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I was recently watching Blade Runner 2049 and forgot who directed and DP’d on it. I sort of remembered that Denis Villeneuve directed it, and had it in my mind from a few minutes into the film, though I didn’t check at that point. Then the orange lighting of the radiated village came into the film and I kinda just immediately thought of Roger Deakins. And then I checked and lo and behold, it’s him and Denis who made the film.
For me, this is a signature style of Deakins, an orange or very warm yellow to be able to backdrop people onto. But my question is why does he do this? Is it (and this is my least favourite theory, but ultimately still valid) to look good? It’s definitely pleasing to the eye, but I can’t imagine a DP getting this far and just doing things because they look good. Or is it a signature style in his art work? A sign that this was made and shot by him and only him. Or is it a thematically correct lighting to use, at the moment of the story, a technique to tell or convey an emotion from the audience?
I don’t know, all I know is that it made me think of Deakins and then I was proved right in thinking of him, so I’m sticking with the signature but also a bit of a mix of thematically telling a story with lighting to affect the audiences mood.
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The color is always justified in some way. I certainly don’t use color to ‘look good’. In BR2049 I wanted the interior of the Wallace Corporation to look as if it were sun lit. That was the reasoning there. Our Las Vegas was red as Denis thought it would contrast the cold look of LA., besides Sidney had just been enveloped in a red dust storm so it seemed it was part of our new reality.
In BR2049 I wanted the interior of the Wallace Corporation to look as if it were sun lit.
One of the aspects I loved about BR2049 is that somehow it makes visual references to the original BR, for example the warm lights of Wallace Corporation made me think to the similar lights of Tyrrell Corporation. Did you consider this aspect while planning the lighting of the movie?
We made no reference to the first Blade Runner as far as the look is concerned.
It’s a nice thing to know, I think that the sequel, while different and new, has the same soul of the first BR and maybe this made me found visual connections too.
I love so much the original movie that when I read that a sequel was in production I was a bit worried: you know, fans are a bit silly sometimes, when a beloved title gets a sequel/prequel/remake/reboot/whatever 🙂 but when I watched the movie I found it amazing, you created an extraordinary piece of art.
Thanks for sharing the behind the scenes of this movie (and all the other ones) on your site!
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