Rural Studio at Venice Biennale
Working closely with a partner filmmaker, the objective was to make a 20-minute video that would play in the Venice Biennale 2016, and, in a manner organic to the school’s character, tell the story of Rural Studio—the architecture program of University of Auburn that is based as a satellite in the small town of Newbern, Alabama. Exhibit visitors might know nothing of Rural Studio prior; our aim was they would walk out understanding the philosophy, approach and projects. The video would play within a temporary installation, the design and intent of which also needed to be explained in the video.
In collaboration with partner: Direction | Research | Story Development | Sourcing Archival Material | Adapting Existing Assets | Graphic Design
For a longer-form video playing as part of an exhibiton, the hope is that the project is engaging enough that someone will sit and watch it in its entirety, but also that it provides enough of a sense of the bigger picture at any given moment, so that even quick drop-in viewers pick up an accurate impression.
Utilizing existing assets to create something new, we expressed the school’s mission in a straightforward, cohesive narrative in order to convey their community-oriented approach. The final 20-minute video was composed of five chapters, each oriented around a different question to get at why the project was built, which for Rural Studio is as important as the actual design. We brought on five Rural Studio locals to provide voiceover for each chapter—a vernacular dialect to humanize, and provide an immediate emotional hook upon walking into the space.
FULL VIDEO: