The first characters met in Blade Runner are Leon and Holden. Holden id dressed in an old-fashion suit which makes him appear powerful and in control of the scene. Leon is dressed in a hospital-type gown which makes him appear mentally disabled and inferior to Holden. Both characters show the audience that the place isn’t the typical setting in this futuristic city. This is apparent from their contrasting clothes. It already looks like an interview. The audience then meet Deckart. He is wearing more modern casual clothes than Holden, and is slumped in a chair in the city streets. He appears a rough person as he is wearing dark scruffy clothes. The overall impression of the characters is that they don’t want to give much information about themselves away. They are all secretive.
In Star Wars the first characters you meet are C3PO and R2D2. They are robots and are wandering down the corridors of a space ship in a hurry. They way they act make them appear less important as they are worried and trying to escape from something, so they have no heroic qualities. The audience then meet Darth Vader and his Storm Troopers. These characters wear similar masks so the audience are able to link them together. Darth Vader is in a black costume to show he is on the dark side. He is also9 wearing a cape, this creates power when he walks as it swishes behind him. This all shows Darth Vader’s power which shows a similarity between him and the character Holden in Blade Runner. The overall impressions of the Star Wars characters are very different as Darth Vader is a huge contrast with C3PO and R2D2. In Blade Runner the costumes were very different and the people were responsible for where they were. But in Star Wars the only costumes and Darth Vader’s and robot costumes and they are all in the same setting.
There is a variety of sound in Blade Runner: there are chimes and flutes. The music is usually very quiet and doesn’t have a catchy melody. This helps to create mystery. The sound effects are of flying cars driving about. The dialogue, too, helps to add to the confusion. An example of this is when Leon is being interviewed, “I’m kinda nervous when I take tests [talks about his hotel] Is this the test now?” The audience is already confused from the camera shots and settings, now as one of the characters is confused and frustrated it adds to their confusion and makes them feel uneasy.
In Star Wars, the sound is loud and uplifting, it makes the audience excited. It does this by starting with an orchestra with horns and bass. The tune is catchy and memorable. The sound effects are the ships in space and the laser guns. There are a lot more futuristic sound effects in Star Wars than in blade Runner. The dialogue in Star Wars helps to show that the film and its characters are powerful, as is the music. An example of this is when Darth Vader is holding a rebel fighter by his neck against the space ship wall and asks him “Where are the Death Star plans?” The man is in no position to reply, this scares him. The audience now know how powerful Darth Vader is in the film.
The camera angles at the beginning of Blade Runner help to show the emotions of Leon. First Leon is looking toward Holden, Holden being out of view. This helps to show Leon’s reaction to Holden and the situation during the interview. It then shows an extreme close-up of his eye, to show his emotions further. He is angry confused, and afraid of Holden. This shot links back to the eye at the beginning and my comment about the eye being the window to the soul, as through this shot the audience can understand Leon’s emotions better. The director is trying to make the audience decide whether they believe in killing these replicants. Are they human? By showing they have emotions the director shows the audience that even though they are robots they do have feelings. The shots at the very beginning o this scene are slow and linger on characters but as Leon gets more and more worried the camera flicks between shots to create tension, so the audience know something big is going to happen.
The camera angles at the beginning of Star Wars help to create tension in the scenes building up to the shooting scenes. They do this by cutting a lot from one shot to another. During the shooting scenes the shots are really fast and smoke is dulling the view. To calm the audience after the shooting the director uses a wipe shot to the desert this slows down the pace. The shots involving Darth Vader are shot from a low angle to show his immense power.
In Blade Runner the atmosphere is sinister. The theme of the ‘eye’ as a symbol runs throughout the film. It is used as a sign of power. In the scene with Leon and Holden the audience feel worried. They expect Leon to do something violent because of the way he is jumpy and angry. He becomes more and more agitated as the scene progresses. The lighting is dark and dull in all of the scenes. It works well with the sound because the music is quite. The viewers can’t hear or see much so they feel vulnerable and worried because they rely on these senses.
The atmosphere in Star Wars is excitable and enjoyable. In Star Wars masks are quite important because they are linked with the dark side. The masks make the wearer appear less human and more insect-like. This is similar to Blade Runner because of the secretivity. The lighting is very bright and futuristic, this works with the music to make the audience feel happy and as if they too are in a futuristic world. The audience feel reassured in Star wars but unsure in Blade Runner this is one of the big differences.
I personally find Star Wars to have the most effective film opening in the science-fiction genre because it looks and feels more futuristic than Blade Runner. It suits its target audience because it is an understandable feel-good film. However both films are good interesting science fiction.
