Film Scene: Blade Runner 2049 “Real Joi” Rooftop Scene
There are so many elements at play within this scene that makes it such an exceptional achievement in visual storytelling in my eyes. Even within a crowded filmography of excellent imagery from cinematographer Roger Deakins, some of the frames within this scene (and indeed from the rest of this film) stand out to me as some of his best. In particular I appreciate the way in which Deakins utilises practical lights to illuminate the scene and the characters (though it does look as if in some shots there is some very soft fill happening – probably from a large heavily diffused and very soft overhead light). The way in which the green practical lights diffuse through this fog to create a rather ethereal looking silhouette in the first shot of the female character ‘Joi’ creates such a beautiful image which is absolutely bursting at the seams with texture. Moving into the next shot of Joi’s hand the same source is used again to create a great deal more contrast from highlight to darkness – I especially love the way in which the little droplets of water are picking up those green fluorescent tubes.
The first shot of Ryan Reynolds’ character K is where this scene truly becomes one of my favourite examples of hollywood lighting – displaying this beautiful contrast between the blues of the city behind him and the same green practical light on his face that had previously been illuminating Joi. This is one of many examples from this film in which Deakins and his production design team utilise colour in the setting and particularly the lighting to distinguish between settings and especially characters. This dual-tone colour palette is further accentuated in the wide shot of the two figures approaching each other – with the soft blues of the city on K’s back and the acidic green of the fluorescent-looking tubes behind Joi.
Painting: Edward Hopper – “Night Windows”
I chose this artwork in particular because I really appreciate the very realistic look it achieves in an urban environment and the way in which it captures a frame which could prove difficult to achieve on a camera (due to the difference between the lightness of the interior room and the darkness of the exterior building and the dynamic range that would be required to capture both). This piece in particular displays something that I find to be sorely lacking in a great deal of big budget productions and that is to find beauty in the mundane. The lighting of this artwork is extremely simple – it all comes from a single source (a regular household light fixture) which gives off a fairly cool yellow light. The exterior of the building is just barely bright enough to make out details, casting the eyes focus through each window frame and in turn informing the audience to pay closer attention to the details of the interior. The shadows that are cast onto the window sills are quite jagged and defined and help to establish the pieces realistic but moody aesthetic.
The real magic of this piece I think lies within the way Hopper is able to portray an entirely mundane environment and to force the viewer to notice the beauty in its simplicity. Even for someone such as myself who is crossing over from an entirely different artistic medium – there is much that can be learned from this ‘less is more’ style approach. A lot of feature films tend to utilise complicated lighting setups which unarguably are often very visually appealing – but largely fail to mimic reality (of course they aren’t necessarily trying to). Despite this though, I often find that some of the most striking moments in film occur when the visuals don’t distract from the storytelling – but rather enhance it by whatever means necessary.