Thesis: Art Cinema 6/6

Design considerations & Approach

Seeing, watching a film is a unique experience. It is very different from seeing a play, a dance or a concert. In a play or a dance the audience around oneself never disappears, the surroundings are always present. This may be due to the higher level of light coming from the stage and the auditorium itself, or the fact that a play always has short intermissions between acts and scenes. A film is watched in total darkness, the film lasts for one constant stream of events without any intermissions between scenes and acts. One sees life on stage at a remove, while a film completely envelopes the viewer, the auditorium disappears during the film.Because of this complete absorption into the film one becomes infinitely more aware of ones real surrounding after the film is over. As the credits come on the screen one reemerges into reality with a different outlook and awareness. If the surrounding at that moment is meaningless, bland, without purpose or even depressing that transition becomes very abrupt and even cruel. Anyone who has ever walked out of a back exit into a dark and filthy alley coming out of the movie auditorium--as is often the case in movie theaters in Europe--knows how negative and dismal reality seems at that moment regardless of the type of film seen. Before the journey into the film the physical building, the ticket office, the lobby and the auditorium set the stage, set the mood for the experience. The surroundings have to prepare the viewer for that voyage into the own mind and the film-makers mind. The film-theater itself becomes the prologue and the epilogue to the shown film. It also has to create and enhance the social aspect of seeing a film in a theater to contrast it from seeing the same film on ones own television. The watching of the film has to become a social event. The building has to celebrate film. In the case of the art-cinema, which aspires to a more intellectual approach to the experience, the building has to set the stage for a creative mood, it has to prepare a frame of mind for analytique and critique. The social aspect is particularly important in this cinema type to encourage dialogue and discussion. A public cafe can provide a setting for such discussion before and after the film. Cafes have traditionally been places of intellectual dialogue, such as some of the Parisian Art-cafes in which artists engaged in constant exchange. The related bookstore further encourages self-advancement in the subject and thereby ultimately increases the quality of the dialogue and discussion.

The architecture of the art-cinema should also express and show the mechanical and ephemeral nature of the medium film, rather than merely provide a place of illusion more appropriate for a entertainment oriented cinema showing grand commercial movies. Film comes to life through the use of light, which paints the images imprinted on the celluloid or the magnetic bits of information on a video tape onto the screen; only at that instant the film is readable and comprehendible. A book, a text is just a series of codes until it is being read at which point it acquires meaning. In the projection booth light performs the decoding. The role of light in this process, the act of projection informs the design of the cinema. The projection booth together with the screen becomes the main element, the heart of the theater. In traditional theater the heart of the building is the stage, around which everything revolves. The architectural use of light can also reflect the change in the nature of the film event during the day versus during night. Coming out of a film during daylight is quite a different experience from leaving at night. During the day one might take a more rational, solitary approach to the film than at night, where the social aspect becomes more important. The use of daylight and artificial light can enhance and steer those different approaches.

The Art-Cinema needs to exhibit a strong urban presence to reflect its social and cultural significance. With regard to this particular project this is especially imperative, because of the Sundance Film festival. The festival currently has no "home" theater that reflects its importance and that provides a representative identity to the international film community. The festival has a large local and international audience that exposes Park City and Utah internationally. Especially in the light of the coming 2002 Winter Olympic Games the Art-Cinema needs to present a certain sophistication and quality to the international and local community.


	Design considerations & Approach Seeing, watching a film is a unique experience. It is very different from seeing a play, a dance or a concert. In a play or a dance the audience around oneself never disappears, the surroundings are always present. This may be due to the higher level of light coming from the stage and the auditorium itself, or the fact that a play always has short intermissions between acts and scenes. A film is watched in total darkness, the film lasts for one constant stream of events without any intermissions between scenes and acts. One sees life on stage at a remove, while a film completely envelopes the viewer, the auditorium disappears during the film.Because of this complete absorption into the film one becomes infinitely more aware of ones real surrounding after the film is over. As the credits come on the screen one reemerges into reality with a different outlook and awareness. If the surrounding at that moment is meaningless, bland, without purpose or even depressing that transition becomes very abrupt and even cruel. Anyone who has ever walked out of a back exit into a dark and filthy alley coming out of the movie auditorium--as is often the case in movie theaters in Europe--knows how negative and dismal reality seems at that moment regardless of the type of film seen. Before the journey into the film the physical building, the ticket office, the lobby and the auditorium set the stage, set the mood for the experience. The surroundings have to prepare the viewer for that voyage into the own mind and the film-makers mind. The film-theater itself becomes the prologue and the epilogue to the shown film. It also has to create and enhance the social aspect of seeing a film in a theater to contrast it from seeing the same film on ones own television. The watching of the film has to become a social event. The building has to celebrate film. In the case of the art-cinema, which aspires to a more intellectual approach to the experience, the building has to set the stage for a creative mood, it has to prepare a frame of mind for analytique and critique. The social aspect is particularly important in this cinema type to encourage dialogue and discussion. A public cafe can provide a setting for such discussion before and after the film. Cafes have traditionally been places of intellectual dialogue, such as some of the Parisian Art-cafes in which artists engaged in constant exchange. The related bookstore further encourages self-advancement in the subject and thereby ultimately increases the quality of the dialogue and discussion. The architecture of the art-cinema should also express and show the mechanical and ephemeral nature of the medium film, rather than merely provide a place of illusion more appropriate for a entertainment oriented cinema showing grand commercial movies. Film comes to life through the use of light, which paints the images imprinted on the celluloid or the magnetic bits of information on a video tape onto the screen; only at that instant the film is readable and comprehendible. A book, a text is just a series of codes until it is being read at which point it acquires meaning. In the projection booth light performs the decoding. The role of light in this process, the act of projection informs the design of the cinema. The projection booth together with the screen becomes the main element, the heart of the theater. In traditional theater the heart of the building is the stage, around which everything revolves. The architectural use of light can also reflect the change in the nature of the film event during the day versus during night. Coming out of a film during daylight is quite a different experience from leaving at night. During the day one might take a more rational, solitary approach to the film than at night, where the social aspect becomes more important. The use of daylight and artificial light can enhance and steer those different approaches. The Art-Cinema needs to exhibit a strong urban presence to reflect its social and cultural significance. With regard to this particular project this is especially imperative, because of the Sundance Film festival. The festival currently has no "home" theater that reflects its importance and that provides a representative identity to the international film community. The festival has a large local and international audience that exposes Park City and Utah internationally. Especially in the light of the coming 2002 Winter Olympic Games the Art-Cinema needs to present a certain sophistication and quality to the international and local community.

	Thesis: Art Cinema 6/6