Bladerunner – Cinematic Colour Grading Project

The Cinematic Colour Grading Project is a digital art project exploring the fascinating world of cinematic colour palettes. I will discuss how strong colour grading, lighting and environmental effects are used to convey mood in key scenes from iconic movies. These techniques will then be applied to photographs of abandoned buildings, to produce a digital art piece.

Welcome to the first instalment of my Cinematic Colour Grading Project. This digital art project will explore the fascinating world of movie colour palettes. It offers me a chance to talk about some of my favourite movies, as I am a bit of a horror and sci-fi film fanatic! I will be applying these colour schemes to my own photographs, as I explore the world of movie colours.

The first movie I will delve into is one of my favourites, Bladerunner.

About the movie Bladerunner

Ridley Scott directed Bladerunner, it was released in 1982. Subsequently, the movie won many converted awards at the 1983 BAFTA ceremony. The accolades included; Best Cinematography and Best Production Design/Art Direction. This is a movie adaptation of the groundbreaking science fiction novel “Do androids dream of electric sheep?” by Philip K. Dick.

The story takes place in the early twenty-first century. The Earth is a polluted and dying system. The cities are filthy and choked with smoke and pollution. Humanity is living in squalor; decaying society. Most of the animals are long extinct. Those who are able, have left earth to live in Off-World colonies.

Humanoid androids were developed to aid those forging a new existence Off-World. These androids are called “replicants”, are not permitted to return to Earth. Four replicants hijack a shuttle back to Earth, in a bid to find their creator on Earth. Deckard, a retired cop, is assigned to the case. He is a “Bladerunner”; a bounty hunter who chases down and terminate renegade replicants. His job is to hunt down this dangerous group of fugitives and destroy them.

The iconic cyan-toned dystopian colours of future Los Angeles

The movie was groundbreaking in terms of its dark and gritty vision dystopian vision of future Los Angeles. Bladerunner has been widely cited as the inspiration for the Cyberpunk genre.

The cyan-tone colour scheme is one of my favourite aesthetics of this film. Typically, blue/cyan is used in cinema to covey very specific moods. These include cold, depression, isolation, technology, uncertainty, detachment or melancholy. The future depicted in Bladerunner is bleak; humanity at the brink of collapse, with dangerous replicants hidden among us.

Recurring visual effects and features of Bladerunner

The heavily stylised visuals of Bladerunner have the following re-recurring themes;

• High contrast. This gives a Film Noir appearance.
• Backlighting. Silhouetted characters, lit strongly from behind.
• Heavy use of neon lights in city scenes. This is reminiscent of modern Tokyo and Tokyo cityscapes. This feature is a recurring theme in Cyberpunk visuals.
• Smoke and fog. The air is thick with pollution.
• Shaft lighting/light rays.

Key scenes featuring these colours and environmental effects

Several key scenes feature this cool-toned colour palette, including;

• When meet our first replicant, Leon. He is taking the Voight-Kampff test which ends with him dramatically shooting the interviewer.
• Many exterior scenes of the cityscape; long panning/panoramic sequences showing the scale of the urban setting.
• Tracking shots of flying cars, called “Spinners”, which zig-zag between the tall buildings.
• Deckard is reviewing the case file film reels at police headquarters. Deckard (and the viewer) gain their first insights into the main protagonists (Roy, Pris, Leon).
• Roy and Leon visited the cryo lab, where they learn about J.F. Sebastian.
• The final face-off between Deckard and Roy, in the derelict apartment block where J.F. Sebastian lives.

Photoshop colour grading of an abandoned Hungarian power plant

For this project, the choice of an abandoned location was clear. This power station in Hungary was a filming location for Bladerunner 2049.

Key features I have attempted to replicate;

• A strong Cyan/blue tone, applied by colour grading and re-sampling colour curves
• High contrast scene, with dark moody shadows
• Photoshop-generated light rays and smoke effects
• Strong highlights from windows to contrast the deep shadows

Comparison – from rusting abandoned power plant, to atmospheric cyan-toned dystopia

Suggest a movie (or video game) for my Cinematic Colour Grading Project

I thoroughly enjoyed this project. In addition, I have many inspirational movie colour palettes I would like to explore.

If you have any suggestions, please leave a comment below or Contact Me. I would love to hear your ideas!