After more than a year
of intensive labor, the visual effects craftsmen at Entertainment Effects
Group have produced the definitive urban future for Blade Runner
- Ridley Scott's
stylish homage to film noir. A polluted overpopulated megalopolis,
the Blade Runner
city
was created largely with miniatures and matte paintings - and effectssupervisors
Douglas
Trumbull, Richard
Yuricich and David
Dryer detail the arduous process
by which it was generated and captured on film. On a broader scale, director
Ridley Scott and design consultant Syd
Meaddiscuss the evolution of the project and the
philosophy behind its distinctive ambience. Adding further dimension are
director of
miniature photography Dave
Stewart and cameraman Don
Baker, matte painters Matthew
Yuricichand Rocco
Gioffre, designer Tom Cranham, model shop supervisorsMark
Stetson and Wayne Smith and modelmaker Bill
George, animation supervisor John
Wash and cameraman Glenn
Campbell. Compsy tech director Richard
Hollander, optical supervisor
Robert Hall, matte cameraman Robert Baily, still photographer Virgil Mirano,
lab liaison Jack Hinkle and effects auditor Diana Gold. Together, they
present one of the
most thorough accounts ever of a major special effects project - covering
the design, construction
and photography of the massive Tyrell pyramids, the vast Hades wasteland,
the extended cityscapes and the wondrous flying vehicles.
Article by
Don Shay
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