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    The Architecture of Cinematic Spaces: by Interiors
    The Architecture of Cinematic Spaces: by Interiors
    The Architecture of Cinematic Spaces: by Interiors
    Ebook98 pages52 minutes

    The Architecture of Cinematic Spaces: by Interiors

    By Mehruss Jon Ahi and Armen Karaoghlanian

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    About this ebook

    The Architecture of Cinematic Spaces by Interiors is a graphic exploration of architectural spaces in cinema that provides a new perspective on the relationship between architecture and film. Combining critical essays with original architectural floor plan drawings, the book discusses production design in key films from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, including The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Rope, Le mépris, Playtime, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Home Alone, Panic Room, A Single Man, Her and Columbus. Each chapter is accompanied by an original floor plan of a key scene, bridging the gap between film criticism and architectural practice. The book, written by the editors of the critically acclaimed online journal Interiors, will appeal to both film and architecture communities, and everyone in between. A must-read for fans and scholars alike, this volume prompts us to reconsider the spaces our favourite characters occupy and to listen to the stories those spaces can tell. 

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherIntellect Books
    Release dateFeb 25, 2020
    ISBN9781789382068
    The Architecture of Cinematic Spaces: by Interiors
    Author

    Mehruss Jon Ahi

    Mehruss Jon Ahi is the architectural designer and vice president of MBI Homes & Design Groups. He is planning commissioner for the City of Los Altos, as well as the co-founder and creative director of the online publication, Interiors. 

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      Book preview

      The Architecture of Cinematic Spaces - Mehruss Jon Ahi

      First published in the UK in 2020 by

      Intellect, The Mill, Parnall Road, Fishponds,

      Bristol, BS16 3JG, UK

      First published in the USA in 2020 by

      Intellect, The University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th Street,

      Chicago, IL 60637, USA

      Copyright © 2020 Intellect Ltd

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission.

      A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

      Copy editor: Amy Rollason

      Cover and book designer: Mehruss Jon Ahi

      Production manager: Amy Rollason

      Typesetting: Contentra Technologies

      Print ISBN: 978-1-78938-205-1

      ePDF ISBN: 978-1-78938-207-5

      ePUB ISBN: 978-1-78938-206-8

      Printed and bound by Gomer Press Ltd.

      To find out about all our publications, please visit

      www.intellectbooks.com.

      There, you can subscribe to our e-newsletter, browse or download our current catalogue, and buy any titles that are in print.

      CONTENTS

      CHAPTER 1

      THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI (1920)

      CHAPTER 2

      ROPE (1948)

      CHAPTER 3

      LE MÉPRIS (1963)

      CHAPTER 4

      PLAYTIME (1967)

      CHAPTER 5

      2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968)

      CHAPTER 6

      HOME ALONE (1990)

      CHAPTER 7

      PANIC ROOM (2002)

      CHAPTER 8

      A SINGLE MAN (2009)

      CHAPTER 9

      HER (2013)

      CHAPTER 10

      COLUMBUS (2017)

      CHAPTER 1

      THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI (1920)

      DIRECTOR: ROBERT WIENE

      Expressionism was born in Germany at the beginning of the twentieth century, originating in painting and theatre, and later making its way into cinema during the 1920s and 1930s as a reaction against realism. German Expressionism’s aggressive visual style was seen as an escape or break from reality.

      The early German Expressionist films explored themes of paranoia, fear and schizophrenia through mise en scène, cinematography and lighting. F. W. Murnau’s Nosferatu (1922), The Last Laugh (1924) and Fritz Lang’s M (1931) are films whose worlds are consumed with fear and corruption. These films are also characterized by their expressive approach in externalizing human emotion and desire. They convey inner, subjective emotions and experiences through external, objective means. These emotions are visually translated onto the screen using deliberately exaggerated sets and dramatic lighting, highlighting the fear and horror of their narratives. These films consist of angular studio sets, rather than real-world locations, with distorted buildings painted on canvas backdrops reflecting the distress of their characters.

      Robert Wiene’s silent horror film, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), begins with Francis (Friedrich Fehér) recounting a horrific event. Francis shares the story of Dr. Caligari (Werner Krauss) and a somnambulist, Cesare (Conrad Veidt), whom the doctor keeps in a coffin-like cabinet and controls with hypnosis. Francis recalls the death of his close friend, Alan (Hans Heinrich von Twardowski) and believes Cesare murdered him whilst under Dr. Caligari’s control.

      The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari expresses interior reality through exterior means with the use of extreme distortion in its production design. The film features the work of production designers Walter Reimann, Walter Röhrig and Hermann Warm – members of the group of artists associated with Der Sturm, a German art and literary magazine covering a variety of artistic movements, including Expressionism. The film’s artificial sets create an architectural paradox. The dark and twisted world of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari portrays a sense of chaos and confusion, and presents us with a grotesque perspective that consists of distorted shapes and harsh angles: buildings are slanted, doors and windows are bizarrely shaped, and floors and walls consist of eccentric patterns and designs. The excessive stylization also extends to the intertitles in the film. The texture, lettering and underscoring of certain words and phrases speak to the schizophrenic nature of the film.

      In this and other German Expressionist films of the era, reality has lost its basis and has been invaded and plagued by the irrational and cynical thoughts of its characters. These emotions are also conveyed through heavy, high-contrast makeup. The Cabinet

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