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Seed Mid & Craig Hodget 'Seed Mid's Movie Artwork'
The Untold Story Behind the Legendary SF Designer's Future City Designs

On December 30th last year (local time), sad news arrived in Hollywood, USA. Visual artist Syd Mead passed away at the age of 86.

He was the person who designed the backgrounds for sci-fi films such as "Alien" (1979) and "Blade Runner" (1982). He expressed the coexistence of humans and machines in a futuristic society with a sensory style. By adding a technology-friendly worldview, he presented infinite possibilities to the matured film industry. "Blade Runner," which is now called the textbook of cyberpunk, is a representative example.

Mead depicted the future Los Angeles as dark and chaotic. The city that slowly emerges in polluted acid rain and hazy light is filled with layers of tangled cables and abandoned buildings. At first glance, it seems unreal, but upon closer inspection, it is not much different from the world we live in today. This is because Mead understood and drew inspiration from objects and information based on cutting-edge technology at the time.

The convincing worldview can be seen in detail in "Syd Mead's Movie Artwork." It gathers and introduces the future designs in films that Mead worked on for 40 years. Each chapter is accompanied by the work process and hidden stories, providing help not only to movie fans but also to artists and designers.

Mead did not consider his imagination merely as a means of artistic expression. He realized imagined devices with precise engineering knowledge. He wanted to instill insight into objects and their surroundings and spark curiosity about the way the world flows.

The design that Mead put the most effort into in "Blade Runner" was the car. Director Ridley Scott attempted to show the future society with visuals that integrate reality and unreality. Mead thought the starting point was the car. He believed there was no better tool to explain the surrounding environment.

In fact, the taxis in the film provide many hints about the environment of future Los Angeles. Stores lined up between hazy lights. Armed police patrol divided zones in the crime-ridden area across the street. The lonely atmosphere of the buildings and the postures of people remind one of Edward Hopper’s lonely paintings. The future city was depicted almost like a world of nationalists.

Mead completed each element with original designs. Rather than creating anew, he strategically combined existing parts. Like visual artists such as Robert Rauschenberg who create new forms from scrap and various parts, he produced them. Thanks to this, "Blade Runner" evoked an atmosphere as if the Third World’s extreme poverty and great powers were merged.

Mead adhered to the working method he learned from his industrial design experience. As a result, he achieved stronger persuasiveness than the existing cartoonish and unrealistic future designs. Even the simple sketches in this book are rich in subsidiary details.

This also played a big role in conveying emotional empathy in the story. Rick Deckard’s (Harrison Ford) patrol car is a representative example. It was designed to harmonize with the driver, instantly showing Rick Deckard’s personality. It artistically expressed the fatal anguish of sci-fi films.

Mead also designed the future city for "Blade Runner 2049" (2017), produced 35 years later. Director Denis Villeneuve said, "I thought there was only one person who could create the dystopian charm of Las Vegas," and "As expected, Mead appeared with amazing visuals."

"I didn’t think Las Vegas would be pure, beautiful, or warm, so I didn’t specifically request a dark atmosphere. I just wanted a very strong beauty. I hope to feel that emotion once again."

Director Villeneuve cannot fulfill his dream. But he will remember each bold and technology-friendly image. Perhaps he was captivated by the power to evoke majestic and ideal emotions. The purple haze-covered sunset scenery that Mead often painted, as if he were still there. Rest in peace.