Study on Cyberpunk Style in Movies

Abstract

Cyberpunk is a fusion of cybernetics and punk, also known as digital punk. It originates from science fiction and primarily explores the future development of humanity in relation to artificial intelligence. The purpose of this thesis is to study the influence of cyberpunk style on film-making's theme, graphics, and post-effects. The movie’s theme mainly centers around anti-Utopian ideas, exploring the future fate of mankind and artificial intelligence with a pessimistic prediction. It explores the potential threat that artificial intelligence poses to the future society under the civilization of high mechanical development so as to criticize the contemporary society and cause self-reflection of human beings. Cinematography mainly utilizes colorful sci-fi elements such as skyscrapers and neon lights to create a futuristic world. In terms of color matching, dark scenes use low saturated dark colors to create a gloomy rainy day feeling while bright scenes employ reds, purples, and other highly saturated hues for a magical atmosphere that increases contrast between light and dark colors for visual impact. The post-film picture effects and background sound effects are very important for cyberpunk movies. Picture effects adjust the hue, saturation and lightness of the bright parts and enhance 3D buildings and cars to create a futuristic intoxicating atmosphere. Meanwhile, the music combines industrial, rock and other music styles to collide with special effects and sound effects, creating a virtual future space. Analyzing the western movie The Matrix and the Chinese movie Heaven Sent confirms our viewpoints and put forward expectations for human society. Ultimately, it comes to the conclusion that cyberpunk is not only a style, but also a way to convey new ideas.