Today, the overlap of the tools and software products utilized by filmmakers and architects reinforces the historical bond between the two disciplines more than ever. In one of their design studios, Master of Architecture students at the Melbourne School of Design try to master the techniques and methods of filmmaking and employ them in their architectural films and animations.
Led by Hamid Khalili, the studio, called Studio 35mm, adopts different genres of film, animation, and VR to represent architectural qualities that are impossible to be articulated through traditional architectural visualization techniques. By research into film and architectural theory, weekly filming and editing exercises, and, most importantly, applying filming techniques within an architectural context, students in Studio 35mm endeavor to comprehend, dissect and communicate a spatial theme associated with an architectural element (termed “a species of space”).
As the final product of the studio, each student makes an architectural short film about a concept rooted in the present, past, or future of one of the species of spaces. These range across different genres and styles of film including architectural documentaries, speculative 3D realistic animations, hybrid films, live-action, cutouts, and architectural video-essays and essay-films.
