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The Cinematography of Blade Runner 2049 - Part 1

Denis Villeneuve and Roger Deakins have become a pairing that dreams are made of, and before the first trailer had even dropped for Blade Runner 2049, everyone already knew they were in for a visual spectacle that would be appreciated for years to come.
Bagging Roger Deakins his 14th Oscar Nomination and well overdue win, it's not too far fetched to say that Blade Runner 2049 is one of the most beautiful films ever made, with director Denis Villeneuve calling it "the most expensive art house film ever made". So let us all appreciate and gaze in awe at some of the stunning work put into Blade Runner 2049.
Image result for roger deakins blade runner
It's well documented that the camera that made Roger Deakins start shooting digital rather than film was the Arri Alexa. Deakins had shot all of his work on film up until 2011 where he used the Alexa for the first time on Andrew Niccol's "In Time". So it's no surprise that Blade Runner 2049 was shot on the Alexa. In fact it was shot on 3, the Arri Alexa Plus, Arri Alexa XT Studio and the Arri Alexa Mini. The only other camera used on the film was a Canon 1DC used by Weta Workshop whilst filming the miniature effects shots.

Paired with the Alexa, Deakins used his much beloved Arri/Zeiss Master Prime lenses for everything. A very clean and sharp lens that gives the movie it's filmic quality. Deakins probably had access to the full range of focal lengths.
Image result for zeiss master prime
I've spent some time breaking down some of the shots from the first part of the movie. Adding colour palettes, aspect ration and focal length of the lenses used. Just a disclaimer, I obviously wasn't on the set of Blade Runner 2049 so I'm not 100% certain on the exact focal lengths that Deakins used, but I've made some pretty educated guesses based on both my own experiences using the Alexa with Zeiss Master Primes, as well as interviews, on set photos and knowledge of what lenses Deakins tends to favour.


















If you liked this post and want to see more stuff like this, it would mean a lot if you could check out my book, "The Colour of Film" over on Amazon where I breakdown and discuss how filmmakers use colour to tell a story in films such as Blade Runner 2049, Moonlight, Schindler's List, Three Colours Blue and many many more. I've poured a lot of my knowledge and put so much effort into making this book, and it's only $3.99 on Amazon. It would seriously mean a lot and it goes a long way supporting me make more posts like this on here and on Instagram! Thank you!

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