Photographs of Tokyo/ Environment research

    Below are a few pictures I found of the streets of Tokyo taken by a Japanese photographer Masashi Wakui. They have a cyberpunk feel to them and remind me of Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner from 1982. Cyberpunk stands out to me as a genre and even though it feels overused by independent game developers who combine the genre with pixelated graphics I would still like to bring an aspect of cyberpunk into my designs. The bright and colorful lights combined with rusty run down urban-metallic architecture has appealed to me. I can’t think of an example of demonology being represented within the cyberpunk genre (although there are some films which have combined horror with neo-noir) which is why I think it would be a unique and intriguing hybrid, besides a neon glowing crucifix in a metal cage sounds pretty cool. So far Wakui’s work has inspired me to create neon barber shop signs which light would reflect on the puddles on the street. On the sides there would be clusters of homeless addicts affected by demon infected blood. I can use these pictures as reference photographs for the environment design of the street outside of the barbershop.

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Below are some examples of environment design from Blade Runner which is a great example of a Cyberpunk genre. I could also use some of these as reference images. The set design is filled with bright lights and neon signs contrasting with a dark background. I could incorporate this into my own designs.

blade runner collage

 

Metropolis (1927) is another example of a Cyberpunk environment. Below are some examples from the film which I can yet again use as reference images for my thumbnail environment design. I like the German Expressionist style of this with painted backgrounds juxtaposing metallic props. Rough, canted angles and geometric feel of these designs are also inspiring.

 

Metropolis collage

Bibliography

http://sobadsogood.com/2016/01/07/tokyos-hidden-streets-look-they-are-straight-movie/

I found Blade Runner & Metropolis images on Google Images.

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