Dissertation Structure Plan Revised

Architecture, archetypes and films 

Chapter One

Part I:

• Examples of existing iconic and symbolic buildings, their purpose and meaning. 
• What rules and limitations shape them? 
• Examples of visionary architecture (utopian and dystopian) and its biblical and mythological expression. 
• Complexity of the design: geometry within geometry, space within space. 

Part II: 

• How the styles in architecture and genres in film work together and the importance of their collaboration for the overall feel of the film. 
• Why the architectural styles were adapted in films. 
• Breaking the rules. Mobility and flexibility of the architectural designs. Intelligent architecture and its role in films. 

Chapter Two

• The heritage the films deliver to the public through rendering an architectural image. 
• How these images resonate and how the public consumes them. The Jungian theory about archetypes. 
• The freedom for visual expression and experience.

Chapter Three: TBC

• Three films from different age to prove how scenes and structures covered above resonate and influence the public. 
• How far we can with the next generation of futuristic architects?

Dissertation - Structure Plan

Architecture | Film | Topic TBC

Table of Content

Introduction 

Chapter One: Architecture and its context in films. 

Chapter Two: Archetypes and their role in human perception. 

Chapter Three: Film 1, Film 2 and Film 3 

Introduction

Being one of the oldest arts of planning and design, architecture has been constantly evolving and changing its layouts and visual reincarnations. But despite its dynamic shape, it keeps delivering one single image – the fascinating way the world envisions this innovative reality. Architecture has left prints everywhere on its journey to what we know it today, reminding of its powerful existence in plays and novels, from Odyssey to Gulliver’s Travel, in paintings like the Eiffel tower by Robert Delaney, 1911 and finally to its visual representation in films such as Metropolis, Aliens or The Maze Runner. The styles in architecture diversified through centuries and created iconic buildings some of them visionary like the tower of Babel or the Greek mythological Labyrinth and some of them still overwhelmingly shadowing us like the Pyramids, Empire State building and the Shard. These symbols of unlimited imagination and genius send essential messages to the audience in cinema by reminding the great scale of its importance, complexity and purpose. 

Chapter One:

Part I: What is architecture?

1. When architecture developed and why?
2. Examples of iconic and symbolic buildings and the names behind these ideas.
3. What stays behind these designs?
4. Why are these buildings important to the people and space?
5. What rules and limitations shape them?
6. Styles of architecture through time.
7. Utopian and dystopian designs.
8. Biblical and mythological designs.
9. Complexity of the design: geometry within geometry including film examples, space within space including film examples.

Part II: Architecture and Films.

1. Film genres and their meaning.
2. How the styles in architecture and genres in film work together and the importance of their collaboration for the overall feel of the film.
3. What they have in common?
4. Examples of different architectural designs (utopian, dystopian, urban, avant-garde, futuristic, biblical and mythical, etc) used in films.
5. Biblical, Roman, Greek, mythological, modern and futuristic structures and their adaptation in films. 
6. Breaking the rules and limitations (set in Chapter One). Mobility and flexibility of the architectural designs. Intelligent architecture and its role in films. 
7. Financial and Creative control in films. What changes the overall image? What creative control is used, what parts are adapted and why they were changed.

• (include ‘the architectural sets convey a symbolic information about the plot and the character) 
• (include ‘elements of iconic and symbolic buildings are adapted to create a new virtual reality)

Chapter Two: Why is all in Chapter One important to people?

1. The heritage the films deliver to the public rendering iconic and symbolic buildings or parts of them in films.
2. How these images resonate and how the public consumes them. 
3. Archetypes.
4. The psychological moment behind the emotions. State of mind. Consciousness.
5. The cultural moment behind these emotions. What is genetically coded in us that these images activate?
6. The religious moment behind the emotions. What beliefs coded in us these images activate?
7. Freedom of mind and visual experience.
8. Did the creation satisfy the creator and how far we can with the next generation of futuristic architects?

Chapter Three: TBC

1. Three films from different age to prove how scenes and structures covered above resonate and influence the public.

Dissertation Topic Part I

Choosing a topic for a undergraduate dissertation is probably one of the hardest things when writing a dissertation. It has to be something that triggers your interest for the topic, brings passion and understanding to it, and at the same time:

• It doesn’t repeat something that’s already in that dataset.¹
• It is something that other people interested in the topic will want to read when searching on information on the topic. That is, your research is not just different from the other work on the issue, but also has an interesting take.¹
• It is research that actually teaches researchers in your area of interest new information and will be useful to them when they are framing their own research projects. That is, not only is your research interesting, it shouldn’t be ignored if other sociologists want to do research in the same areas. ¹

 ¹http://srem-mentoring.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/how-to-choose-dissertation-topic-four.html

So, when I was tossing the words Computer Animation Arts in my head, questions started to emerge such as the decline of different animation styles and techniques, the current benefits of using computer animation (apart for the immense joy at the cinema) or what it is going to look like in, let’s say, the next 100 years. After taking into account my interests, my initial knowledge on the topics and the scarcity of time I have here is what I came up with. 

-       The benefits of Computer animation in selected industries.

-       The future of Computer Animation and the application of new techniques or styles.

-       The art of combining CGI and 2D in Japanese animation films.

-       Behind the Architectural Visualisations.

Down to two!

-       The art of combining CGI and 2D in Japanese animation films.

(the reason to write about this is simple. I love Japanese animation.)

-       Behind the Architectural Visualisations.

(The reason to write about this is my work experience in London)