These shafts of light are the result of neon signs, giant electronic advertisements, billboards, street lights. Most of the shots were done by night, but in the film’s reality you can’t ever tell what time it is. Only the intrusive lights of the city penetrate into all enclosed spaces, even in Deckard’s apartment, constantly illuminated by artificial beams. It becomes very difficult to tell what time of day the scenes are taking place in. It’s naturally a wonderful vehicle for this kind of lighting.” “Blade Runner is a piece that calls for extremes. In a dark Los Angeles, where natural light is simply absent, night and abundant rain choke us. Light plays a crucial role in this version, conferring a very strong identity to Blade Runner. Indeed, during an interview Scott confessed that the trio “night, wet, smoke” was at the heart of the aesthetics of the film for essentially economic reasons, because it would have indeed had to spend much more to obtain a satisfactory rendering with natural daylight. All these signs plunges us into a Los Angeles overcome by an oppressive pollution. Many multicultural world flock to the streets at a frantic pace. The scenery is misty, and everywhere smoke escapes from the conduits with strident noises. Rain and night are an ubiquitous constant throughout the story. The essence of the world of Blade Runner relies on the image Scott is considered to be very meticulous in the composition of his scenes, while the photography conceived in parallel by Jordan Cronenweth also plays a leading role.īlade Runner absorbs us in a mysterious megalopolis thanks to a quite singular ambience. Ridley Scott admired Stanley Kubrick, and in both their cases attention to every set detail resulted in the heavily textured look of their films. Many artists and designers participated in creating the look, most notably Ridley Scott himself. No doubt that visuals also go in this direction. The soundtrack floods the film with little hauntologic whispers. Scored by Vangelis, this revolutionary music between electronic and analog, combined with the blues echoing the past with jazz saxophones, give the film a deep melancholy, evoking death and ghosts. As well, we notice an influence of painter Edward Hopper and his iconic 1942 painting Nighthawks, how he uses and magnifies the light. The visual genesis of Blade Runner is fully inspired by the graphic novels of Jean Giraud, known as Moebius. We find this duality of likable killers and corrupt cops, giving a blurred space between right and wrong. Thus we find this high-contrast style, traditionally shot with a low key lighting approach to play the mystery and suspense of the film. The film is rooted in a futuristic version of the “film noir” style, it resumes its codes to integrate them in the sci-fi genre. This eye is that of Ridley Scott, who invites us to enter into his universe and contemplate this futuristic apocalyptic vision of a terrifying future. Everything is there, the atmosphere, the aesthetics, the theme. Opening on an industrial landscape, the first sequence announces the spectator what will follow. The gaze on the future, symbolized by one of the first sequences, showing an eye in which the flames of an industrial chimney are reflected, has an essentially contemplative dimension. This aesthetic power, rarely equaled, will prefigure the cyberpunk movement of the mid 1980s. Each sequence contains infinite subtleties: from the fascinating light of Jordan Cronenweth to the stunning scenery often sketched by Ridley Scott himself. The story takes place in a dystopian Los Angeles in 2019, it is a striking poetic reverie on human condition. This is a cult movie that has become a major influence in pop culture over time. Before the upcoming release of Blade Runner 2049, we deliver an aesthetic analysis of Blade Runner, directed by Ridley Scott in 1982.
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