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The Future of the Public Realm

FRI-FS-11: Lights, Pencils, ACTION!!!! Sketching the Mystery & Drama of Film Noir Landscapes

Friday, September 18, 2026
8:30 AM - 4:30 PM PT
Location: Los Angeles Convention Center, Room 304A
Ticket Purchase Required Extensive Walking Public Transportation
3.50 PDH, LA CES/non-HSW
Ticket Price: $125 per person
Join a cinematic drawing excursion through historic Film Noir locations in downtown LA. Learn design and compositional principles and their potential application to landscape design. Explore techniques of 'chiaroscuro' to observe/record the drama of urban fabric.

Includes metro pass, sketch book. Extensive walking.

Accessibility: This session is a long walking tour across downtown Los Angeles. Participants will be walking for an extended period on city streets, and individuals with mobility challenges may find portions of the route difficult to traverse.

Learning Outcomes:

  • Learn compositional and cinematographic design principles of the great Film Noir directors and their potential application to contemporary design.
  • Explore the unique power of exaggerated perspective, contrast, the silhouette and radical camera angles for creating dynamic spatial scenes.
  • Discover an exciting variety of black + white atmospheric drawing techniques such as deep shadows, raked lighting and tonal quality for observing and recording the cinematic drama of urban life.
  • Learn strategies for creating expressionistic settings and the profound power of shadow and light as an active force for design explorations.