NAME: Brenna Empey
DATE: 10/4/2016
DP: Jase
Van Meeteren
FILM 3: SHOT-FOR-SHOT
DUPLICATION
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT OF INTENT
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT OF INTENT
1.
What film or TV show
is this from?
Blade
Runner (1982,
Ridley Scott)
a. In 3-5 sentences, what has happened in the story before this scene?
Deckard
is an ex-police officer tasked with tracking and killing four replicants, which
are bioengineered humans that are illegal on Earth. His investigation leads him
to the Tyrell Corporation, a company that manufactures the type of replicant he’s
tracking down. It is there that he administers a “Voight-Kampff” test on Tyrell’s
assistant Rachael – the test is meant to test if a being is human or replicant,
and he discovers that she is a replicant who believes she is human. After a bit
more investigation and some run-ins with rogue replicants, Rachael comes to Deckard’s
apartment to try and prove that she really is human.
2.
What is the theme of
this film?
I
would say the theme of Blade Runner is
how consciousness, morality and empathy constitute humanness. A lot of the
events in this movie are there to prove that replicants can both be good and
evil, just like humans. Replicants can have empathy, and some have such strong
consciousness that they believe they are human, like Rachael and Deckard.
3.
What is the story—the
beginning, middle, and end—of your scene in three or four sentences? In other
words, what happens as the scene starts, as it progresses, and as it ends?
Rachael questions whether or not Deckard
believes she’s a replicant, and then tries to prove to him that she isn’t by
showing him an old family photo. To her disappointment and shock, he begins
reiterating detailed memories from her past, saying that they’re implanted and
belong to someone else – specifically, Tyrell’s niece. She becomes distressed and
emotional as she realizes he may be right, and she discards the photo before
briskly leaving his apartment.
4. What, specifically, must the audience understand
narratively in order to engage in this scene? How does the director communicate
each piece of information?
I think the most important thing to
understand about these characters and this scene is that Deckard isn’t
heartless – his task in the narrative is to hunt and kill replicants, but he
isn’t a monster. He knows he’s hurting Rachael by saying her memories are
fabricated and that she’s a replicant, and once she shows signs of emotional distress,
he tries to backtrack and get her a drink to make up for it. Deckard isn’t
antagonistic even though he may appear that way in this scene. I think it’s
also important to understand that the director chose to give Rachael very human
emotions, making even the audience doubt that she’s a replicant.
5. What is the narrative, emotional and thematic purpose of
this scene in the larger story?
This scene is a huge plot point for
Deckard and Rachael’s relationship. Rachael isn’t scared of Deckard at the end of this, even though she knows he
knows that she’s a replicant. He isn’t going to hunt and kill her even though
her presence on Earth is technically illegal. It’s less about that and more
about the fact that they share an emotional connection – Deckard doesn’t want
to hurt her, but feels she has the right to know that her memories are
implanted. Even though Rachael is upset at the end of this scene, overall this
difficult interaction proves to strengthen their relationship and their trust
in each other, especially when Deckard realizes he’s a replicant.
6. What emotion do you think the director wanted the
audience to experience in this scene? Why? How did the director achieve this?
How do you intend to do this?
I think the director wants the
audience to feel empathy toward Rachael – having an identity crisis is a human
thing, albeit hers is a little different than the typical identity crisis.
Point is, the emotions she’s going through as Deckard reiterates her memories are
visible on her face and in her acting, and it’s hard to watch. She’s losing any
sense of anything she thought was true, and that’s a hopeless place to be. It’s
a place no one ever wants to find themselves. The cinematography aids this,
because as Rachael is becoming more and more distressed, the camera closes in and
the shots get tighter. Then, when Deckard is finished with the conversation,
the shots widen out – both Rachael and Deckard look very alone in the frame. I’ll
replicate the cinematography to create these emotions, and I hope I can get the
same sort of subtle but powerful emotions that Sean Young portrays as Rachael.
7.
What is the first
image of the scene? What is the final image of the scene? Why do you think the
director chose these specific images?
The
first image is Rachael, surrounded by darkness, only her face illuminated. She
questions whether or not Deckard really believes she’s a replicant. The last
image is Deckard surrounded by the same sort of darkness, only half of his face
illuminated. He’s just watched Rachael leave in distress and now feels very
alone. Filming these two characters in the same way at the opening and closing
of this scene feels very intentional – they’re both in dark places during this
scene, and experience difficult emotions of identity loss, confusion, guilt and
empathy. I think it’s also important to note that the opening shot of Rachael puts
her on the right third, while in Deckard’s closing frame, he’s on the left
third. Even though they aren’t in the same room anymore, it’s like they’re
still talking.
8. Why is this scene personal to you? What previous personal
experience(s) does it remind you of? Ask yourself, “Why do I need to make this scene?”
I think we all go through a sort of
identity crisis phase at some point in our lives, and I definitely experienced
that as a teenager when I was trying to figure a lot of things out about
myself. Obviously the gravity of Rachael’s identity crisis is more intense than
mine – she’s finding out she isn’t even human – but I find her distress and
emotion relatable here.
9.
Which specific visual elements (line, shape,
space, tone, color, rhythm, movement) do you notice the director is using to
purposefully communicate the emotion of the scene? What other elements is the
director using to evoke emotion? (Be specific! Don’t just say “art direction,”
although that’s a start, say, “scattered clothing on the bed, open closet
doors…” etc.)
One
thing this scene does really well is associate certain shapes and lines with
certain characters. Rachael’s clothing is inherently round and has soft edges,
like her billowing collar, and so does the style of her hair. All around, she
looks much “softer” than Deckard. This entire scene takes place in Deckard’s
apartment, which is full of harsh lines and shapes. The walls are covered in a
square design, and most of the furniture, shelves, and lighting have sharp
edges and 90-degree corners. For this reason, Rachael really stands out from
her surroundings. The gravity of the scene is also communicated in the lighting,
which is deliberately sourcey and high contrast. The characters’ eyes really
stand out from the background more than anything else, which is ironic because
their eyes make them the most human – and later in the film we discover that
Deckard is a replicant just as well as Rachael.
10.
What focal lengths
does the director appear to be using? Why?
He actually appears to be using wider
lenses for most of the shots, and I think this works well to orient the audience
in Deckard’s apartment. As the emotions heighten, especially with Rachael, the
lenses get longer and the shots get tighter – the audience feels just as
trapped as she does. When she’s finally defeated and realizes she’s probably a
replicant, the lenses get very wide, even to 14mm, communicating her loneliness
and hopelessness.
11. In a bulleted list, describe two or three potential
obstacles the filmmakers faced in creating a successful scene. How do you think
they overcame these?
·
One
thing that always gets me about Blade
Runner is the costuming. It’s just really incredible. This scene in
particular used Rachael’s costume to communicate something about her character –
as I’ve mentioned before, she really stands out against the harsh lines and
shapes of Deckard’s apartment because her clothing and hair have so many round
edges. The filmmakers had to be very conscious about exactly how she looked in
this scene, and exactly how Deckard looked as well, because they needed to
contrast each other.
·
I
didn’t expect this, but I think there were some obstacles with the writing of
this scene – particularly the dialogue. As I was searching for the Blade Runner shooting script, I kept running
across versions of the script where this scene was missing or very different.
It took me a while to find the right script. This makes me think that this was
a difficult interaction to approach, because it covers so many emotions and it’s
a huge moment of character development for both Rachael and Deckard. It just
goes to show that to get something right, sometimes you have to try a lot of
different things and different approaches, which is what I think happened with
this scene.
12.
In a bulleted list,
describe two or three potential obstacles you
may face in creating a successful scene. How can you be prepared to overcome
these? Be specific!
·
The
hardest thing for me, I think, will be finding a location. It’s one thing to
find a location with a big window – a pretty hard thing to come across when
most of your resources are college apartments – but it’s another thing to find
a location with such a uniquely-shaped kitchen. There is a lot of texture going
on in the location as well, which will be almost impossible to find and
difficult to replicate.
·
I’m
not much of a director so I think it’ll be difficult to pull such natural
emotions out of the actress I choose for Rachael. It’s one thing to show the
actress the scene from the actual movie before we shoot it – it’s another thing
to recreate those emotions and make them look natural. I think one way to
overcome this is to make sure I’m friends with the actress I cast, and I
already have a few ideas in mind.
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