"'More human than human' is our motto."
Hi World,
In October I decided to try something a little different. I gave my initial thoughts about a movie poster for a movie that I had never seen, Blade Runner (1982). I wanted to look at the design to see what I could figure out about the movie before watching. I was really attracted to the color scheme of the design. There were two obvious parts, the warm and the cool tones. I got a "bad guy" vibe from the characters in white, which confused me a bit. White usually symbolizes something that is pure, and definitely not a "bad guy." The costumes, makeup, and clear separation from the warm tones is what lead me to my initial conclusion. However, after watching the movie, I have a very different understanding and theory about the intentions behind this design choice.
The characters in cool tones are Roy Batty (a replicant), Pris (a replicant), and JF Sebastian (a genetic designer). In the movie, we learn the most about the replicants, Roy and Pris, and I began to sympathize with them. Replicants are machines, but they have begun developing personalities and having a mind of their own, so humanities answer: a 4 year life-span. These replicants have returned to Earth to find a potential solution to their extremely short life-span, even though replicants are illegal on Earth and will be killed ("retired") upon discovery. I believe that these two are portrayed in the white/cool tones because they are, in a way "innocent." Though they have committed violent crimes, off planet, but they were done in search of a true life that they are being denied. There is one other character, JF Sebastian, being presented in a white/cool tone. In a way, this character is also an innocent. We know that he is brilliant, but is unable to move off planet due to his health condition. He is alone. He builds his "friends," but he lives alone and interacts with very few people.
My ideas of the reasoning behind the design changed greatly after I watched the film, but I did pick up on some of the conflict initially. I immediately was conflicted by the contrast of the characters in white. I believe this was done intentionally by the designer to get viewers to think more about the characters, and not get caught up in the first impression.
I really enjoyed this movie, and I'm always looking to learn more about the content. Here is a great article if you want to read more about Blade Runner.
The characters in cool tones are Roy Batty (a replicant), Pris (a replicant), and JF Sebastian (a genetic designer). In the movie, we learn the most about the replicants, Roy and Pris, and I began to sympathize with them. Replicants are machines, but they have begun developing personalities and having a mind of their own, so humanities answer: a 4 year life-span. These replicants have returned to Earth to find a potential solution to their extremely short life-span, even though replicants are illegal on Earth and will be killed ("retired") upon discovery. I believe that these two are portrayed in the white/cool tones because they are, in a way "innocent." Though they have committed violent crimes, off planet, but they were done in search of a true life that they are being denied. There is one other character, JF Sebastian, being presented in a white/cool tone. In a way, this character is also an innocent. We know that he is brilliant, but is unable to move off planet due to his health condition. He is alone. He builds his "friends," but he lives alone and interacts with very few people.
My ideas of the reasoning behind the design changed greatly after I watched the film, but I did pick up on some of the conflict initially. I immediately was conflicted by the contrast of the characters in white. I believe this was done intentionally by the designer to get viewers to think more about the characters, and not get caught up in the first impression.
I really enjoyed this movie, and I'm always looking to learn more about the content. Here is a great article if you want to read more about Blade Runner.
Until Next Time,
P
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