Film Production Centre: exploring a layered narrative Bloemfontein, South Africa

Abstract

The focus of this dissertation stems from an interest in film creation - the process from production to post production. Architects gather data from site to design on plan, elevation and section to create spaces with perspective as a tool of interpretation and envisioning. Film design uses the same rules as a site influence narrative. Film uses these same rules of perspective to envision scenes and use a frame by frame sequence to portray the visual storytelling. South Africa has established itself over the years as a place rich with environments and spaces to portray these narratives through the visual art form of film. The proposed design is film production facilities in Bloemfontein The idea is, to produce films on an international standard. The site is situated behind Naval Hill between Long Street and Rudolph Greyling Street on the piece of land that were used for transportation services. Most of these spaces have been abandoned and the existing train station on the site is being used for the project. These spaces exist in a vast natural landscape empowered by the industrial architecture in the context, creating edges and boundaries between nature and an industrial environment. The idea for this project arose from the lack of professional facilities in South Africa for production of large-scale films. The only facilities that are currently available are found in Cape Town, and these only provide services that can accommodate a few productions at a time. The idea is for the proposed facilities to make provision for the production of international standard films; to accommodate the film crews involved and to invite members of the public to visit the film sets for educational tours. The intervention aims to embrace the landscapes of Bloemfontein and to question the existing typology of film production facilities. The research conducted in this document investigates the typology of Film production facilities and educational facilities as a regeneration of space within an existing structure in a rural environment. It seeks to investigate the possibility of coming up with a new film-production process. The idea is to create a link between the film production process and the architectural design process in order to create spaces that can relate to film and the environment, and at the same time meet the requirements for film production. The dissertation will firstly identify the challenges and perimeters associated with the project through statements of aims and a research question. Thereafter, it will seek to explore and ground the concepts relating to the challenges through research, analysis, and interpreting literature. These concepts and theories will be applied as design methodologies in order to create a design and technical synthesis. Finally, the dissertation will seek to reflect on and evaluate the complete investigative process in terms of the final design synthesis and the way in which the conceptual exploration and research aided its development.