29. Dystopian Cityscapes in Cinema. Architectural Design as Visual Narrative Devices

The research envisions how the genre of dystopia originates through literature through themes, and films through visual narrative devices like architecture, and how the environments and architecture become an important part of the dystopic fiction. Tracing its theological and philosophical origins to its place in modern literature, to post-modern cinema and animation, dystopic fiction is a genre rich with the possibilities of architecture enhancing the design of a story. The definitions of ‘dystopia’, ‘visual narrative devices’, ‘environmental storytelling’ are discussed, through its formation and design. One of the most important elements of narrating stories in a collective medium like cinema, is production design, which refers to the creation of sets and environments where the story takes place. Production design consists of sets, environments, creation of atmosphere, colors and textures, which collectively are expressed using architecture design, as narrative devices. Cinema has collectively used the medium of architectural design as a device to visually narrate the story, and this paper establishes how architectural design is used as visual narrative devices, by taking ‘dystopian cityscapes’ as a genre of films for exploration.