Lecture Reflections and Personal Study Work

This week we had a lecture on the use of heritage sites to inform and enhance performance art. This was the final lecture of the year. 

I think that this was valuable viewing for my studies as we were able to discuss our own interpretations of heritage, for example discussing the difference between tangible and intangible heritage and intangible heritage. As we are now doing Location in DFTV, it was interesting to think about how history can inform design.

I also thought it was really interesting to see the Theatre students’ third year work and how they have interpreted a location as not only a venue for a performance but also to aid and thematically link different pieces of art. It was the first time I had heard of anything called an ‘empty museum’ before, and I think it linked really well to when we talked about imaginary spaces at the beginning of the year. The additions to the visual language that I have gained include the idea of ‘genius loci’, which takes inspiration from Roman myth and refers to a ‘spirit of the place’. I think that might be a really interesting thing to go on to research throughout second year.

This week we had a lecture on the idea of ‘Rebellion’ within Film and TV. I think that it was very interesting that the discussion was framed around all of the reactors that are involved when considering the effect of a piece of media – the audience, those in front of the camera and those behind the camera. 

When you consider that part of the audience eventually becomes part of those two other groups and that roles can be shared and warped – for example Orson Welles, who has both acted and directed, or any crew members that have been a part of a ‘behind-the-scenes’ feature – it comes especially apparent that rebellion is key to the creation of unique projects and pieces of art.

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Having finished the lecture, I’d like to go on and research how rebellion has led to certain experiments which were once completely out-of-the-box becoming tropes or ‘the new normal’. I think that this process can actually be extremely quick and can lead to works that were visionary becoming stale or near-unwatchable with the idea of recency bias.

Researching a favourite building and collecting information, researching its designer, its style and the influence it has taken and has had on other designs and buildings.

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I thought that this was a really valuable discussion, especially paired with the lecture on rebellion that we had earlier on in the year. I really appreciated the overall view that was given on the idea of modernity and how that relates to modernism as well as how stereotypes can be shown and explored and inverted in order to rebel.

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I have learned more about the Bauhaus movement and how that has translated into not only what we see in artwork but also into the idea of modernism in architecture. I really think that the aesthetic of different styles of architecture can tell so much about a character or setting – the idea of one's own environment – and it’s interesting to see how the contemporary idea of Bauhaus art ‘breaking tradition’ has led to mass production and commoditization. The idea of ‘corporate identity’ so often being realised as modern and also as being ‘soulless’ is also really interesting when talking about the original ideas of the movement.

My ‘Period Elements’ project has already yielded research on Marlene Dietrich, but it was also nice to reiterate her importance when it comes to fashion and ‘modern ideas’ she popularised within that.

This week, we had a lecture in Contextual Studies on sustainability within film and theatre.

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I thought this was especially valuable seeing as though we are beginning to learn about industry practises more and more and I’d personally like to keep sustainability in mind when designing or working in the industry in the future. I also thought that being able to use the Padlet and read everyone’s examples of sustainability was interesting. I think that might be a strength of having multiple pathways as you get a big spectrum of interests when it comes to this kind of thing.

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I myself added to the Padlet about the behind the scenes sustainability feature of the Amazing Spider-Man 2, where they made a massive effort to recycle and had a dedicated sustainability officer on set. This was the first time I heard about anything like this happening on a set and I really like the idea.

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I have been inspired to go on to research how sets are recycled between television and film. I have started to recognise some sets recently especially when streets and towns are shown in American shows, for example Gilmore Girls’ Stars Hollow set being used in WandaVision and Netflix’s YOU.

Researching an event/trend/movement of the 20th century and collecting images, key facts, the impact of it on wider society and how the moment is reflected in performance genres.