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‘Blade Runner 2049’ VFX reel breaks down that unexpected reveal
Despite the insane stakes, this year's Blade Runner 2049 lived up to (and in some ways surpassed) the paradigm-shifting original film. The sequel created its gritty futuristic look with the help of plenty of visual effects, but building settings isn't all the film pulled off with digital wizardry. A shocking moment comes with the kinda-return of (*spoilers*) Sean Young's replicant Rachel, who looks like she hasn't aged a day. The company behind that VFX trick just released a trailer giving a peek at exactly how they did it.
'Blade Runner 9732' recreates Deckard's apartment in VR
Fans of Blade Runner can now have an interactive snoop through spacecop Rick Deckard's LA apartment thanks to a lovingly-built, fan-made virtual tour. The game, Blade Runner 9732 (the number of Deckard's apartment, obviously) has been created by super fan Quentin Lengele, who's faithfully recreated as much of the set as possible for you to explore. Yes, the ESPER machine is there, and yes, you can sit on the balcony watching the rain-lashed city.
'Blade Runner 2049' VFX reel shows CG tricks behind bleak landscapes
There's no question that Blade Runner 2049 revolves around computer-generated effects, whether it's the retro-futuristic technology or its holographic AI personas. However, the CG is more pervasive than you might think. Rodeo FX has released a visual effects reel for Denis Villeneuve's bleak sci-fi movie, and it's evident that even the seemingly mundane shots were draped in digital artwork. Caution: there are mild spoilers ahead.
The best movies and music to give as gifts
Not everything in our holiday gift guide is a gadget, per se. We know that media, including physical media, make good gifts, so made sure to include a few DVDs, plus some manga and a vinyl record, to boot. Depending on your loved one's taste, you'll want to buy them Blade Runner: The Final Cut in 4K, Spider-Man: Homecoming (also in 4K) or Planet Earth II -- another great way to make the most out of a UHD TV. For the binge-watcher in your life, you might consider scooping up the soundtrack to Netflix's Stranger Things, available in several volumes. And, for that person in your life who loves graphic novels, we recommend the hardcover version of Ghost in the Shell, volumes 1, 2 and 3.
‘Altered Carbon,’ Netflix’s answer to ‘Blade Runner,’ debuts in February
Looking for something to sate your Blade Runner appetite until this year's 2049 hits Blu-ray? Then take a look at the first trailer for Netflix's upcoming sci-fi serial Altered Carbon. The quick look has it all: grimy retro-futuristic flying cars, lots of rain, at least one trench coat and a neon-drenched market scene. As far as actual story goes, the series is based on Richard K. Morgan's books of the same name and follows protagonist Takeshi Kovacs as he investigates a murder. The twist? Human consciousness has been digitized and Kovacs was dead for a few centuries prior to being resurrected to take the case. Yeah.
Snapchat's new ad formats are designed to keep you watching
This week, Snapchat debuted two new ad styles meant to engage its users more and encourage less skipping, TechCrunch reports. So far, the app's ads have largely consisted of short videos, which followed the last clip in a Story or were placed throughout Discover content, as well as sponsored Lenses that promoted some sort of product. Now, advertisers will have the option of putting together a Promoted Story or an AR Trial ad.
Apps and gadgets for the 'Blade Runner' future we didn’t ask for
Punks, monks and Harrison Ford running scared through a poisonous cityscape were just a few of the details that made the original Blade Runner feel like its environment was a standalone character in the film. It felt as alien and familiar as the way we live today, with an environment turning against us, a government that couldn't care less and a corporate ruling class that would make the Tyrell Corporation jealous. The dystopian world of Blade Runner felt like it had naturally come to be. Unlike the version of Blade Runner we seem to be living in now, which feels like someone threw a switch at New Year's, and surprise, we're living in hell. Suddenly we have to catch up to living in dystopian fiction really fast, lest we die from fires, hurricanes, connected Nazis or nuclear war. So it's probably best that we use every bit of tech to our advantage so we make it to the next noodle bar, as it were.
Designing the technology of ‘Blade Runner 2049’
This article contains spoilers for 'Blade Runner 2049' There's a scene in Blade Runner 2049 that takes place in a morgue. K, an android "replicant" played by Ryan Gosling, waits patiently while a member of the Los Angeles Police Department inspects a skeleton. The technician sits at a machine with a dial, twisting it back and forth to move an overhead camera. There are two screens, positioned vertically, that show the bony remains with a light turquoise tinge. Only parts of the image are in focus, however. The rest is fuzzy and indistinct, as if someone smudged the lens and never bothered to wipe it clean. Before leaving the room, K asks if he can take a closer look. The blade runner -- someone whose task it is to hunt older replicants -- dances over the controls, hunting for a clue. As he zooms in, the screen changes in a circular motion, as if a series of lenses or projector slides are falling into place. Before long, K finds what he's looking for: A serial code, suggesting the skeleton was a replicant built by the now defunct Tyrell Corporation. Throughout the movie, K visits a laboratory where artificial memories are made; an LAPD facility where replicant code, or DNA, is stored on vast pieces of ticker tape; and a vault, deep inside the headquarters of a private company, that stores the results of replicant detection 'Voight-Kampff' tests. In each scene, technology or machinery is used as a plot device to push the larger narrative forward. Almost all of these screens were crafted, at least in part, by a company called Territory Studios.
Recommended Reading: 'Lore' makes the leap from podcast to TV
'Lore' Proves Podcasts Can Inspire Disturbingly Effective TV Bryan Bishop, The Verge A year after Amazon greenlit the television adaption of the popular podcast, Lore debuted this week. The Verge reviews the series as it makes the jump from audio to visual, exploring whether or not the storytelling medium can be the basis for good television. Meanwhile, we're still waiting on that Serial TV show.
'Blade Runner 2049' dives deeper on AI to transcend the original
Blade Runner 2049 is a miracle. It's a sequel that nobody really wanted -- certainly not fans of the seminal 1982 original by Ridley Scott. And ponderous explorations of artificial intelligence aren't something that typically clicks with mainstream audiences. (The film's disappointing box office results seems to make that clear.) But it turns out that Blade Runner 2049 -- directed by Denis Villeneuve -- is actually an ideal sequel. It builds on its incredibly influential predecessor by asking deeper questions about AI. As the lines between humans and replicants blur, the idea of being "more human than human" seems truer than ever. Spoilers ahead for Blade Runner 2049.
Recommended Reading: The 'Blade Runner' effect on electronic music
Do Androids Dream Of Electronic Beats? Al Horner, FACT After months of teases, trailers and short films, Blade Runner 2049 is now in theaters. FACT takes a look at the original film's impact on music, including comments from electronic music legend Gary Numan on how he was influenced. There's also a 12-minute documentary to accompany the written portion, and it's well worth your time.
Snapchat's AR Lenses are the newest tool for ads
Remember Snapchat's dancing 3D hot dog? Well, you might start seeing a few more Lenses like that one because Snap is opening up its 3D World Lenses to advertisers. So far, it has partnered with Warner Bros. and Bud Light to create Lenses featuring the Blade Runner "Spinner" car and a bud light vendor.
The evolution of video-game cyberpunk: 'Ruiner' and 'Tacoma'
What does it even mean, cyberpunk?" It's a strange question coming from Magdalena Tomkowicz, the narrative designer of Ruiner, a top-down action game that takes place in an anime-inspired cyberpunk world. It just landed on Steam, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One this week from Polish studio Reikon Games, but fans of gritty sci-fi shooters have been looking forward to this one for months. The thing is, Tomkowicz and Creative Director Benedykt Szneider never intended to create a cyberpunk game. They're simply products of the 1980s, pulling inspiration from their favorite childhood stories -- Alien, Die Hard, Ghost in the Shell -- to create something of their own. Tomkowicz is also a former journalist who covered emerging technology and consumer trends, and her professional curiosity informed Ruiner's aesthetic far more than any desire to re-create the world of, say, Blade Runner. Besides, the traditional Blade Runner version of cyberpunk -- dense, dark city streets coated in smog and grime, eerily illuminated by walls of neon -- is out of touch with today's reality, according to Szneider and Tomkowicz. This aesthetic made sense in the '80s, but sci-fi is all about extrapolating from current technological and social trends, not clinging to 35-year-old ideas about the future. Blade Runner completely missed the advent of cellphones, after all. "It's like it's actually a retro-futuristic genre and something that is locked in its bubble," Tomkowicz says.
'Cowboy Bebop' director made a 'Blade Runner' animated short
Over 35 years since Blade Runner came out, its sequel is almost upon us. Blade Runner: 2049 hits theaters in less than a month. And (depending on who you ask) it's either been too long a wait, or it should never have seen the light of day. For anyone still on the fence, the film's marketing blitz is on hand to help part you from your cash. We've seen trailers, a VR tie-in, and a short prequel featuring Jared Leto's impeccable beard. Just in the last 24 hours, a new promo starring Dave Bautista has hit the web, along with another (more exciting) teaser: Sony Pictures just unveiled a new anime spinoff for the upcoming film.
'Nexus Dawn' explores story leading up to 'Blade Runner 2049'
Blade Runner 2049 picks up 30 years after the classic original movie, but what happened in the interim? Denis Villenueve, the sequel's director, tapped three creators to make short films exploring the events between the films. Watch the first one, 2036: Nexus Dawn, below:
See the first ‘Blade Runner 2049’ VR tie-in at Comic-Con
It's been a good few months for Blade Runner 2049 fans, what with the three amazing trailers already out for the upcoming reboot from director Ridley Scott. Now, we've got a new VR tie-in for the film, as Oculus plans to debut "Blade Runner 2049: Replicant Pursuit" at this year's Comic-Con in San Diego on July 21st. While crummy VR tie-ins are fairly de rigueur these days, Blade Runner seems like a pretty great fit for a VR experience, at least thematically. The "experience," created for Samsung's Gear VR, is the first of a planned trio of Blade Runner content, with each episode from a different developer.
New 'Blade Runner 2049' trailer teases more of Deckard’s story
We got our first real look at the upcoming Blade Runner sequel in May and today we get a little more with a new trailer. In this one we're given more views of the futuristic California setting and a few more plot details. And maybe even another hint as to Rick Deckard's true identity.
'Blade Runner 2049' trailer teases the replicant dilemma
If you're still debating whether a Blade Runner sequel was a good idea, you might want to see it anyway. Unlike the teaser we got back in December, Blade Runner 2049's first real trailer has more than vanity footage of Rick Deckard's return. Though it's edited to suggest Ryan Gosling's android hunter is about to ask the veteran Blade Runner the series' most haunting question, we'll have to wait until the film premieres on October 6th to see whether Harrison Ford was a robot all along.
Filmmaker Ridley Scott is committing to VR in a big way
Filmmaker Ridley Scott isn't a stranger to using emerging tech to push his creative vision. I mean, for all of Prometheus' faults, Scott's use of 3D wasn't one of them. Back in 2015 Scott said he was working on a a mystery VR project, so today's news that his RSA Films outfit is launching RSA VR as a company "dedicated" to virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed media perhaps isn't too surprising. However, it does signal that Scott has an eye to the future beyond whatever timelines the Alien and Blade Runner universes take place in. In fact, the first project for RSA VR is a previously-announced Alien: Covenant vignette.
'Blade Runner' fan project recreates a whole set in VR
If you're a movie buff, you've probably wished that you could walk into a scene and explore it on your own terms. Well, so did software engineer Quentin Lengele -- and he's close to making his dream a reality. He recently released footage of Blade Runner 9732, a years-long project that sets out to recreate Blade Runner protagonist Rick Deckard's apartment in virtual reality using the Unity engine. The effort models just about everything in obsessive (and to-scale) detail, right down to stray magazines and a view of the dystopic Los Angeles outside. And to no one's surprise, it captures the movie's all-important film noir lighting and sound environment.
