The grey area between reality and representation: The practices of architects and film-makers

There is a well-documented relationship between cinema and the city - but what of their creators, the filmmaker and the architect? It is clear that both propose conditions for inhabitation, compose spatial sequences and communicate multiple narratives, but what other insights can we draw about their operation within the grey area between reality and representation? Act 1 of this paper looks to set the scene; establishing the characteristics, presence and parameters of the grey area, Act 2 investigates this shared territory through the frames of ‘the city’ and ‘the narrative’ - chosen for exploration as these are the exchange points, the positions of interaction, and the methods by which each other can be recognized and explained. Here the nature of practicing in the third space is explored through quotes from and interviews with those currently producing work in this territory. Through my practice as an academic, editor and writer, my skills and knowledge lie in communication, thus my methodology derives directly from my experience of the dissemination of conversation, and by association considers the role of the architect and the filmmaker as ‘communicators’.