I’m a fan of Sir Ridley Scott’s early body of work, when he would very conspicuously paint with light. He was initially derided then later lauded for his visual style, characterised with shafts of light lancing through a fog of smoke. I would often freeze the image when watching his films, such as Blade Runner and Alien, marvelling at his fastidious framing and lighting techniques, which ensure those films still hold up well to this day.

So just to try something different I had a go at emulating that style with a small diecast Airwolf model. While, of course, I was nowhere close to his expertise, it was still a stimulating challenge nonetheless, and at least an exercise in controlling and playing with arguably the most essential ingredient in photography – lighting. My aim was to create backlit silhouettes and a mysterious atmosphere where details would be secondary to impression. The results remind me of the contrasty silhouettes used in the Alien movies (the first of which was obviously directed by Sir Ridley).

These were actually very simple to do, and involved only a small torch and a vaping device.

When necessary the model was suspended with fishing line, or placed inside an upturned laundry basket, as it had perforated sides that allowed beams of light to form in the smoke.

Spinning rotors were added in post and contrast and colour was adjusted, but these are pretty much as shot in-camera. I used a zoom lens to ‘fatten’ the helicopter and tungsten white balance gave me the bluish tint. 

Short and sweet project. The video with music can be seen here.