Analysis Opening Sequence 4*

Era, genre of film:

Blade Runner is a 1982 American science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, and Sean Young. The screenplay, written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples, is loosely based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Which is by Philip K. Dick.

Story line, topics, location and characters:

The film shows a dystopian Los Angeles in November 2019 in which genetically engineered organic robots called replicants which are visually indistinguishable from adult humans and are manufactured by the powerful Tyrell Corporation as well as by other "mega–manufacturers" around the world. Their use on Earth is banned and replicants are exclusively used for dangerous, menial or leisure work on off-world colonies. Replicants who defy the ban and return to Earth are hunted down and "retired" by police special operatives known as "Blade Runners". The plot focuses on a brutal and cunning group of recently escaped replicants hiding in Los Angeles and the burnt out expert Blade Runner, Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), who reluctantly agrees to take on one more assignment to track them down.

Sound-dialogue, music and props, sets:

The siren like sound at the beginning over the brief description of what the film is about could be to create a tense ambience and to make the audience feel of edge. The props of the spaceships and the sound of explosions in Los Angeles shows how destructive the scene is. Later on in the film it includes different diegesis as the studio inserted a film-noir style voiceover narration from Harrison Ford against the wishes of the director and it was only years later when the 'Director's Cut' was released without the voice-over that the audience caught onto the fact that the original has a less anchored, more ambiguous narrative. In the meantime the film had become a cult classic with the voice-over, featuring lines like 'I didn't know how long we would have together, but then again, who does?', a huge aspect of the film's popular appeal.

Editing styles, features and camera movement, framing:

The editing styles and features are quick and intrusive, the purpose of this is to show the catastrophe going on in Los Angeles. It starts off with a close up of the writing, then medium shot of Los Angeles then close up of Ford's eye to show what he is looking out onto.