What Blade Runner Teaches Us About Great Filmmaking and Believable World Building #cyberpunk
There are certain sci-fi films that never seem to age. This is a significant feat in a genre where our projections of the future are constantly changing and real-world technology is always catching up. 2001: A Space Odyssey is probably the most impressive, almost uncanny example of this. And so is Blade Runner.
In this excellent 20 minute mini-doc on the making of Blade Runner, Cinema Tyler looks at the background and influences of the film, the construction of its very believable world, and what one can learn about great filmmaking in general from studying it.
There is so much great stuff in here, like concept artist, Syd Mead, talking about the visual concept of “accumulation,” building layers, repairs, upgrades, add-ons, weather and abuse into objects to give them a history and a greater believability.
Blade Runner is also a classic example of going overboard (in a good way) with props, signage, and massive amounts of other details that may never even be seen on screen. It is this obsession with detail that helps create a world where we can almost feel what we can’t see, thus rendering a world we can believe in. A world that was believable in 1982 and is still seducing our imaginations almost four decades later.
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