The influential consumerism of mass media, for instance: comedy, articles, music, advertisements, news outlets; easily emulated by the audience are interpreted and accepted as ‘reality’. Cinema, however, is the most escapist element of media, which bodes the question, why does a fictional reality feel so intimately connected to our own?

The many creators play a hand in producing these carefully scripted films – the set designer being one of them. This chapter will go on to explore the similarity between the roles of the set designer and an architect.

Joel Black, teacher of comparative literature and film at the University of Georgia, argues that as an audience, we strive to make our lives more ‘visible’ and that this impulsion has made our perceived reality increasingly graphic and ‘decreasing correlated with the ‘real’’. This is a result of the advancements in technology and causes the opposite to occur; we emulate the fictional two-dimensional consumed media in film as opposed to our reality being recreated accurately in film. The ‘problem in film theory is that of the ‘impression of reality’ experienced by the spectator. Films gives us the feeling that we are witnessing an almost real spectacle’ (Metz and Taylor, p. 4). Similarly, while studying Andre Bazin, Katherine Blakeney states that reality ‘has no place in this hallucinatory world of illusion, its beauty is in its dreamy detachment from the grounded, solid world outside the screen.’ (Blakeney, 2009).

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Architectural Film Semiotics

Cinematic spectatorship can be defined as: ‘activity or condition of viewing a film (…) with the operations at work in our engagement with, and comprehension of, the sights and sounds that make up the cinematic experience.’ (Westwell, 2012). To call back to the days before television and film viewings, entertainment was consumed through theatre - the early makings of bringing haptics to optics till ‘the invention of the movie camera by Lumière Brothers in France’.

(Bertolini, 2008. p. 1). The theatre set design was the most significant aspect in the world building and ‘fabricated reality’. In modern day society, the requirement of constant background and foreground entertainment is based on the ‘revolution of needs’ and it ‘offer[s] perspective of de-alienation […] because needs are such an immediate product of repression: parcellized, divided, disciplined’. (Gane, 1991, p. 22-30).

This has now converted through technological advances to encompass the apparatus theory.

The apparatus theory being: ‘cinematic devices [that] capture[s] and record optical imagery (…) and how it easily links to the audiences’ and it ‘is an affinity between the movie audiences and the eyes of the movie cameras’. (Magazine Pro Theme on Genesis Framework., 2014).

The Soviet film director, Sergei Einstein, stated that the cinematic worth relies on how to metamorphose the ‘real world’ occurrences within the lenses of the cameras. Einstein’s views followed the Soviet Montage Theory (Origin: French meaning assembly), which denotes creating cinema that relies heavily upon editing and curation in post. In A Dialectic Approach to Film Form, Einstein states that montage is ‘the nerve of cinema’. ‘Films release a mechanism of affective and perceptual participation in the spectator’ (Metz and Taylor, 1990. p. 4).

The focus of this study is to compare and contrast the architecture in two of the chosen dystopian films: Blade Runner and The Hunger Games, both of which were marketed to the rising interest in dystopia by the teen demographic.

Architectural Film Semiotics

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1.2.

Semiotic Film Theory

Semiotics are the study of the process of a sign which is called semiosis which is used for delivering the intended meaning (‘signifier’).

This can be applied to how the architectural design choices are a sign and how they can make us perceive something a certain way – whether the intension is to make us feel familiarity or alienation is the choice of the director. ‘The semiotics of the cinema is, (…) the theory of film-as-a-system-of-signs.’ (Harman, 2009).

The architecture in the film is part of the signed language.

The French philosopher Gilles Deleuze stated ‘A theory of cinema is not ‘about’ cinema, but about the concepts that cinema gives rise and which are themselves related to other concepts corresponding to other practices’ (Deleuze, 1986, p. 280).

In this case, architectural concepts that are portrayed in dystopian films are in question where the ‘atmosphere and plot of the film[s] are revealed entirely through visual means’.

Architecture works as a ‘device that can be used to manipulate the audience’s perception of the scene and its potential to remain ambiguous and open to interpretation.’ (Blakeney, 2009). This is because ‘people have become intertwined within the network of hyperreality, hence the ‘depersonalisation’ by assimilation to ‘space’ as screens became the medium via reality represents mass media (Baudrillard, 2012).

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1.3.

Fabrication of Reality

Similarly, ‘The social upheaval caused by Covid-19 evoke many popular dystopian or post-apocalyptic books and movies (…) has sent many people rushing to fiction and movies about contagious diseases.’ stated Katherine Schwetz.

Figure 2

Films out of all media have the ability ‘to provide increased understanding of the experiential nature of spaces and ideas that have been trapped in 2-D media, even if based on works of fiction rather than fact.’ (Boake, 2006. p.

1). As ‘moviemakers digitally manufacture[d] lens flare and blurriness; they limit depth of field and appearance of overexposure (…) endeavoured to make the director and audience feel as if conventional cameras were employed’.

(Crippen, 2019. p. 8). This is an example of the fabricated reality that forms the cinematic realm – a simulation. The architecture, urban planning and world-building in films are a vital aspect of the simulatory sense that we get while watching dystopian films. There are also aspects to the architecture; materiality, lighting, spatial design, composition and influence on the users (the characters), and whether they feel alienated or familiar which are calculated choices by the director. The extent to which the reality that has been created in the story is another filmic choice.

This is why the bygone dystopian films are back once again: ‘Part of the appeal of these classics (…) is a morbid strain of escapism.’ - of the possibilities that our world could be much worse in comparison. In 2017, there was a spike in sales of 9500% for George Orwell’s 1984 after Trump’s inauguration from Penguin Random House From this we can depict that the events occurring in the present day all impact the genre and concepts that are being read and watched the most.

Gamemakers Governing the Simulation (01:14:01)

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(Hickey, 2015)

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Figure 3

Figure 3 exhibits the ‘Feature Films on IMDb

By Release Year. This evidence suggest that the gradual increase in interest invested in dystopian films has been on a fairly invariable incline since 1940. The highest spike being in the 2010s in the age of Interstellar (2014), Snowpiercer (2013), Blade Runner 2049 (2017) and alike.

(Hickey, 2015)

Immersive realism is also a world building method that is used to simulate a new reality. Studio Ghibli, for example, uses animation as a medium to craft immersive films that ‘strike a difficult balance between fantasy and reality’. (Isbrucker, 2018). Hence the technological advances threaten to overthrow our perception of ‘reality’, a ‘logic and aesthetic of simulation is allowed to emerge’ (Baudrillard, 1981 p. 41).

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1.4.

Role of the Set Designer

What is the Relationship Between the Architect and the Set Designer?

‘Leon Barsacq’s hisotisizing of film set design begins with a survey of the ‘film primitives’ the Lumiere brothers and (…) the ‘pioneering work of George Melies’ (Barsaq, 1976. 5-15)’.

There are two types of set designers: ‘Digital or traditional’ as stated in The Art Direction Handbook for Film and Television by Michael Rizzo. They are responsible for the ‘visual effects and pre-visuali[s]ation’ as the role of a ‘set designer is sculpting digital space to present a different angle of the same ideas presented in the storyboard sketches’.

The ‘average set designer can produce $35,000 - $40,000 of drawings per week’. Traditional set designers are a part of the pre-production process and ‘digital set designer (…) [use] Adobe Photoshop to tweak 2D and 3D imagery for key frame shots, or enhancing images modelled in Rhino and Vector works for digital drafting of scenery.’ The set designers are hired by the ‘art director [that] contributes to the physical and creative setup of the art department’. (Rizzo, 2015. p. 57-192).

The role of the architect on the other hand is as a ‘creative user’ and they ‘either create[s] a new space or gives an existing one new meanings and uses contrary to established behaviour’, they are also responsible for ‘physical transformation’ (Hill, 2001. p. 1).

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Figure 5

There are many similarities and overlaps between the role of an architect and a set designer. They both ‘influence how a building or environment is imagined, designed, described, constructed and sold’. They are both also ‘primarily as aesthetic endeavour’ and ‘return to codes of expression, abstraction, and autonomy’ (Piotrowski and Robinson, 2001. p. 11-48). The difference between architects and set designer is that one erects long lasting structures and the other temporarily (a time frame spanning from a few hours to a few days – depending on the film processes).

(Barnwell, 2017. p. 22)

How do set designers achieve the ‘familiarity’ created in the dystopian architecture in the pre-production process?

‘Sets are crucial in determining a film genre and are one of the central aspects of mise en scene whether using real locations or creating artificial or virtual spaces for the screen.’ (Barnwell, 2017. p. 9). As stated by Bertolini, ‘The architectural window is an appropriate simile to film because they both frame a particular event and objectify the content which they frame.’ (Bertolini, 2008. p. 1). The ‘perception of reality’ depends on how open the audience is to ‘become within the network of hyperreality’ (Baudrillard, 1981. p.

41).

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Figure 6 Warehouse created by the protagonist. He eventually begins to live more in a constructed reality for himself. (Mondello, 2008).

The set designer needs to make sure the set is ‘as realistic as possible’. They may ‘compose elements to a historically accurate theme’ which impels the audience to feel déjà vu. This ‘evokes a sense of the past through “the feel and shape of characteristic art objects of an older period”’ (Constable, 2004).

Other ways to evoke familiarity is to induce a specific feeling within the illusion manufactured that might resonate with fractions of the audiences; this acts as a catalyst to feel connected to the set of the film. (RTF Fresh Perspectives, 2020). For example, Synecdoche, New York won the LA Film Critics award (2008) for the best production design due to its successful simulated New York. The off-screen space is semiotically concurrent due to its existence ‘between the filmographic level and the screenic level of filmic reality’. (Buckland, 2000. p. 48).

The unattainable realism aspect of the simulation is established after post-production: ‘Paradoxically, (…) the ‘realism’ of the film is only achieved after a threshold of ‘irreality’ has been crossed.’ (Mambrol, 2018).

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Introducing Dystopia

1.5.

Types of Dystopia Dystopia is totalitarian destruction of society ‘where enhanced sociability has been maintained’. (Claeys, 2013. p. 1). The four known types are bureaucratic control, corporate control, philosophical or religious control and technological control, all with futuristic qualities.

The key elements that are create the dystopia itself are: government control, environmental destruction, loss of individualism, an antagonist society, survival, and technological control.

The first case study, Blade Runner 2049, is set in a post-apocalyptic future that has endured environmental collapse due to conflict over the technological evolution of bioengineering humans named ‘replicants’.

Figure 7

The City Circle (The Hunger Games, 2012. 0:31:24)

The Hunger Games is also a post-apocalyptic dystopia; however, it is centred around bureaucratic control. The opulent ‘Capitol’ is the reigning power on the twelve impecunious districts; in the centre is the ‘city circle’ home to the governmental powers [7].

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1.6.

Figure 8

Architectonics of Dystopian Film

Metropolis, 1927 – (cinematicfilmblog.com , n.d.)

The nightmare-mirroring qualities of the film can be attributed to the architectural styles and tropes that are taken up in the movies. Late Modernism (Structural Expressionism) is commonly found in dystopian films. A reason for this as the British architectural historian James Steven Curl states, is the ‘aberration’ of the buildings as ‘something alien to the history of humanity’.

The ‘destructive’ aesthetic of the emerging style in the post-war 1920s look ‘ugly and unpleasant’ with an ‘inhumane and abnormal’ aura to it.

Although in reality this style was controversial and seemed alienating, the unsettling characteristics work in service to create a dystopian backdrop in films. The idea of the modernist ‘rejection of the past’ stems to the antagonist society. The Art Deco style that this encompasses, as seen in Metropolis by Fritz Lang is recurrent [8].

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Photo by I, Aude (Wagner, 2016)

Figure 10

Figure 9

Brutalism is also prominent as the popular style for government buildings in the 70s to achieve a strong presence to the bureaucracy, evident in the FBI Building by J. E. Hoover located in Washington DC [9]. In the two-dimensional realm, Brutalism can be found in Dredd (2012) showcasing ‘towering housing projects whose exteriors and interiors echo a negative perception of Brutal[ism]’ (Edelson, 2013). This style is ‘associated with béton brut (raw concrete, (…) showing impressions of the timber boards’ (Curl, 2018. p. 294).

City of Dredd (Olcayto, 2012)

Tangentially, if hyperreality is to ‘mask the absence of a profound reality’, then who is to say that we are not in a simulated dystopia in the reality as we perceive it? (Baudrillard, 1994. p.

6). Atwood, known as the ‘prophet of dystopia’, has stated that dystopia is on the ‘cusp of where we are living now’.

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1.7.

Reel or Real?

Unattainable Realities and Escapist Architecture Dystopia has an abundance of escapism intertwined throughout the set design and post-production. It has a ‘sense of prospective unfolding of narrative becoming retrospective’ as entire visions are formed hypothetically (D’Arcy, 2020. p. 40). There are dystopian films precisely based around simulation: The Matrix (1999), The Truman Show (1998), Source Code (2011), Inception (2010) and the recent Ready Player One (2018); however, what makes the films that are not definitively about simulacrum feel familiar and emote sensibilities comparable to the phenomenon of the uncanny valley?

As ‘dystopian stories are cautionary tales that force[s] us to examine and ponder our own actions and place in the wider world’, (Zielinski, 2020), we subliminally find similarities due to the physical suturing of the representations.

This is through the ‘social control and mass manipulation’ of the consumers (Baudrillard, 2020. p. 6). Similarly, Siegfried Kracauer’s work ‘tinged with an apocalyptic urgency, a perception of modernity as an accelerating process of the world going to pieces (Weltzerfall).’ (Kracauer and Hansen, 1997. P. 10). Baudrillard refers to Disneyland as a case study to study hyperreality, it ‘is thus acknowledged as a larger-thanlife fantasized microcosm’ with a ‘totalizing ambience’ (Proto, 2020. p. 70). ‘Baudrillard offers an apocalyptic characterization of the postmodern in that the construction of the real as film is said to mark the destruction of reality.’

(Constable, 2004. p. 44).

Familiarity and déjà vu can be evaluated on a psychanalytical basis as it is based on audience perception. Psychologists ‘say it is usually life’s more mundane details (…) that prompt that sudden (…) breathtaking sense of familiarity.’

(Carey, 2004). The psychologist at S. M. U., Dr Alan Brown, argues that déjà vu appears more commonly when people are stressed and was witnessing conflict. This leads us to believe that it is heightened during spectatorship of anxietyinducing dystopian film. Psychologists believe that the people register images before they are aware of the contents of their viewership as the visual signals travel from the retina through to the brain as at least 66% of humans experience it.

Gestalt’s Familiarity Law states that that people have a disposition to perceive patterns based on things that are more likely to form groups based on stimuli. Furthermore, ‘physical locations that might trigger a sense of familiarity, especially if those locations may have appeared in a previously viewed movie scene.’ (Barnes, 2016).

Architectural Film Semiotics

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Figure 11

For example, movie Ready Player One (2018) displayed the concept of escapist architecture through the narrative of virtual reality via SFX, VFX, CGI and set design taking inspiration from biopunk and biological algorithms. The concept heavily relies on duality yet exhibits familiarity to its audience via the set starting in a downtown area [11]. The VR realm, Oasis, has 1980s pop culture references, hence why to the audience that have consumed large amounts of games and TV shows, for example, Back to the Future, they will feel neighbourliness with the otherwise alien neo-futuristic and brutalist set design.

The Physical Dystopia with a Virtual Escape – The Real World (Warner Bros, 2016)

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Architectural Film Semiotics

Chapter 2: Case Study (1) -Blade Runner 2049 Figure 12

2.1. Analysis of Architecture: Blade Runner 2049 Denis Villeneuve and Roger Deakins’ ontological Blade Runner 2049, sequel to Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner 1982, collaborating alongside the set decorator, Alessandra Querzola is the first film of interest (the third Deakins-Villenueve collaboration).

(Warner Bros., 2017)

2.1.1.

Colour, Lighting and Atmosphere

‘[F]or a number of theorists – perhaps most prominently (…) Jean Baudrillard (…) – the technological organisation of vision and the visible define the fundamental character of our contemporary condition.’ (MacPhee, 2002. p. 4).

The cinematographic breakdown of this colour palette will be a filmic case study for years to come as the application of colour theory is very successfully undertaken. As stated in Designing for Screen: Production and Art Direction by Georgina Shorter colour and texture is a ‘vital part of communicating the visual language of a story to an audience’ as it ‘allows us to process, understand and relate to everything that we come into contact with and can indirectly affect our mood’. Villeneuve, Deakins and Querzola (the collaborators) have ‘carefully consider[ed] the colours to support and enhance th[e] narrative’ (Shorter, 2012. p. 13). In addition, light ‘helps bring out depth and intensity’ necessary to bring character to a set (Shorter, 2012. p. 44).

Case Study (1) - Blade Runner 2049

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Figure 13

Blade Runner 2049 (Warner Bros., 2017)

Yellow was a significant colour used through the film with the code (aimed by the signifier) to subconsciously represent the enlightenment and significant plot twists that the protagonist undergoes. As Shorter stated, warmer colours represent passion and energy.

In an interview with Indiewire, cinematographer Deakins stated:

Figure 14

Blade Runner 2049 (Warner Bros., 2017)

Figure 15

Blade Runner 2049 (Warner Bros., 2017)

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Case Study (1) - Blade Runner 2049

‘We looked at a lot of references of the way architects use light in modern buildings, especially the way light falls on some of these big concrete structures.’ He recalled ‘one particular cathedral that’s a big concrete block with two skylights that lets light in a most interesting way.

We thought about an artificial world in which lighting moves like sunlight (…) with (…) little patterns.’

These ‘caustic patterns’ are intended to ‘evoke different emotions.’ (Desowitz, 2017).

256 ARRI 300-watt Freshnels connected to two rings simulate the sun shadows.

Figure 16

Blade Runner 2049 (Warner Bros., 2017)

Figure 18

Figure 17

Blade Runner 2049 (Warner Bros., 2017)

Furthermore, the use of orange is prevalent in the scenes where there is an unsettling, almost opaque fog: ’50 per cent of red mixed with 50 per cent of yellow’ (Shorter, 2012. p. 17). This initiates a feeling of mystery and make the audience admonitory. Deakins’ inspiration is once again yielded from reality as the reference was ‘from a dust storm in Sydney’ and those images were used as ‘a template for Las Vegas’[18]. The set design was too vast, resulting in the scenes fractionated through multiple sets.

Orange can depict ‘anger, hatred, aggression and violence’, which is what the protagonist is often headed straight towards when encountering the orange atmosphere (Shorter, 2012. p. 30).

In a 2018 study published in Frontiers in Psychology, it was stated that people found it difficult to engage in difficult tasks when surrounded by orange. It is known as a vibrant and attention-seeking colour yet has the opposite affect on the audience, hence the use of orange in more tension building scenes.

The storm in Sydney that inspired the simulated Las Vegas (OfficerJoeK-9, 2009)

Case Study (1) - Blade Runner 2049

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Figure 19

Pink and purple are commonly used colours to impose extravagance and desire. They typically tend to have connotations of technology and sci-fi futurism. Additionally, it was historically associated with power and royalty. Many realworld building use this colour palette. Garware Club House in Mumbai, India (Prabhu and Associates, 2015) uses these notions of the royal purple to its advantage. The Art Deco style, as stated in subsection 1.6, is a common architectural trope in dystopian imagery.

Figure 20

Blade Runner 2049 (Warner Bros., 2017)

Boutique Almira Sadar in Ljubjana, Slovenia (SADAR+VUGA, 2003) uses softer hues and ‘regal materials, such as velvets, (…) satins, silks and patterned wallpapers’. This creates ‘a scene full of decadence and opulence.’ (Shorter, 2012. p. 44). The installation is clearly selling luxury good by successfully using the psychology of colour. [22]

Figure 21

Blade Runner 2049 (Warner Bros., 2017)

Garware Club House (Shashi Prabhu Associates, 2013)

These pose as examples of real-world architecture that mounts off the thematic impact of purple. Similarly, Blade Runner 2049 uses this to its advantage too. These colours create an atmosphere with radiating light representing a romanticised manufactured world. The purples heavily contrast with the orange hue making the themes clearly formulating opposing emotions for the audience to perceive.

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Figure 22

Boutique Almira Sadar (SAGAR+ VUGA, 2011)

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Case Study (1) - Blade Runner 2049

2.1.2.

Spatial Design

Figure 23

‘It was reality the urban structure, precisely in its registration of the conflict created by that victory of technological process, that had radically changed. The city had become an open structure, within which it was utopian to seek points of equilibrium. Piranesi’s prophecy of the bourgeois city as an “absurd machine” was a certain way, actually realised in the metropolises organised in the nineteenth century as primary structures of the capitalist economy.’ – Manfredo Tafuri

Figure 24

The Protagonist searching in the ruins of Las Vegas (Warner Bros., 2017)

Figure 25

Las Vegas Strip facing north about the Tropicana (Left Eye Images, 2019)

The relation to the real world comes through the psychology of colour perception, but an important factor is the spatial design (set) as it non-figuratively constructs the two-dimensional world in which we immerse ourselves. In this case study, the environment is loosely related to reality due to the surrealist style. The shooting in Budapest, adds a geographical anchor to actuality, as well as the cityscapes artificially generated from Mexico City, Las Vegas, Mojave Desert, Iceland, and Spain. The atmosphere with heavy fog and translucency was modelled off of Beijing’s smog.

The urban planning in this film rewarded the BAFTA award for Visual Effects. Didier Muanza, lead environment TD Framestore stated, ‘We were tasked in creating a futuristic Las Vegas for the year 2049. We had to fly over the main strip of Vegas on a long sequence shot.’ CityEngine was the 3D modelling software that was utilized

by Framestore the visual arts studio. Esri gave the film geospatial application. ‘CityEngine seemed to be the best choice to help us generate a modern-day model of Vegas, which was used as the base for the futuristic version.’

Panorama of Neon Heaven on the Las Vegas Strip (Ligutti, 2019) Case Study (1) - Blade Runner 2049

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Figure 26 The Wallace Corporation Building Blade Runner 2049 (Warner Bros., 2017)

There are multiple real-world influences that bare as the roots to the familiarity we experience. Another being the ‘300-storey Wallace Corporation’s interiors [26] and cats architectural spaces’ are inspired by ‘palatial, cathedral-like rooms [that] were influenced by an ancient temple in Kyoto, Japan.’ (Benson, 2018).

This is by the ‘wooden floors and walls’ ‘large pond of water’ centrally ` These signify wealth and luxury which are a

2.2.

Emulating Real Buildings: What Causes Familiarity Between the Architecture of Our Reality and Blade Runner 2049?

The scenes more intimate connection with real buildings are when the dystopian world is based around an existing architectural movement. The ‘present study is concerned with the ways in which the technological reformulation of visual culture has shaped contemporary understandings of cultural production and meaning, visual and literary representation, social agency, and political judgement.’ (MacPhee, 2011. p. 5).

Blade Runner 2049 incorporates a lot of Brutalist architecture as explained by Deakins, ‘A lot of the Brutalist architecture in London became the key, really.’ The aim of aesthetic was ‘severe concrete architecture that started in the 1950s.’

The architectural style is rooted into the key themes of the film.

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The bureaucratic element and social roots that brutalism is embedded in is a part of the world building of this case study. This includes the embrace and exacerbation of the current economic status of our capitalist model. Architecture not only bases its familiarity through historical movements but through political and economic models alike.

The subliminal messaging throughout the film extends to moments where the protagonist (K) drives through Los Angles with vibrant imagery, flashing slogans and averts in the periphery.

‘Contemporary signs thus tell us stories about the functioning of the world and, in the form of mythologies, convince us subliminally of both their validity and the status quo out of which they typically emerge.’ (Proto, 2020. p. 25).

2.2.1.

How does the art director create a familiar simulated reality behind the scenes during set design (preproduction)?

Architecture is integrally immersive and experimental – yet the conventions in which it is represented have not changed in centuries.

Model-making is a step forward in representing and communicating spatial ideas that film and animation can generate, develop and communicate these ideas in a way that is as immersive and experimental as the architecture itself, particularly to audiences without backgrounds in architecture.

Through the means of an interview taken of the Weta Workshop for the set design of Blade Runner 2049, there was extensive detail collected regarding how the set was created to look real yet follow the rules of the futuristic simulation.

The L.A.P.D. building is the tallest in the set (48 scale high detail) taking a week to construct. Alex Funke, the miniatures unit director mentions ‘ruin tech’ which is trash mesa. This is used to create the realistic ‘rusty metal’ and dilapidated environmental ruin.

The main reason why miniatures were used was due to the fact that ‘real surfaces illuminated with real light with all the issues of tiny spectacular reflections’. The objects look more realistic; they exist in this reality as models which make the colours, textures and materiality more tangible within post-production as well.

Case Study (1) - Blade Runner 2049

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Figure 27 3D Modelling of Scene (Weta Workshop, 2017)

The atmosphere is created by filming the separate elements such as the skylight and internal lights ‘then when its time to build the shot, you have complete control’. For example, the lights can be brightened, and colour hues can be altered in postproduction of the 3D model without changing other elements. Then when the finished shot is complete, ‘its existing, it has a soul to itself’ and the art directors have ‘created a world (…) on a miniature stage’. (Weta Workshop, 2017). This ties into the theme of simulation once again.

The physical models are not only enhanced in software thereafter, but they are also painted to add detail before it is shot. The derelict buildings are given this authentic and convincing texture by the meticulous painting process.

‘Each building has some optical fibres installed in’.

Figure 28, 29,30

Miniature Model Making Process (Weta Workshop, 2017)

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Case Study (1) - Blade Runner 2049

Chapter 3: Case Study (2) -The Hunger Games

Figure 31

(The Hunger Games, 2012. 00:01:33)

‘The perception of this affinity depends on an increasing awareness of the role played by vision as an organising principle within modern thought, which institutes a separation between the determinate and visible world of experience, and an invisible or supersensible world which nonetheless frames an organises it.’

(MacPhee, 2011. p. 5).

Directors Francis Lawrence and Gary Ross, alongside production designer Philip Messina, turned dystopian book trilogy to filmic form. Previously, the chapter analysed the first case study: Blade Runner 2049 and broke down the various aspects of the architecture and the impact this can have on audiences. This chapter aims to apply the same methods of analysis to the second case study that this dissertation is focusing on: The Hunger Games and the two-dimensional realm of the totalitarian ‘Panem’ controlled by ‘Peacekeepers’. The objective is to link the design elements further into context by linking them with semiology and simulation, alongside the similarities and differences of the

3.1.1.

Colour, Lighting and Atmosphere

Figure 32

Bleached Blue Theme (The Hunger Games, 2012. 01:05:07)

The ‘ambience has been extended beyond its original use to become the overarching architectural concept’; this ranges from ‘large’ metropolitan areas and spaces to larger than life communications such as cinema and the media’.

(Proto, 2020. p. 5). The colour symbolism throughout this case study follows a muted palette yet the inverse of subtlety. The darker tones such as the black, grey and washed-out blues [32] signify the impoverished districts permeated with oppression. In juxtaposition to this, the neon, vibrant and striking colours represent higher influence. This includes The Capitol which is more technologically advanced and politically in power. Colour symbolism is a means to which we can apply the semiotic film theory to; the signifier (director) intends to subliminally symbolise the code, which in this case is the psychological impact the chosen colours have on the narrative and overall tone, to the signified (viewership of the film: aimed at the teenage demographic).

Case Study (2) - The Hunger Games

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(The Hunger Games 2012. 00:06:04)

Figure 33

The costume design plays a big part in the world-building aspect of the set and contrasts the brutalist buildings. It concurs with the aforementioned colour themes. In the books, Collins describes the District 12 homes as grey ‘[s]hutters on the squat gray houses’ (Collins, 2012. p.10). The houses are in accordance with the book’s description when translated to film.

Figure 34

The dreary element to the scenes set in District 12 is created by the harmony of the full costumes (grey and muted blue), as well as the predominantly grey homes. The disparity becomes clear once it is juxtaposed to the character ‘Effie’ dressed in bright purple accompanying the eccentric wigs and makeup, embodying the extravagance of the ignorantly wealthy.

Figure 35

Juxtaposing use of colour for characters with opposing economic status (The Hunger Games, 2012)

Juxtaposition of dilapidated building and high value production equipment (The Hunger Games, 2012. 00:06:11)

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Case Study (2) - The Hunger Games

Figure 36

District 12 – Darker Toned Set and Clothing (The Hunger Games, 2012)

3.1.2.

Figure 37

Spatial Design

Figure 38

Topography (The Hunger Games, 2012. 01:17:30)

The theme of the ‘simulation inside a simulation’ prevails throughout the course of the film where the scenes alternate between the control room and of the contestant enduring the tribulations enforced upon them.

Figure 39

Image projected within window (The Hunger Games, 2012. 00:36:22)

The object of simulation in the film is the arena in which the games take place. The conditions are changed annually to be whatever the gamemakers desire. It is surrounded by a force field, containing all elements in the area. The entire place is regulated, controlling all aspects inside, including the weather, lighting conditions, traps and weapons, even the topography [37], purely for the entertainment of the spectators onlooking the contestants.

Figure 40

Hidden Camera (The Hunger Games, 2012. 01:13:09)

Figure 41

View From Hidden Camera (The Hunger Games, 2012. 01:13:15)

Purposely Driven Fire (The Hunger Games, 2012. 01:16:51) Case Study (2) - The Hunger Games

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Figure 42

The bigger picture extends to ‘Panem’ itself.

‘Spatially it seems as if the further away a district is from the Capitol, the poorer it is.’ (Lam, 2020). This is deduced by the rule contrasted for ‘Panem’: 1 Tessera = 1 years supply of grain and oil per person

Distribution of wealth in Panem (Lam, 2020)

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Case Study (2) - The Hunger Games

The world building aspect of this fabricated reality is a key theme to forming the dystopia. ‘In “The Hunger Games”, Suzanne Collins created a world that has similar parallels to today’s society [42] in that there’s an uneven distribution of wealth because of the people with power and their companies exploiting their workers and the district’s resources for their own wealth.’ (Lam, 2020). This speaks to the economic model of this reality aligning to that of our assimilated reality, hence posing as political commentary and sign to the audience.

3.2.

Emulating Real Buildings: What Causes Familiarity Between the Architecture of Our Reality and The Hunger Games?

The comparative theme of simulated games also trickles into the hunger ‘games’ through the Olympic games, both sacrificial and gory nonetheless, propaganda suggesting otherwise to the wealthier members of the public.

Figure 43

President Snow, one of the paramount characters to the narrative, is the tyrannical president of ‘Panem’. The buildings pose as an analogy for the character via the means of the architecture.

He resides in a neoclassical mansion which is a recapitulation of the Soviet styles.

Interior Views – The Capitol (The Hunger Games, 2012. 00:31:13)

Figure 44

The Hunger Games dystopian universe is located in the midst of the Rocky Mountains. The Capitol is influenced by classical Romanesque architecture; the inspiration is extracted from the reproduction of power. Ancient Rome is infamously known for the grandeur of its empire and all that accompanies it. ‘Panem’ means ‘bread and circuses’ (Origin: Latin). The familiarity stems from the adapted architectural style, building historical relations between the set, CGI, and subliminal political statements.

The society of the zeitgeist is represented through the triumphal and monumental architecture. The Capitol [44] is, in many ways, similar to the Roman city which had a public square surrounded by the buildings with the users being the most influential and possessing the most political power as Rome ‘must appear marvellous to all the people of the world: vast, ordered, as powerful as it was in the time of the first emperor’ (Mussolini, 1925).

Architecture of the Capitol (The Hunger Games, 2012. 01:03:10)

The weightage of Brutalist Architecture is heavy from the onset. This style was adopted by Stalin and Hitler, hence the unsettling claustrophobia and negative connotations that buildings of this semblance radiate. This is presented through the uniformness, symmetry and linear repetitive lines of the buildings intended to sign dominance Case Study (2) - The Hunger Games

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Figure 46

Figure 45

There are multiple homages to contemporary architecture. The Cornucopia [Figures 45 and 46] is an example of this – it was where the contestants could collect food and weaponry at the very beginning of the game. The geometric edges and angular forms are evidentiary. This can be compared to Frank Gehry’s walkway of Loyola Law School [47] or Zaha Hadid’s London Aquatics Centre [49] or Riverside Museum [48].

This adds a modern touch to the architecture and overall, dates it closer to present day, making it more relatable and comprehensible.

Figure 47

The Cornucopia (The Hunger Games, 2012. 01:07:14, 01:08:36)

Figure 48

Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, California (Fox, 2018)

Figure 49

Riverside Museum, Glasgow, Scotland 2003 (Google Arts & Culture, 2021)

London Aquatics Centre, London, United Kingdom 2012 (Google Arts & Culture, 2021)

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Case Study (2) - The Hunger Games

3.2.1.

How does the art director create a familiar simulated reality behind the scenes during set design (preproduction)?

Figure 50

Figure 51

The film is shot utilising the old-fashioned method according to the ‘richness and the grain’ that the film provides’. It was also shot in reliable locations, in terms of climate on set, to feel, as Ross states, ‘gritty and real’. (Murphy, 2012).

‘The set design and costume selection make[s] grim places like District 12 look drab, plain and believable.’ (Shmoop Study Guide, 2022). The simulatory aspect of the film stems from the scenes located in the control room. The audience get an insight into the point-of-view of the gamemakers that manufacture all aspects inside the woods.

Hall of Justice (The Hunger Games, 2012)

The Petit Trianon, Neoclassical style Chateau, Grounds of Palace Versailles, France 1762-1768 (Garnier, n.d.)

Furthermore, the familiarity can be traced back to the parallels between the real economy and the fabricated economy described in the trilogy. Areas where there are large economic gaps between the affluent and impoverished correspond to those of ‘Panem’.

Case Study (2) - The Hunger Games

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Figure 52

Interior Views of the set intended to portray unfortunate living conditions (The Hunger Games, 2012. 00:07:56)

On the contrary, more conspicuously incorporated style-mirroring is peppered throughout the film sets. Art Deco is a prevalent theme, allowing the furniture of the Capitol to maintain the exuberant imagery.

Evidently, on the train, the audience can observe:

Figure 53

the abundance of velvet

‘mahogany’ as Effie exclaims in the film Art Deco (The Hunger Games, 2012.

00:35:04)

geometric patterns incorporated into all elements (especially central furniture pieces – in this case the green chairs)

Juxtaposition [52, 54]

Figure 54

Interior Views of the train – audience can depict a clear contrast (The Hunger Games, 2012. 00:21:16)

Art Deco (The Hunger Games, 2012. 00:35:05)

eye-catching chandeliers on multiple beguiling sets intended to charm the contestants and in turn the spectators

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Case Study (2) - The Hunger Games

Figure 55

accents of chrome materiality

Conclusion The key findings of this dissertation were vast and provided more depth to the relationship between architecture, the set designer and film, than anticipated. The hypothesis that reality is a simulation that we perceive to be our truth was confirmed through the research based on semiology. However, after concluding this thesis, it can be stated that architecture is certainly an extension of the design process of cinema and is much more comprehensible at a second glance. The subliminal messages interspersed through the code of filmic architecture has much more impact once broken down through a psychoanalytical gaze.

It can be deduced that the set designer and art director work hand in hand to construct a reality that we spectate via the means of a two-dimensional screen – the layers of creativity merged into one.

There has been a perceptual partition between the ‘true reality’ in media ad artifice in the virtually simulated realm. The first case study, Blade Runner 2049 is colour symbolic masterpiece. The study of this particular film gave an insight into the meticulous detail that the spatial design is arranged.

The specific elements that tie it to the ‘real world’ are not immediately clear, yet through the tweaking of the Los Angeles we know, and coating it with orange hues, futuristic and unnerving dystopia is connotated.

The analysis of The Hunger Games was successful in presenting information regarding how historical architectural movements are brought back to feign a sense of nostalgia and familiarity. The architecture in the dystopian films are used as political statements and draw parallels to our present world. This plays in favour of the narrative. For example, the second case study uses the well-known power dynamic of Romanesque architecture to present the dominance of the characters and societal structure.

What Causes Familiarity Between the Architecture of Our Reality and the Dystopian Films?

After recapitulating and answering the research question, it can be concluded that: colour symbolism has subliminal psychological effects that help us decode the diegesis that is presented to us, history influences the design decisions heavily as they are synonymous with change through zeitgeists, hence projecting the architectural style into a simulated futuristic and dystopian society. All these aspects work together as individual creative decisions taken by the director, art department and set designer to create a familiar, yet purposeful world respectively. The theoretical approach at the beginning of the thesis proved to be useful to gain a background understanding of semiotics and the applications to simulation. In subsequent studies, interviews and primary data can be collected regarding the relationships between the set designers and directors as this will strengthen the understanding of The teenage demographic was particularly interesting to explore since this is recent territory and the artistic intentions have not been investigated as thoroughly as the dystopian films from the 1900s such as Metropolis (1927) or Blade Runner (1982). In future research, comparisons between these classic dystopian precedents and the recently released films will be interesting to analyse – have the recent films taken inspiration from the previously adapted architecture? Are there patterns forming between the old and new?

Conclusion

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