4 ways video is changing the way we communicate design
Some time late last year I watched a video of an architect attempting to explain his concept for a house he designed. It was shot front on, looking straight at the camera, poor lighting, slightly out of focus, and terrible audio. A perfect storm of video. Although the house was well designed overall, the video did the project a massive disservice and had I not read an article earlier that day praising this house, I would have dismissed it. It was at this point I started to investigate the importance of a well crafted video, not only for promotional purposes, but in order to correctly and accurately communicate our design intentions.
Below are 4 important ways I believe the video medium is changing the way we communicate design
1. Promotion: Catching the Eye
The most obvious in this list, the dynamic nature of moving images allow us to show off our designs. You may have noticed an increase in the amount of animations and flythroughs being produced by top tier architecture and design firms. This has been a conscious effort to push the boundaries of video, exploring the new territory of computer generated concept videos.
Industry trends in architectural photography are extending their scope to include videos as an add-on service to traditional shoots. As someone who dabbles in the world of architectural photography, more and more I see colleagues who are adding ‘videography’ and ‘promotional film’ to their list of available services when shooting a completed building, home, or product. Additionally, we can see videos becoming a staple of design firm’s social media, websites, and networking. Particularly to firms that want to position themselves as ‘cutting edge’, and ‘high end’. As much as photos, sketches, and text will always have a place in marketing, the efficiency of a well done video to convey all aspects of a concept design, developed design, or completed project is unparalleled.
"...more and more I see colleagues who are adding ‘videography’ and ‘promotional film’ to their list of available services when shooting a completed building, home, or product"
2. Showing the Passage of Time
As someone who has produced entirely too many ‘solar studies’ in their career, I have a keen understanding for the usefulness of showing the passage of time on buildings. The ability to see how the sun moves across a facade, the effect seasons have on deciduous trees, the movement of cars over a site, and the feeling of walking through the front door of your new home. These cannot quiet be shown through still images and sketches they way they can be in film. There is a certain magic to film that allows a deeper understanding of spatial relationships, a parallax that showcases how things actually are. Or how they will be. Creating deeper stories and promoting better connections, to places you haven’t been, to places that exist but are far away, or to places that may not yet exist save for the architects imagination.
The video produced by 30x40 are highly watchable due to their clean cinematography, educational content, and informal tone. see below.
3. Go More Places
When producing a still image render, or photographing a completed work, or even sketching a concept, we have a lot of flexibility to hide certain unflattering aspects. This is a lot more difficult with video. No longer do we have the luxury of covering our underdeveloped design behind a wall, cropping a photo to hide the mechanical services, or airbrushing out those pesky bins. We can now move through spaces more easily, and we can go places we otherwise wouldn’t with still images. This movement to video may just keep us a touch more honest, but its not all bad. With the ever increasing implementation of BIM, our buildings are becoming easier to model, becoming more resolved, becoming better understood. We are no longer guessing what this building will look like from plans and elevations, we can see it in 3D, in real time, making changes and adjustments. And on the bright side, a good quality design in this climate will stand out a whole lot more.
4. Communicate More In Less Time
The above is a showreel I produced to showcase our most recent visualisation capability at MODE.
The use of video unlocks new ways of conveying information in the design industry. Where as before a picture or render might be left to interpretation, now we can show exactly what we want in more ways, and in less time. To the average lazy consumer, including me, watching a video allows us to sit back, relax, and be smacked in the face with all the information necessary to understand the project being shown. Consider a typical ArchDaily article, there will always be a place for text and images in our industry, but exponentially ArchDaily videos are gaining more success with readers and have more chance of being viewed, remembered, and shared. According to Forbes, by 2019 global consumer Internet video traffic will account for 80% of all consumer Internet traffic.
Video has a way of fostering engagement like no other, and if we chose to present information in this format as designers, we have a better chance of conveying their intent succinctly and in a way that clients will remember. As we transition into a world where video, both Computer Generated Images (CGI) and film, becoming more accessible and easier to use, now is the time to become an early adopter within architecture and design. This means generating internal demand within our offices for video and creating sustainable processes to deliver highly effective content. If you are interested in learning more about video including CGI walkthroughs, animation, and film, feel free to send me a message as I love to talk about it!
?
HOD English at Department of Education and Training (Queensland)
5 年Great to follow your work Mitchell. Diana