Media Studies - Blade Runner

At the beginning of film, after the words, the audience sees a long shot of the world, which the audience seems to be visiting as the camera moves closer towards it. The long shot is used in good effect to show the audience exactly what the world is like and fits in the scenery to give an excellent idea in the audience's mind. The colour of red is again shown to the audience, as it is the general colour of the sky. This further extends the fact that the film is a violent one. The audience is told that the film is in the science fiction genre early on by the fact the text at the beginning talks of robots and at the beginning of the motion picture, the audience is shown a flying car. Also as the camera moves slowly, still at a long shot, there are random explosions from various buildings, which further extends the fact the film will contain violence of some sort.

The image shown to us is that we are going into a building as the camera zooms slowly towards one at a particular floor. Every so often the film flashes to an image of an eye. One interpretation of this is that God is looking down on what he has created and what it has become due to the selfishness and greediness of man. When we have entered the building the audience sees a man in the dark staring out of his window with the fan buzzing above his head. These releases a lot of intensity as it is one of the first images that the audiences are shown which are not connected to war, destruction or death.

When the interrogation scene starts we as an audience are shown an extreme close up of the prisoner so we can see his facial expression. In this case the audience can see he is under pressure and in fear and uncertainty of the test he is about to participate in. As the questions are being said to the prisoner a beating in the background starts and gets louder and heavier as the level of intensity raises. This represents the prisoner's heartbeat. Also the camera looks slightly up at the prisoner and slightly down at the interrogator. This gives the idea to the audience that the prisoner is stronger and bigger than the man who would seem vulnerable, as we look down on him.

After the murder has occurred, the level of intensity of the fun is again lowered as the camera immediately zooms out of the building to the scenery of the town or city which the film is set in.