by Herb A. Lightman and Richard Patterson
David Dryer, one of the special photographic effects supervisors, worked with black-and-white prints of most scenes in the film for one reason or another, and almost wishes the film could be released in black-and-white. He thinks it seems to have even more depth and style in black-and-white. Needless to say, this would not do justice to Cronenweth's work, but it is an indication of the way in which the photographic style of the picture harks back to classic movies.
Like every other aspect of the film, Cronenweth's photography takes the classic conventions one step further, and not the least of his tools in doing this is the use of color, or even the absence of color where it might normally be expected. "We used contrast, backlight, smoke, rain and lightning to give the film its personality and moods," the cameraman says. "The streets were depicted as terribly overcrowded, giving the audience a future time-frame to relate to. We had street scenes just packed with people. . . like ants. So we made them appear like ants — all the same. They were all the same in the sense that they were all part of the flow. It was like going in circlesÉ like going nowhere. Photographically, we kept them rather colorless."
If the people on the streets were colorless, the Los Angeles Street set was anything but: "The character and consequently the lighting of the street was achieved through the use of dozens of neon signs. We rented a number of them from One From the Heart. In order to achieve a photographic reality, the on-camera neons were often on dimmers set at a level just above where they would start to flicker. At the same time, the off-camera neons were used as the primary source of light whenever possible by leaving them at their brightest level. When the existing neons weren't sufficient for either illumination or dressing, we would create new ones on the spot and place them wherever we wanted. An example of this was placing letters on the side and strips along the interior of a bus that Deckard [Harrison Ford] runs through in one scene. At one point, we had a seven-man crew doing nothing but overseeing the neon signs. There were many more neons than there were dimmers, so we had to rob Peter to pay Paul at various times."
Cronenweth would supplement the neons on occasion: "What we needed was some accent lighting to make the range stand out, to glisten the street if necessary and to highlight objects or people. Lighting the set was a simple matter of using backlight in conjunction with the ambient light."
However, the neon lights were bright enough to enable Cronenweth to do some high-speed photography: "In the sequence in which Deckard is chasing a replicant named Zhora, the 'Snake Lady' (Joanna Cassidy), the script calls for her to run through a series of plate glass windows. The art director built a storefront situation appropriate for the action, but when it came to dressing it, Ridley was very unhappy with the first attempt. They tore all the dressing out and a week later presented a new interpretation, but he still hated it. Ridley himself finally had the wonderful idea of taking the neon signs off the street set and placing them in the windows of the stores. What developed was something that really worked. We then photographed the chase with multiple cameras running at various frame rates — normal and above normal. This created a pulsating effect in the neon which doesn't occur when photographing at normal camera speeds, but definitely does when shooting at higher frame rates. We lived with it by using the pulsing as an element of the chase."
Another example of the striking use of colored light is the scene in Sebastian's toy room, during which Deckard encounters another replicant, Pris (Daryl Hannah). She is made up with white makeup, and the scene is lit with rose-colored light.
Colored lights were also occasionally used to create a special effect for the replicant's eyes: "One of the identifying characteristics of replicants is a strange glowing quality in their eyes," Cronenweth notes. "To achieve this effect, we'd use a two-way mirror — 50 percent transmission, 50 percent reflection — placed in front of the lens at a 45-degree angle. Then we'd project a light into the mirror so that it would be reflected into the eyes of the subject along the optical axis of the lens. We'd sometimes use very subtle gels to add color to the eyes. Often, we'd photograph a scene with and without this effect, so Ridley would have the option of when he'd use it."
In discussing the photography of Blade Runner, however, Cronenweth emphasizes that technique was not the most important consideration. "The thing that was unique was not the equipment or the gels or the intensity or the hard or soft light," he stresses. "It was the concept behind each situation telling the story. Since the film is set in the future, unusual sources of light could be used where one would not accept them in a contemporary setting. For example, many of the people on the street set carried umbrellas that had fluorescent tubes incorporated in their shafts, providing a light source which could create a glow on their faces."
Cronenweth is particularly emphatic about backlight and contrast. "I can never use enough backlighting," he says. "It's just that some directors want to see the actors' faces. I keep telling them that the audience only goes to see the sex." The cinematographer is as interested in creating mood or an effect as he is in lighting an actor's face. He tends to use soft frontlight with a hard backlight, although, he adds, "I love hard light in the face if it is overexposed. I think that's beautiful. It's different; it's unusual. It's exciting; it's violent.
"Blade Runner is a piece that calls for extremes. It's naturally a wonderful vehicle for this kind of lighting. It's theatrical, but it will be very real in the film. In this film, I think you'll just accept it. It transcends theatricality."
In addition to using soft frontlight, Cronenweth often lit faces from below. In addition to the glowing umbrella handles, he often made use of water or other reflective surfaces to provide uplight in several scenes. The combination of warm soft uplight in the foreground with hard backlight and smoke in the background is probably the most characteristic feature of the lighting style for Blade Runner.
The other key ingredient in the photography of Blade Runner is the use of shafts of light. "That was an idea that both Ridley and I happened upon independently and had talked about," Cronenweth reveals. "We shared that concept, and it became one of the major themes of the film photographically. We used it over and over again in different applications. One way we justified their constant presence was to invent airships floating through the night with enormously powerful beams emerging from their undersides. In the futuristic environment, they bathe the city in constantly swinging lights. They were supposedly used for both advertising and crime control, much the way a prison is monitored by moving search lights. The shafts of light represent the invasion of privacy by a supervising force; a form of control. You are never sure who it is, but even in the darkened seclusion of your home, unless you pull your shades down, you are going to be disturbed at one time or another.
"After many tests with various units, gaffer Dick Hart came up with the most effective light to do the job, a Xenon spotlight commonly used for night advertising at sports events. This concept gave us some wonderful opportunities. For example, there's a late-night scene in Deckard's apartment kitchen which was played with the lights out. He has just had a hell of a struggle with one of the replicants. Having barely survived, he is now standing near the refrigerator. Rachel [Sean Young] is standing by the sink, which has a window above it. She is illuminated by a soft backlight through the window and the last traces of light filtering across the room from the refrigerator. Occasionally, one of those strong beams of light cuts through the sink window and glows the room just enough to read her face.
"Naturally," Cronenweth continues, "to create shafts of light, one must have some medium, which necessitated the use of smoke. The story lent itself very well to it, in the context of a highly polluted environment. It was very interesting to work with this constant atmosphere. Smoke is wonderful photographically, but not without its problems. It's hard to control, mainly due to drafts, and a lot of people find it objectionable to work in. Beyond this, it's important to keep the smoke level density constant, as a very subtle change in this density can result in dramatic changes in contrast. The only practical way to judge smoke density is by eye."
He jokingly adds, "I find that a good density is achieved just before I lose consciousness."
Cronenweth wanted to maintain the same texture even in situations where smoke wasn't used as heavily, and accomplished this by using low-contrast filters. He details, "We changed filters in conjunction with the angle of light and density of smoke. The stronger the backlight, the lighter the filter."
The cameraman particularly enjoyed photographing Sean Young, the leading lady in Blade Runner. "Sean has a wonderful, light, creamy, highly-reflective skin, among other beautiful features," he attests. "She also wore her hair up for a good part of the picture, enabling me to light her neck with hard backlight while lighting her face with soft frontlight. My favorite close-up in the film is the shot on her while Deckard is giving Rachel the Voigt-Kampff test. [See Best-Shot Films 1950-1997 #9 Blade Runner] She is holding a cigarette in her right hand, and the key light was at such an angle so as to strike only her hair, neck and hand and the smoke of the cigarette."
All of the sets for Blade Runner had ceilings in them, and some were built very low to enhance the feeling of containment, a motif particularly well-suited to the anamorphic format. "We had to light from the floor or through the windows," Cronenweth describes. "There is a lot of night photography lit through windows. The sources would vary. They could be anything including searchlights, signs, direct light, indirect light, colored light, or lightning. In Deckard's apartment, we created zones of light that automatically illuminated when one walked in — an energy-saving device of the future perhaps. As the depths of the apartment were penetrated, more lights went on until finally the entire place was lit. This effect was mostly lost, however, in the final cut of the film."
Perhaps the most interesting set was replicant creator Dr. Tyrell's cavernous office. According to Cronenweth, "This was one of the most exciting to work in. It was very large — approximately 60' long by 30' wide — with three huge windows along one side and structural ceilings supports rising from a shiny black marble floor. The walls were gray cement and the room was virtually colorless.
"The scene called for the room to be illuminated by sunrise. Outside the windows, we had a front-projection screen upon which was projected an 8" by 10" plate of the futuristic city at sunrise, which [special photographic effects supervisor] Doug Trumbull had created. This enabled us to photograph the players walking in front of the lower part of the screen, and gave Doug the opportunity to create a background with movement in it for the upper portions of the screen area. We had to coordinate the color of the set to match the color of Doug's sunrise. Sunlight was created through the use of arcs outside the windows and amber gels.
"At a certain point in the scene, in order to reduce the light level in the room for Rachel's Voigt-Kampff test, Tyrell [Joe Turkel] presses a button to cause enormous tinted shades to descend over the windows. The 'shades' were actually put in later optically; however, the lighting effect of the shades being lowered had to be created while photographing the scene. To accomplish this, Carey Griffith, the key grip, built a rig that would allow a very large .6 neutral density filter to slide down over the six arcs being used to simulate sunlight."
The set for Tyrell's office was also redressed to serve as two other spaces: Tyrell's bedroom, which was photographed in flickering firelight, and the Tyrell Corporation interview room, which was photographed with bright white shafts of daylight. According to Cronenweth, "That set looks totally different in each situation, and yet it's the same set. The flickering for the firelight was created by arcs shooting through torn strips of silk for transmission and torn strips of Duvateen for shadows."
The most unusual set for the film was the "Ice Room," which was built in a meat storage locker in order to create the effect of a refrigerated genetic-engineering laboratory. The ceilings were repeatedly hosed down over five days to form icicles, and then the crew shot for two days at minus 7°F while it was 98°F outside. Cronenweth started out using arcs to light the set, but soon discovered that they were using more oxygen than was coming into the room, except when the door was open. This necessitated changing to HMIs. The set was translucent along one side, allowing Cronenweth to light the scene through the wall. He added smoke to the scene to compliment the effect of cold breath.
Another interesting photographic problem on Blade Runner was shooting the interiors of a flying police car — a "Spinner" — in order to create the illusion of movement. The Spinner was capable of moving in any direction and traveling at very high speeds. Cronenweth explains his approach: "In order to create a sense of the vehicle traveling at night, we used several techniques. We built two sets of programmable strip lights, each about 8' long and each containing 12 Photofloods wired individually and dyed different colors. We placed them on the exterior of each side of the Spinner cockpit. The bulbs were then flashed at assorted intervals in conjunction with each other and individually. Additional movement was created with set lights activated by keyboard, so the lights were literally 'played.' Moving the camera on both axes by using double gear heads, and using wind, water and smoke enhanced the illusion. To create additional movement for day scenes, we'd use clear globes in the strip lights and a moving arc mounted on a Chapman crane to simulate a change in the Spinner's position relative to the sun."
Although most of the picture was shot on a stage, some notable Los Angeles landmarks were used as locations. The exterior of Deckard's apartment was Frank Lloyd Wright's Ennis-Brown house, designed in 1924 using a Mayan block motif. The Bradbury Building, designed by George Wyman in 1893, was used for the violent final showdown between Deckard and replicant leader Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer), as well as for a scene in which Sebastian (William Sanderson) takes Pris to his apartment. The downtown Pan Am building was used for a scene in which Deckard and Gaff (Edward James Olmos) search a hotel room for clues.
However, one of the film's most striking "exteriors" was actually shot at the studio. "The rooftop sequence at the end of the picture was planned to be photographed on real rooftops in downtown Los Angeles," says Cronenweth. "It turned out to be impractical to do it there, however, because of the scope of the shots and the difficulty of achieving some of the effects. We decided to film the sequence on the Warner Bros. backlot. This required building a couple of moveable rooftop units approximately 30' high. In order to show extreme height, we worked very closely with photographic effects supervisiors Doug Trumbull, Richard Yuricich [ASC], and David Dryer in order to make certain key matte shots, using our rooftop sets as the foreground. Of course, whenever we did a matte shot, we'd use a 65mm camera.
"We had to do a lot of 65mm photography from very high parallels which couldn't move at all. This meant reinforcing the normal parallels with additional steel and weight. [Key grip] Carey Griffith made reservoirs in the bottom of the parallels and filled them with several hundred gallons of water. That, in conjunction with reinforced steel going up the sides of each parallel and the use of solid bracing, made a high, rigid camera platform. We spent over two weeks on top of the roofs, turning them from time to time to obtain new backgrounds. We also worked with rain, smoke, lightning and moving shafts of light in this sequence. However, none of these effects could be used when making matte shots because they disappear in the matte area while remaining in the live-action area. One would then be confronted with matching the matte area effects to the live action rain, smoke, etc. The procedure, therefore, when doing matte shots is to put these effects into the composite on an overall basis later."
AC thanks Blade Runner production executive Katie Haber for providing photographs for this article.
The blog article below uses screenshots from the film to illustrate the points above.
BLADE RUNNER: THE CINEMATOGRAPHY OF JORDAN CRONENWETH
Last Friday, I did my second entry in a weekly feature I started on the work of cinematographers. That entry covered Jeff Cronenweth, who is known for his work with David Fincher in films like The Social Network, Fight Club, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I wanted to write a follow-up to that today, because I think it’s called for in this case. Jeff Cronenweth is the son of the late Jordan Cronenweth, and he learned quite a bit from his father. This article will go over one film by him that ultimately, along with his son, became one of his life’s most impactful legacies: Blade Runner.
This is a film that I consider to be in my all-time favorites list. Its cinematography is now considered a milestone in the progression of film, winning awards from the British Society of Cinematographers, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and BAFTA. In 1993, Blade Runner was even chosen for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress. It’s needless as well to say that this film’s cinematography influenced not only science fiction films, but movies of all genres up to today.
That’s because Blade Runner isn’t just a science fiction film. It’s not a Star Wars by any stretch of the imagination at all. Blade Runner was a noir; and just as the film took its cues from classic noir narratives in Hollywood cinema, so did the ways in how it was filmed.
Director Ridley Scott wanted the film to mimic the cinematography of the 1937 classic Citizen Kane. So when you watch Blade Runner, you’ll notice how it utilizes strong backlighting and light shafts. That’s something black-and-white cinematography is well recognized for, and that’s something intentionally brought over to this film by Jeff Cronenweth and implemented into color.
“We used contrast, backlight, smoke, rain and lightning to give the film its personality and moods. The streets were depicted as terribly overcrowded, giving the audience a future time-frame to relate to. We had street scenes just packed with people. . . like ants. So we made them appear like ants — all the same. They were all the same in the sense that they were all part of the flow. It was like going in circles- like going nowhere. Photographically, we kept them rather colorless.” – Jordan Cronenweth (ASC, Mar 1999)
You’ll see the backlighting come up quite a bit in the film.
Or you can take a look at some of the facial contrast that Cronenweth implemented. You’ll notice how hard both hit.
If you’ve read about Digital Bolex’s newly announced D16M, you’ll remember the advantages that were given for black and white sensors: the strong presence of texture, contrasting, and light, with little detail being sacrificed at all in low light. This is one of the biggest highlights of black-and-white cinema in general, and considering it was all Hollywood used up until around the 1960s, it’s a medium that’s still going strong in popularity today because of its timeless style. David Dryer, a photographic effects supervisor for Blade Runner, even stated once of how he almost wishes the film could be released in black and white.
When you examine it closely, you’ll realize that pretty much all of it was filmed to mimic a classic manner; it didn’t just stop at black-and-white. In other words: I’ve always considered Blade Runner to be a noir before a science fiction film. To me it’s The Maltese Falcon with a Ghost in the Shell-style future set as its background. With how well the film achieved its goals of emulating classic noir imagery, it made me completely forget that it was set in the future in the first place.
But that future.
That future was envisioned through painstaking set development. Along with the goal of maintaining classic elements within the film itself came the goal of creating a futuristic city that audiences could believe in. Naturally, the set designs for a post-modern film like this called for a heavy use of neon lights- lights like the ones in nighttime Tokyo, except amped up to achieve the cyberpunk look that Blade Runner ultimately helped inspire. One of the most important and prevalent tools used in the photography by Jordan was the use of shaft lighting. Smoke was used as the medium that light was shown off with. And that smoke was perfect for the setting of this film: this future was polluted, ghetto, urban, and ridden with crime.
“We used it over and over again in different applications. One way we justified their constant presence was to invent airships floating through the night with enormously powerful beams emerging from their undersides. In the futuristic environment, they bathe the city in constantly swinging lights. They were supposedly used for both advertising and crime control, much the way a prison is monitored by moving search lights. The shafts of light represent the invasion of privacy by a supervising force; a form of control. You are never sure who it is, but even in the darkened seclusion of your home, unless you pull your shades down, you are going to be disturbed at one time or another.” – Jordan Cronenweth (ASC, Mar 1999)
Future Los Angeles. The neon lights, the thick fogs, the orange fire-fueled police vehicles flying in line with air traffic, the Coca-Cola advertisements glowing off of buildings with lit projections for walls- the setting of this film served as a direct contrast to the classic noir feel that was ultimately its heart and soul. Blade Runner is a timeless story beating within the exoskeleton of a setting beyond time itself. And it’s because of the visions of people like Jordan Cronenweth that a film like that could come to fruition that beautifully.
