Creating Believability | Familiar Setting

The familiarity (or the lack there of) in the settings enhances the believability of the plot in the film because it helps us understand more about what is going on. The more we can engage into the possibility of the scenario, the fearful we are of the impending crisis. The setting can be of location, architecture or even a gesture of people and their attire.

In Blade Runner, the world of LA 2019 is quite believable to be an unappealing place where the city is filled with artificial neon lights that have replaced natural sunlight. The ever bright and huge illuminated signage adds to the sense of disorientation and chaos portrayed and with environmental alert of global warming, it is not all that surprising to believe in the possibility of this futuristic setting. The film also uses recognizable buildings in the set such as L.A's landmark, The Bradbury building. As a landmark, it is credible that it would have been preserved until 2019, even if the usage of that building has changed. The film is set 37 years into the future, so it is very conceivable that the buildings shown still exist. Furthermore, the opportunity to contrast familiar settings from now and their possible future strengthens the dystopian state of the viewers' understanding of the film's theme.

In animation films such as Akira (left) and Metropolis(right), describes the potential Neo-Tokyo would be like--it has high-rise buildings popping out every which way for Tokyo is an island, and it is logical to build up to accommodate for the growing population. The art-deco style in Metropolis is familiar and the dystopia comes from seeing it the past distorted in the future setting.

In Metropolis 1927 (left) and Alphaville (middle; right), the film noir genre, have settings that convey a sense of believability in this future environment because the plot communicated and the way the characters react to this environment seems so real. In Metropolis, the large towers forms the grandiosity of the city, which in the film clearly marks the split between the workers down below and the business men up above. In Alphaville, despite the Modern Architecture, it is hard to tell what is where, with the neon lights everywhere. The disorientation of things artificial makes the setting familiar yet unsettling.

Clockwork Orange(left) and Brazil (right) have settings that keeps on changing from the familiar to the unrecognizable. In Clockwork Orange, the setting changes from ultra modern, sculptural-like Korova milkbar to an old London prison. This confusion and the disconnection between the settings is what create believability in the film. In Brazil, the setting is constantly being destroyed during the film. The set where part of the restaurants is bombed and how people don't seem to shock makes the viewer think that the terrorist attacks are part of an everyday life in the future and that is disturbing.



	The familiarity (or the lack there of) in the settings enhances the believability of the plot in the film because it helps us understand more about what is going on. The more we can engage into the possibility of the scenario, the fearful we are of the impending crisis. The setting can be of location, architecture or even a gesture of people and their attire. In Blade Runner, the world of LA 2019 is quite believable to be an unappealing place where the city is filled with artificial neon lights that have replaced natural sunlight. The ever bright and huge illuminated signage adds to the sense of disorientation and chaos portrayed and with environmental alert of global warming, it is not all that surprising to believe in the possibility of this futuristic setting. The film also uses recognizable buildings in the set such as L.A's landmark, The Bradbury building. As a landmark, it is credible that it would have been preserved until 2019, even if the usage of that building has changed. The film is set 37 years into the future, so it is very conceivable that the buildings shown still exist. Furthermore, the opportunity to contrast familiar settings from now and their possible future strengthens the dystopian state of the viewers' understanding of the film's theme. In animation films such as Akira (left) and Metropolis(right), describes the potential Neo-Tokyo would be like--it has high-rise buildings popping out every which way for Tokyo is an island, and it is logical to build up to accommodate for the growing population. The art-deco style in Metropolis is familiar and the dystopia comes from seeing it the past distorted in the future setting. In Metropolis 1927 (left) and Alphaville (middle; right), the film noir genre, have settings that convey a sense of believability in this future environment because the plot communicated and the way the characters react to this environment seems so real. In Metropolis, the large towers forms the grandiosity of the city, which in the film clearly marks the split between the workers down below and the business men up above. In Alphaville, despite the Modern Architecture, it is hard to tell what is where, with the neon lights everywhere. The disorientation of things artificial makes the setting familiar yet unsettling. Clockwork Orange(left) and Brazil (right) have settings that keeps on changing from the familiar to the unrecognizable. In Clockwork Orange, the setting changes from ultra modern, sculptural-like Korova milkbar to an old London prison. This confusion and the disconnection between the settings is what create believability in the film. In Brazil, the setting is constantly being destroyed during the film. The set where part of the restaurants is bombed and how people don't seem to shock makes the viewer think that the terrorist attacks are part of an everyday life in the future and that is disturbing.