Blade Runner sketchbook, 1982 →
From the book’s introduction:
Blade Runner is a detective story set in a sprawling megapolis in the year 2019. To construct the proper setting, the filmmakers had to develop a clear, realistic vision of urban life forty years from now. Directory Ridley Scott was determined to avoid the pristine, antiseptic future often seen in science fiction films.
“Our city is rich, colorful, noisy, gritty, full of textures and teeming with life,” says Scott, “much like a major city of today. This is a tangible future, not too exotic to be believed.”
To help authenticate this picture of the future, the filmmakers enlisted Syd Mead, an international eminent industrial designer who is a specialist in picturing the shape of things to come, from skyscrapers and vehicles to parking meters.
“Blade Runner,” Mead notes, “is not a ‘hardware movie.’ It’s not one of those gadget-filled pictures where the actors seem to be there only to give scale to the sets, props, and effects. We’ve created an environment to make the story believable. The tools and machinery appear only when needed and fit tightly into the plot.”
And how.
Check out the complete book here.
(Source: thisistheverge)
