Rough sketch - yes, this is MS Paint, so the art is not the best
I elaborated on my former Blade Runner obsession here. To avoid my work in school assignments going to waste, I will post my final project drawing and the accompanying analysis. I tried to cover almost every interesting point during the heyday of my obsession. This is the project proposal; here is the analysis, part 2.
Dickson He
Professor Doe
Apocalypticism in Film, Section 2
8 October 2014
Creative Project
Proposal: Art of the Setting of Blade
Runner
Although I grew up in the suburbs, I
have always been entranced by large cities and the opportunities, diversity,
and mix of people they present. Of course, there are also negative aspects like
crowdedness, pollution, and seemingly extended gray weather, but these neurotic
elements can add to the mystiques of places like Boston and New York City.
While I have only went to New York City once, its fast pace and hypnotic lights
has left an indelible imprint. Blade
Runner takes place in a dystopian future Los Angeles, and pictures of the
movie on Google Images immediately connect with my lust and fascination for
cities and apocalyptic sci-fi like Neon
Genesis.
I propose a creative drawing project
with a working title of A Perspective on Blade
Runner, subject to change and elaboration depending on the direction of
what I draw. It will be individual, and it should be noted that I have not seen
the movie yet. The thesis focus of the project and accompanying paper and
presentation will be along the lines of, “How does the city setting influence
the plot and themes of Blade Runner?”
The project will
be a detailed black-and-white or primarily grayscale cityscape drawing (depending
on how easily and well the colors fill) likely created and executed with MS
Paint on a touchscreen computer. A stylus will be used for precision and finer
points, but if digital art proves too cumbersome to make, traditional pencil, paper,
and scanner will be used (unlikely). I will try to incorporate notable visual
elements from the film along with some personal creative and aesthetic takes
that enhance the famous setting of the movie. From my currently limited
knowledge of the film, Blade Runner uses
classical Hollywood style at least to some extent, which “’spoon feeds’ story
information to the spectator, thus keeping everything clearly understood by the
audience” (Benshoff and Griffin 23); this makes the setting an important anchor
and backdrop, provided that the characters do not constantly leave.
Although the
presentation schedule has not been uploaded, I would prefer to present in the
middle of the three classes on class twelve. As a creative project, it will have
an individual, informal presentation. I would like to email the professor with
the digital art and bring my laptop as backup along with an HDMI cable and
mini-HDMI adapter, though I would much prefer to and will very likely use the
instructor’s projector and computer equipment as the adapter is probably broken.
The file will be in standard picture format.
Thus, the working
timeline is as follows: Class seven, October 15th – Class will watch
and analyze Blade Runner. Thereafter,
I will begin outlining, drafting, and completing the artwork. Class twelve,
November 19th – Hopefully, the project will be completed, emailed,
and presented; if not finished, class thirteen, December 3rd, is the
final deadline.
I do not foresee
much concerns, difficulties, or downside risks to the completion of this
project besides opting for hand-drawn art or an unlikely delay leading to a
class thirteen/December 3rd presentation. The project follows a
“conceptually future-directed state” that has “as part of its content, a
concept of the future” (Rowlands 247), which is a future of completion. Hopefully,
the artwork will be finished as high-quality, interesting, and stimulative!
Works Cited
Benshoff, Harry M., and Sean Griffin. "The Structure and
History of Hollywood Filmmaking." America
on Film: Representing Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality at the Movies. 2nd
ed. Malden: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009. 21-44. Print.
Rowlands, Mark. "Blade
Runner: Death and the Meaning of Life." Sci-Phi: Philosophy from Socrates to Schwarzenegger. New York: St.
Martin's Press, 2005. 233-258. Print.
