Blade Runner Task

 Film Studies                                                                                                         

        

 “ How far does ‘Blade Runner’ reflect on the auteur signature features of Ridley Scott?”

52:53-54:36

The definition of an auteur is a singular person who has all aspects of control of a film, creating their own vision of the final outcome. Such as deciding on certain visual features or a specific aesthetic desired to be included. An auteur of a film is also known as the director, describing the intentions and signature features of the work. The auteur role is similar to an author of a book, novel or play.

People believing and supporting ‘The Auteur Theory’ would say that the concept of an individual (the auteur) has overall and complete control of the film and type of work they produce, including how the outcome of the final piece turns out. An auteur having a connection with their work, by using personal experiences or memories to make the spectatorship of the film feel and look a specific way. If disagreeing with the theory, the atmosphere and the aesthetic wouldn’t have as m

Disagreeing with ‘The Auteur Theory’ would be that to make a film, there is a whole production team involved, not just one individual. An example of a group of people within a production team would be the writers, who create the actual concept and story line of a film. By having a production team, an auteur’s vision is lost and distorted. The concept of a certain style of film the director may have, has to appeal to a certain audience. Only so much time and money can be spent on the film, having to meet deadlines for other people at different stages within a production team. All these features have to be met or else there is less of a chance the film will be successful, having not enough money being produced to make a  profit from the work, resulting in significant amounts of money being lost. 

Analysing the chase scene between Deckard and the Replicant model, the first response the spectator views from the overall visual aesthetic of the film is the futuristic dystopian world which ‘Blade Runner’ is set in. 

The clothes the Replicant woman is wearing suggest the bizarre and different trends which could be set in the future. From the aesthetics from how she looks, this makes the spectatorship of this specific scene active, as this implies  stereotypical roles of women, portraying them to be motherly, caring, pretty (wearing make up) and doing tasks such as domestic cleaning work, etc. Despite the appearance and the active viewed spectatorship thoughts of women, the Replicant woman still has Deckard in her control, despite his intentions to investigate her room. This reflects on the film noir themes within the film. The main protagonist (Deckard) being controlled by the antagonist (the replicant woman) forcing them to do certain things, leaving the protagonist no choice.

When the scene changes to an outside environment, filmed using a long shot, the spectator views the more significant contrast in the lighting. From having the scene inside, where there the lighting is more moderately low key but has a balance and not too extreme. Compared to the scene outside where the low key lighting is much more extreme and shows more aspects of the world being a dystopia. Following the chase scene, the low key lighting stays consistently harsh, however there are lots of artificial light sources. An example of this would be all the different coloured neon lights, electronic billboards and extra background lighting from shops and cars. The only natural lighting is from the bin fires. This implies that the world of ‘Blade Runner’ is very artificial and not much of the land or resources are natural anymore. The world being artificial from the current social implications from the time the directors cut of the film was produced, in 1992. A convention of a dystopian science fiction, to have flaws and issues within a certain world, but portray them to the extremities.  

In my opinion (supported by my evidence) ‘Blade Runner’ significantly reflects on Ridley Scott’s signature featured style as an auteur. Demonstrated by his consistent and repeated use of visual features, ranging across his work but also because of his personal experiences. The extreme and harsh use of the low key lighting within ‘Blade Runner’ reflects on Scott’s mental health issues. Using the dark as a literal sense showing his depression, caused by the loss of his siblings. The heavy rain and severe weather also shows the mania of Ridley Scott’s mind as he continued to struggle with grief and mental issues for several years. 

Seeing Ridley Scott as an auteur overall, using his repetition of specific visual features, all distinct re-occurring similarities within his work; such as‘Black Rain’ and ‘Alien’. Having an active spectatorship would be identifying these conventions and personal influences Ridley Scott uses and portrays as an auteur within viewing his films. 

In ‘Black Rain,’ the visual features are so similar to ‘Blade Runner’ as of the specific lighting techniques used to re-create Ridley Scott’s vision. For example, where the detective is in the room with the dead body, the lighting has a high contrast. The majority being low key in the room but having a high key light shine through the blinds, beaming horizontal lines into the room. These signature visual techniques Ridley Scott uses in ‘Blade Runner’ having distinct similarities. Also from the clip, there are lots of other similarities found. An example of some similarities are, ‘Black Rain’ is also set in a dystopian Japanese urban area as ‘Blade Runner’. The similarities between ‘Alien’ and ‘Blade Runner’ are the visual aesthetic, being very low key lighting, also the non-diegetic futuristic and science fiction based background music to build tension at certain features of the film, most typically at establishing shots of the landscapes.These signature features of cinematic techniques are proof of Ridley Scott as an identifiable auteur from his work, also found and clearly reflected in ‘Blade Runner’.