In honor of Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC earning the ASC Award, Oscar and BAFTA Award this year for his camerawork in Blade Runner 2049, ASC is making the complete archive of content about the production available to everyone.
Acknowledging that Blade Runner 2049 was a project of far greater scale and ambition than either of his previous films with Villeneuve, Deakins nevertheless emphasized the need to keep things simple: to focus on character and emotion and let the lighting and framing follow appropriately.
Deakins speaks about working with Villeneuve and production designer Dennis Gassner (see interview here) to integrate the lighting and sets; for example, an early scene was designed so that Ryan Gosling’s character would remain in silhouette, something that was accomplished as much through architecture as lighting. He talks about achieving his color effects in camera rather than in post, a philosophy that extended to visual effects and other components of the visual style — wherever possible, he explained, he and Villeneuve sought to shoot everything practically in order to give greater detail and weight to the imagery.
You'll learn more about the film's look in this interview with production designer Dennis Gassner, who previously collaborated with Deakins on the features Jarhead and Skyfall.
Deakins previously collaborated with director Denis Villeneuve on the thrillers Prisoners and Sicario.
