Blade Runner Opening Notes

 

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.

 

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

Ridley Scott Auteur Signatures

 

  • He was trained in production design
  • futuristic aesthetic
  • low key lighting
  • interesting lighting including coloured lighting
  • neon lighting
  • desolate vibe/dystopian
  • sound used to dramatise/to control audience emotions
  • machine aesthetic
  • elaborate sets
  • spotlight effects
  • use of coloured lighting
  • high contrast lighting
  • Baroque style – over the top and detailed  (set deign)
  • Scott demonstrates how he can use multiple genres
  • manipulation of/particular camera movements
  • use of colour
  • mise en scene – he builds the whole world
  • finds beauty in things that aren’t immediately beautiful, beauty is drama
  • sc-fi – what if?

Classical Hollywood and New Hollywood

 

Classical Hollywood 

  • cinematic time and space, 180 rule, narrative logic, editing, camera etc all focused on driving the narrative forward because it’s a form of escapism (e.g. Great Depression)
  • Linear narrative except for a flashback that reveals the protagonists motivations
  • Protagonists have interior and exterior motivations as well as a clear moral code
  • Primary and secondary narrative
  • Studio’s owned everything, and had people like directors and actors on a contract. The paramount decree stopped this, so the studio system started to fall apart and adapt into new Hollywood with new film school students like Spielberg

 

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