Media Studies Portfolio: November 2019

Cyberpunk

GENRE CONVENTIONS - CONTENT

Films in the cyberpunk genre typically involve technologically advanced societies in an urban dystopian future. Its a vision of the future, an advanced one but dirty rotten one too, showing off the disparity between the advanced state of technology and the low living standards. The focus being on "High tech and Low life". The genre usually aims to examine the humanity or loss of it in a society which has been left without it for so long. Don't forget the neon lights too, those are the most important.

Ex: Neon lights, Advanced Mega Cities

The story usually takes place within a futuristic mega city (as seen above), and is usually contained within these massive cities as that's all that left in these worlds. Usually contained only to these cities and not anywhere else. Cyberpunk stories take inspiration from current fears of the future which are conceptualized to fit the genre. There are typically many depictions of advanced tech, such as flying cars, androids, and cybernetic enhancements.

Image result for ghost in the shell opening

Ex: In Ghost in the Shell the main character lies within a robotic shell where her only organic component is her brain.

The typical character that are found in the cyberpunk genre are, cybernetically enhanced people, police, soldiers, robots, Artificial Intelligence, the upper class rich people, and the lower class poor bottom dwellers. Often times the environment is treated as much as a character as the protagonist is. Many cyberpunk stories the protagonist finds themselves in a moral gray area and in the world that they live in, it prompts them to reexamine their beliefs and perception of reality. The Journey they embark on is extremely personal. Usually the protagonist is resistant to going on said journey as they don't want to shatter their world view. By the end of the story the protagonist usually comes to face the ugly truth that they've been living.

Ex: The gross and dirty ground level where the lower class lives.
From Blade Runner.

Ex: Tyrell a rich man who created replicants
(Lit in a gold hue, showing his immense wealth).
From Blade Runner.

GENRE CONVENTIONS - PRODUCTION TECHNIQUES

Production techniques are used to fulfill a cyberpunks story's goal in creating a massive awe inspiring yet isolated and dirty vision of the future.
The production design, Set Design, Sound design, all the different types of design play a huge role in all cyberpunk media. Special effects are also very important. The set design is tailored to create a realistic grounded vision of the future, one that looks not too far off from our own. Sound design is utilized to create incredible city soundscapes as well as to deliver all the satisfying futuristic sounds needed. Most importantly a cyberpunk film cannot happen without special effects to deliver these future worlds which are massive in scale. They need some movie magic to show the reality that they have created, as there is nothing in our time that can substitute.

Image result for blade runner 2049 special effects

Image result for blade runner 2049 special effects

Ex: Blade Runner 2049 uses a blend of practical special effects and CGI to create it's environments.

Illustration for article titled The Art Of iBlade Runner 2049/i

Illustration for article titled The Art Of iBlade Runner 2049/i

Ex: This concept art from Blade Runner 2049 shows off how the cars from the film look as well as what the city surroundings look.
The cinematography is important to display the grunge atmosphere of cyberpunk media.

Akira
1988
Katsuhiro Otomo
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Akira showcases the cyberpunk genre in various ways. The main group of characters live in a huge futuristic city filled with incredible technology but the lives they live are not nearly as fantastic as the tech. They live the high tech and low life style. In the film there are dystopic themes of government and war, with its Japanese creators putting their fears of another nuclear attack like the ones in Hiroshima and Nagasaki of happening again. Akira has enhanced humans that are used as weapons. They serve as a parallel to weapons of mass destruction but personified. Saying that if these weapons were to be used again, could it result in the creation of people more dangerous than any weapon? In Akira Kaneda has to go on a personal journey as he faces his once friend turned into a monster by his environment and by Kaneda himself. The characters that we follow in the film are all apart of that lower class who lives at the bottom of these cities where everything is dirty and crime is rampant.

Blade Runner
1982
Ridley Scott
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Blade Runner takes place in Los Angeles, in the year 2019. It's first few frames showing the state of what should be familiar to instead look completely foreign. Los Angeles as we know it is now a huge city covered in giant electrical billboards on the side of buildings. Fire and pollutants spill from a farm of factories. It looks like hell on Earth. The protagonist is a cop who kills hunts down genetically engineered humans created in labs. Through this the protagonist goes on a deeply personal journey in which he grapples with the reality that these things that he was hunting down were people, just like him, and some of them didn't even know that they weren't human. So how could he even know for sure? Blade Runner displays that disparity of High tech and low life with flying cars and space colonies while showing the bottom levels of Earth to be in terrible condition. Special effects such as lots of miniatures are used to create the illusion of massive cites far beyond our current state. By the end of the film the protagonist sympathizes with the replicants that he used to hunt down.

Total Recall
(1990) Paul Verhoeven
Image result for Total Recall