Episode 2: Seven Samurai
Architecture and cinema intersect in innumerable ways. One of the clearest expressions of this relationship is through storyboarding. Much like designers create plans and sections of their works, filmmakers plan out the schemes for scenes in their films. We like to insert ourselves in the mindset of a director (after the fact) and diagram the logistics of a film through plan and section to learn something about the human condition being expressed through the film.
In Seven Samurai, the classic film by Kurosawa, our team took a particular interest in the defensible strategy of the small Japanese village in the context of defending one’s home. A feeling of “home” is precisely innate to the human endeavor, especially when that feeling in danger of being revoked by a looming, evil presence. Before the breakdown of the final battle, we discuss the historical context of Japan, how Kurosawa assembled one of cinema's first fighting super-teams, and the cultural humor differences that must have existed in 1950's Japan.