Tuesday 17/2/20 - Tears in the rain

Whilst researching through my influences I looked over one in particular, the hit sci-fi film Blade Runner. More specifically the iconic monologue 'Tears in the rain' during the climax of the film where the main antagonist Roy Batty (played by the late Rutger Hauer) delivers a powerful speech to the main protagonist Rick Deckard (played by Harrison Ford). It is considered 'perhaps the most moving death soliloquy in cinematic history'. This speech in particular is about Batty reflecting on the experiences in his short life space of 4 years and his imminent mortality.

"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die."

This speech is so significant because it is in reference to the finiteness of human life, how all these experiences and memories of brilliance and wonder will soon be lost 'like tears in the rain'. Everything we live through will be lost however, that's the beauty of it. What really made this speech more impactful was the fact that it was delivered by a replicant (artificial intelligence) to a human, a machine understood what it means to be human more than an actual human.

I want the idea of impermanence of human life to be a theme in my project, I'd like to explore it through visuals and cinematography techniques. One shot in particular that I hope to have will actually be taken from my video workshop as stated previously, the final one to be precise.