BladeZone's Off World Forums

In the South Bay region of Los Angeles County, there are several refineries. Most date back to the 1940s-1960s. The last refinery built in the region was completed in 1976. Currently these old refineries are cranky and creaky and prone to failures. Note also that the old flare system for burning off buildup of volatiles is no longer in use. Many have been switched over to cogeneration systems for burning off the volatile compounds that would once be torched: these small facilities actually generate energy with the unwanted byproducts of the refining process.

Here are some photos which depict LA's own refineries, no doubt an influence on the look and feel of Blade Runner.

Love that last pic. Man, I could make a BR fanfilm there that'd look like a million bucks!

I read somewhere that those opening shots in BR were directly inspired by Chicago's refineries seen at the beginning of The Blues Brothers. Can anyone confirm?

From an article I wrote on Douglas Trumbull:

?The opening scene, what we call Hades Landscape, this kind of Hellish Los Angeles, was made up of quite a few different components. A photographer and I went down to El Segundo, California to this maze of endless petroleum cracking plants. We went down there with still cameras and photographed several thousand photographs of these silhouettes of these weird towers and strange tubes, and started building up an idea for this landscape which was going to be made up of layers and layers and layers of little silhouetted microscopically small buildings. ?

Mr. Trumbull has some of the actual photographs. However, I could not use them for the article.

what a pity i want to see those pics..

i recognise the picture, its called Sheffield over here!

Newark, New Jersey is just like that. Everytime I'm on the turnpike heading south and pass up Newark, I think of the Hades Landscape.