New Hollywood 

• studio’s built themselves up with influence from the french new wave including non-linear narrative, and sex, drugs and violence. French New Wave changed eastern and western film.
• fears of the time were exploited by blockbusters
• still has 180 rule
• not just about driving the story forward, also aesthetic experience
• low budget to high budget
• moral ambiguity of the protagonist
• film school people like Spielberg
• Also can be used as a form of escapism, but a different type
• influence of TV

Opening: 

Auteur Signature Film Form

• long establishing shot
• film noir style – dull,cold and detective in his office vibe *
• German expressionism *
• arc (?) lights and strong shadows
• low key lighting
• shifts in genre – science fiction/film noir *
• neon colours
• ECU pf the eye with flame going around the side – as we don’t know who it is, it could just be in the movie because it looks nice which Scott really cares about. It could be about question of identity as well.It doesn’t add to the narrative *

New Hollywood Film Form

• composite images and lens flare
• text exposition*
• non-diegetic heart beating sound (during/start of turtle story)*
• machine beeping
• low key lighting – LA – cold
• slow paced shots – low cutting rate
• no explanation of why LA is like that*
• no explanation of how Tyrel corp is so powerful
• Pyramids – power symbol*
• fire coming out of stacks*
• flying cars – metropolis*
• mundane grey office – parody of modern day office that contrasts to outside. Isolated from everyone else
• light coming into the office but it is dark outside
• action reaction shot (CU and MS) of talking*
• heart beeping*
• double speak

Production Context 

• forced perspective – miniatures of the city made with LED lights (computer moved the camera?)*
• Voight – Rompf machine made to look like it was breathing – links to the replicants*
• low key lighting and fog to hide the set*
• Budget change*
• Song made for the film

Themes and motifs 

• themes – neo-liberalism, fear of technology, fear of something new, fossil fuels are used in the world which is dirty (environmental fears)*

Representation 

• no children – fear of AI/replicants taking the place of children and/or the replicants are the children/represent children*
• the officer is a man
• woman on the advertisement – only woman we have seen so far and advertising is dominating the world in general*
• asian influence*

Political Context 

• Asian influence*
• Resemblance of Tyrel building to cathedral of light (Nazi’s) – looks similar and the light at the top – power that it represents as well*
• cold war*
• fear of technology – nuclear bomb and cold war*
• in the 80’s technical advancements were mainstream*
• Tyrel’s power – capitalism*
• reliance on fossil fuels – no wind farms, fire*
• neo-liberalism*

Middle: 

Auteur Signature Film Form 

• neon colours outside of his window*
• Genre shifts – science fiction, film noir*
• Strong directional low key lighting

New Hollywood Film Form 

• non-diegetic choir singing*
• unicorn – high key lighting*
• close up of pictures – he thinks it is his family etc.*
• minimal and wooden performance – replicant? wooden performance relates back to the replicant at the beginning*
• piano – evokes memory in himself*
• gun and whisky – noirish character*
• unicorn is fantastical yet it’s the only “real” animal in the film*
• only real nature (trees) in the film*
• morally ambiguous/compromised*
• cross fade – like a flashback*
• picture is labelled
• the news paper on the TV type thing when he is searching is written in ideograms

Production Context 

• unicorn scene – another movie – legend test shot*

Themes and motifs 

• theme of surveillance – search light*
• piano*
• character haunted by memories*
• unicorn motif*
• technological advancement and high tec  – fear of it*
• existentialism theme*

Representation 

• apartment is decorated with Eastern looking furniture and ornaments (e.g. Buddah head and bonzi tree)*
• women represented as exotic (?)

Political Context 

• mise en scene – mix of cultures  – passed Cold War*

Ending: 

Auteur Signature Film Form 

• heavy  shadows – German Expressionism*
• low key lighting and high contrast
• Baroque Style – elaborate set*
• Use of colour (blue and orange ) – in the back of the corridor ?
• rain dripping sound down wall – close sonic perspective – tension*
• beautiful cinematography in the finger braking scene (close sonic perspective as well)*
• Genre shifts – science fiction, horror, Western (gun)*
• beams of light from behind the window
• blue tinted lighting
• neon lights in the background when climbing out of the window*
• Close up of his hand when pulling himself up – like in Alien*
• the search light has no narrative logic – they are fighting but nothing happens when they are seen by the search light. Suggesting whoever is in control of the search light doesn’t care about violence.*
• blue harsh theatre lighting
• close sonic perspective*
• neon TDK sign*

New Hollywood Film Form

• ‘aren’t you the good man?’ – protagonist isn’t good and moral ambiguity of protagonist – directly questioning*
• ‘that’s the spirit’ response to being attack by Deckard, possibly saying that he has the power of a replicant but Deckard doesn’t know yet?*
• ‘that hurt’, ‘where are you going?’ and calling Deckard’s actions ‘irrational’ suggests a humanness to Roy and suggests that Deckard is a replicant*
• non-diegetic sound like bees
• howling – supernatural like*
• contrasting aesthetic of the building to the neon world
• representation of LA – raining*
• lack of clothing – symbol of natural state and understanding who he is?
• bell chiming
• thunder and lightning?
• fans – industrial feel
• futuristic non-diegetic sounds*
• violence – French influence e.g. Roy touches Pris’s wound, braking fingers etc*
• ‘that’s what it is to be a slave’ – non-diegetic choir like note*
• Japanese theatre like music – oriental theme, east meets west like the mise en scene throughout the film – cold war*
• hero saved by an unexpected person*
• nemesis has a loss, trauma, scene – Roy is a child in an adults body trying to come to terms with mortality and the death of Pris*
• shift in protagonist – Roy is a more heroic figure*
• parallel action of Roy and Deckard*
• Parallel of them both trying to fix their hands (both have damaged hands)  – replicants, same values, life value, just as much good or bad as people*
• mechanical old sound – adds to the  coldness*
• dramatic, tense and a lot about narrative*
• nail in hand – stigmata – religious symbol, sacrificing himself ?, child of God?, a sense of some innocence?. Plus, Roy previously said ‘6,7, go to hell or go to heaven’*
• symbolic that it is raining
• Gaff shows up when everyone is dead
• day time when he looks for Rachel
• tracking shot of room focusing in on body under the sheet – symbolic of death*
• mechanical sounds and blueness on TV – coldness
• robot making poetry
• narrative flip – hunter becomes the hunted – narrative was centred around Deckard finding and killing replicants*
• choir singing when he lands – nail in hand – miraculous and religious link
• hanging off building – narrative device and possibly a metaphor*
• Roy is in silhouette and low angle shot  – dangerous*
• Roy picks Deckard up with the nail hand
• dove and nail – inner conflict ? – dove – freedom and peace symbol*
• action reaction shots – highest tension of the movie – climax of the narrative*
• living in fear is ‘what it is like to be a slave’*
• change in tone – more high key lighting, music more major key*
• slow motion footage – Roy looking down in the rain
• ‘time to die’ is Roy’s last words – links humans and replicants, significance of life, acceptance of mortality*
• day time shot of letting the dove go – found freedom/peace in death, symbolic of replicants having souls?*
• cross fade of Roy and Deckard that acts as an action reaction shot- creates a connection between them (both scared of mortality?) – Roy is dead and Deckard is looking at him – feels united with him?, both replicants, both feel the same way etc*

Production Context 

• W.B. Burbank set*
• inspired by/a reference to metropolis (outside the building)*
• matte painting – background?*

Themes and Motifs 

• search light – surveillance*
• unicorn SILVER origami – suggests that Deckard  is a replicant because it implies that Gaff new about the dream that Deckard had previously, suggesting it was an implanted memory. It also shows that Gaff knew Rachel was there, yet spared her. There is a voice over of Gaff in this moment of earlier on when he said ‘too bad she won’t live, but then again who does?’ (ironic) this paired with Deckard’s nod suggesting his awareness of being a replicant gives the idea that being a replicant doesn’t matter, you’re still mortal and feel the same feelings (pr maybe even less) as a human*
• Japanese theatre like music – oriental theme, east meets west like the mise en scene throughout the film – cold war*
• environmentalism – fans – energy resource ?*
• humans underestimating technology ?
• existentialism and the value of being alive*

Representation 

• ‘this is for Zora’ and ‘this is for Pris’  – women are avenged be men, men are left to fight. Plus, he doesn’t mention Leon*
• man cries – good representation*
• Rachel has been made passive throughout the whole movie*
• he needs to help Rachel be safe*
• children – performance is like a game of hide and seek*
• Roy is a child in an adults body trying to come to terms with mortality and the death of Pris*
• children – Roy’s nursery rhyme esque speech – ‘6,7, go to hell or go to heaven’*
• replicants are represented as/are the representation of children, ‘that hurt’ – raw emotion, highly refined sense of right and wrong*
• she loves him and trust him but why? – fugitive on the run and he owes her so she trusts him?*

Political Context 

• Japanese theatre like music – oriental theme, east meets west like the mise en scene throughout the film – cold war*

More 

• Speech that Howard wrote – machine which accepts its mortality*
• co-operations in charge, no government?*
• maths doesn’t add up of the number of replicants (said near the beginning of the film) unless Deckard is one of them?

Key

*indicates most important notes

Auteur Signature Film Form 

• neon colours outside of his window*
• Genre shifts – science fiction, film noir*
• Strong directional low key lighting

New Hollywood Film Form 

• non-diegetic choir singing*
• unicorn – high key lighting*
• close up of pictures – he thinks it is his family etc.*
• minimal and wooden performance – replicant? wooden performance relates back to the replicant at the beginning*
• piano – evokes memory in himself*
• gun and whisky – noirish character*
• unicorn is fantastical yet it’s the only “real” animal in the film*
• only real nature (trees) in the film*
• morally ambiguous/compromised*
• cross fade – like a flashback*
• picture is labelled
• the news paper on the TV type thing when he is searching is written in ideograms

Production Context 

• unicorn scene – another movie – legend test shot*

Themes and motifs 

• theme of surveillance – search light*
• piano*
• character haunted by memories*
• unicorn motif*
• technological advancement and high tec  – fear of it*
• existentialism theme*

Representation 

• apartment is decorated with Eastern looking furniture and ornaments (e.g. Buddah head and bonzi tree)*
• women represented as exotic (?)

Political Context 

• mise en scene – mix of cultures  – passed Cold War*

Websites I have used and Quoted From:

http://darkdwarf5.tripod.com/belowthechickencoop/id66.html

https://www.britannica.com/event/Cold-War

https://www.history.com/topics/cold-war

Cold War

• 1947-1991
• “The Cold War rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union lasted for decades and resulted in anti-communist suspicions and international incidents that led the two superpowers to the brink of nuclear disaster.”
• “Cold War, the open yet restricted rivalry that developed after World War II between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies. The Cold War was waged on political, economic, and propaganda fronts and had only limited recourse to weapons.”
• “Following the surrender of Nazi Germany in May 1945 near the close of World War II, the uneasy wartime alliance between the United States and Great Britain on the one hand and the Soviet Union on the other began to unravel. By 1948 the Soviets had installed left-wing governments in the countries of eastern Europe that had been liberated by the Red Army. The Americans and the British feared the permanent Soviet domination of eastern Europe and the threat of Soviet-influenced communist parties coming to power in the democracies of western Europe. The Soviets, on the other hand, were determined to maintain control of eastern Europe in order to safeguard against any possible renewed threat from Germany, and they were intent on spreading communism worldwide, largely for ideological reasons. The Cold War had solidified by 1947–48, when U.S. aid provided under the Marshall Plan to western Europe had brought those countries under American influence and the Soviets had installed openly communist regimes in eastern Europe.”

Environmental

The film shows a future where the natural world is destroyed, and where the lack of environmental care has caused a lot of damage to the world. Such as, there’s no nature and no animals in the film. Plus, the fire at the begining could be suggestive of enviromental problems.

Communism and Capitalism

“The eradication of communism and the up-rise of capitalism also influenced the creation of Blade Runner. The consumer driven, capitalist world of Blade Runner removes the individuality of the population, and suppresses their natural instincts through control and corporate loyalty. The existence of the monopolistic Tyrell Corporation mimics the emergence of monopolistic companies in modern society, such as Microsoft. The infiltration of Japanese culture strengthens the economic importance, as during the 1980s Japan had become a world economic power.”

Technology

• “Due to the technological revolution of the 1980s, much of the technology in Blade Runner is reminiscent of new advancements in the late 1970s and 1980s. The acceleration of the “space race” also caused a rapid progression in technological advancement, astronomical equipment infiltrating the general public. The detachment from nature seen in Blade Runner can be interpreted as a direct warning of the detrimental effects of technological advancement, and the redundancy of nature and humanity.”
• Cold War and fear of technology (nuclear bomb)

Technology and AI

• Question of consciousness- some scientists believe technology can simulate consciousness
• Rights – irrelevant, no pain or pleasure, rights are meaningless. Rights protect us from infringements that cause us pain
• Technologists believe Explosion of technology will occur when AI can create AI smarter than themselves
• Human – identity, human exceptionalism. Deny other beings suffer as we do, animals once argued were mere autonoma.
• Economic potential of AI exploitation
• If robots become sentient there will be no shortage of arguments against rights, especially if there is an economic advantage
• Philosophical debate