Landmark

More than 6 years of working in architectural CG projects gave birth to the need to produce a short film, one that has the explicit aim of infusing emotion, narrative and cinematography into architectural visualization. Madrid-based studio Beauty and the Bit, headed by Víctor Bonafonte, has made this short film as an internal project, to express themselves creatively and to try to achieve a cinematographic experience that shows that a solid narrative is not at odds with architectural films.

The road from Archviz work to film production is similar to that initially traveled by another Spanish artist, Alex Roman (The Third & The Seventh). Although there are some similarities between their work, such as the emphasis on staging, aesthetics and capturing passage of time (weathered surfaces abound), the artists at Beauty and the Bit have clearly taken their own path, with a different intention and aesthetic.

Staged in a Nordic landscape and inside a building, a lot of work has been dedicated to building the ambitious environments, as well as to framing, lighting, color and composition of elements, with a clear intention of transmitting coldness, loneliness and passage of time. Sound design and music also contribute to this end. The film has been influenced by the work of Stanley Kubrick and other Sci-Fi filmmakers.

Visual rhythm is handled mostly through editing and camera moves, which are usually slow-paced. The voice-over and music help build continuity. Though the main character experiences an internal conflict, tension is not built around it. In this sense the film takes a more descriptive, exploratory approach, something reflected in camera placement and the POVs it adopts. Landmark successfully manages to build a strong sense of abandonment, coldness and loneliness, and to transmit a narrative through the use of architecture.