I’m not kidding with that “beautiful” up there. These aren’t even photos, they’re scans of slides, and you just would not think they were taken over 30 years ago, during the making of one of the greatest science fiction films of all time. They look like they were shot yesterday, on a very expensive modern camera.
The images were posted earlier today by minicity in this gallery, which focus mainly on three things: flying cars, the Tyrell Corporation’s headquarters (and surrounds) and the space blimp that wants everyone to get their arse off this planet.
Note the scale on Deckard’s car: because Blade Runner was shot entirely using practical, on-screen effects, they actually built a few different models of the car in different sizes, and would switch them up depending on the shot.
My favourite pics, though, might be those showing the city skyline around the Tyrell building. I always assumed it was a matte painting; seeing that it’s a series of model sheets that were actually lit up just blows my mind.
Comments
7 responses to “142 Beautiful Photos Of Blade Runner’s Model Cars, Buildings”
Man I wish the industry was still full of miniatures. It is so much better than CG, even 70’s sci-fi films that are pretty cheesy still have such a better feeling than today’s CG films. Practical FX is still king, I hope there’s a resurgence some day :
Yeah, that’s one of many things that I loved so much about Duncan Jones’ Moon. If you haven’t already seen it then go and watch it! Actually, I think it’s time I went back and watched it again.
Oh man, check out Manborg. Its a stupid awesome movie made by some makeup artists. So its low budget and it has some cg thats really bad, but its practical FX are really good. Love it to bits.
Actually, there is some push back agains cgi, apparently:
http://www.cracked.com/article_22196_7-amazing-movie-special-effects-you-wont-believe-arent-cgi.html
This is a great article Luke. It’s awesome to be reminded of the days people spent hours making things by hand, as opposed to today’s over the top CGI trend.
The alien that was a rubber suit in Alien still looks scarier than almost all CG aliens made since then.
I’d also say the alien in Alien was much better than the too short Tom Woodruff in the later films.
These photos are really interesting. I don’t think I have ever seen the top half of the blimp before.
I also don’t remember when the space truck appeared.
So… when it the book coming out? Surely these belong in a book to be purchased.