Spatial Narratives by Eli Bø

My research is concerned with the Elements of Narrative Design, the ingredients of the production designer’s visual palette and signs and meanings of the spatial language used in moving image storytelling. I am interested in the history and role of production design in cinema and its continuing bond with contemporary arts and architecture but also the evolving relationship between traditional art department methods and new digital processes. How design and world building principles now transcend platforms and moving image formats has a direct impact on the tools we as film designers will need to develop. These may be digital or analogue technical tools or tools relating to new ways of communicating through moving images. How we have traditionally used space, place, architecture and objects as storytelling devices is currently being challenged due to the introduction of interactivity, video game mechanics, virtual reality and longer or shorter linear (and non-linear) storytelling formats. The frame as we know it is dissolving. I also explore the concept of simple and accessible digital workspaces where 3D models, technical drawings, text and visual references can be shared and discussed with collaborators, colleagues and students. Digital labs may cost-effectively accommodate design related processes for pre-visualisation and spatial investigations, which may in turn lead to sustainable approaches both to set building and to the construction of environments for film.

A D I G I T A L L A B ?

I am interested in exploring Research Catalogue as a digital platform for communicating and sharing ideas within our new course, MA Narrative Space - Production Design for film and media.

Will it have potential as a digital laboratory and experimental studio where scale models, technical drawings, text and visual references can come together in a process shared between fellow designers? Can it be a useful tool in supporting full-scale set construction in a film studio? Can it be a space for previsualisation?

- And might it also have potential as a collaborative space for the Film and Media department as a whole?

Watch this space...

S P A T I A L N A R R A T I V E S

S t u d i o e x p e r i e m e n t s

L o c a t i o n s

Digital previsualisation tools aiding the design process by producing real time digital models, moving images and virtual reality assets to give accurate impressions of the mis-en-scene and what the built space will be like.

Studio workshop

Reference board

Tip

Tip