Tai's eyes: What is Sci-Fi?

Sci-Fi

What is sci-fi?-

Sci-Fi, or Science Fiction, is a genre that typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts, such as advanced science and technology, space, time travel, and other dystopian ideals that have a realistic feel. It’s a genre that relies heavily on scientific facts, theories, and principles as support for its settings and plot. Sci-fi gained its popularity in the 1950s. Because of such large technological developments during world war 2, the public's imagination grew larger thus propelling sci-fi into what it is today. A common misapprehension is a difference between fantasy and sci-fi as they are subjective and meticulous in what belongs where. Fantasy Involves things that don’t exist in our reality. Science fiction is almost related to real things and based on science and technology.

Contents-

~Space/space travel

Space is one of the main settings in a Sci-fi film. The possibility of inhabiting space and experiencing space travel at lightspeed is an idea that filmmakers like to take and constitute it to make it their own. Even though more than a quarter of Sci-fi movies are set in space or have space travel embedded into the film, each film is unique and usually very well made.

~Advanced Technology

Many Sci-fi films are set in either the future or an alternate more advanced reality like for example Wakanda from black panther. It only makes sense to add amazing technology you'd never see or think of, and get put into action in a super cool sequence. Yet ironically, many developers get their ideas on technology from Sci-fi films. Which is both very cool and very terrifying.

~The chosen one trope

The main character, in a not great environment, has been chosen to protect whatever from some higher power that precedes them and is now on a grand mission to save the what nots or to break humanity free of something. That simple trope just described 20 Sci-Fi movies, and The Mazerunner and The Matrix are perfect examples of films with the chosen one trope.

~Dystopia

Dystopia aids in the root for character development in sci-fi films. It's usually masked as a utopia in the beginning but it's then revealed how awful the system in which the world they live in is as we see the character gain a mind of their own after breaking free from whatever was holding them back. The dystopia adds tension but also can make the audience worry and care for their characters because of this tension. A lot of dystopian movies end in civil war. A common theme in dystopian films is their headings about humanity. The Giver and Fahrenheit 451 are great examples of dystopian films with warnings to humanity in them.

~Techniques

Editing- Imaginative editing in films by editing together shots of the mc reactions before he actually reveals what they're looking at, This creates suspense for the audience, as they wonder what amazing thing they're about to be shown. CGI is also heavily used in Sci-fi movies to create the reality in that world.

Shot techniques- In sci-fi films extreme long shots are used to show the scale of how big or small something is. Close-ups are used for intimacy and to show emotions. Dutch angles are frequently used to show obscurity and the oddity and unsettling odd emotional or mental state of a character. Deep focus is where the foreground and background are both in focus to have the viewer's attention on everything in the frame. The rack focus which is also called a focus pull is used to bring the viewers' attention to something else in the frame. Over-the-shoulder shots cover the shoulder of another person to show an interaction between the two characters.

Sound- Unique sound is used like sound effects in back to the future, it's mostly sounds that wouldn’t be normal sounds that you hear on a daily basis. Music is also used to set the tones in the scene. Most of the sounds in sci-fi films are diegetic sounds since the sounds can be heard in the world of the film.

Mise en scene-

Costumes in sci-fi films are subjective to the film but the costume design is usually very outlandish and out-of-this-world styles, the colors of sci-fi movies are cold hues and very dark colors. And set design is usually very dystopian.

Marketing-

The target audience for sci-fi is to people who love futuristic technology, space and/or aliens. The marketing for this genre also tends to include all the main characters of the film in the poster with the main protagonist enlarged over all the other characters and the location of the film showing.

The trailers often involve some dialogue between two characters or a narration over an intense score from the film giving a short summary of the world they live in and then ending the trailer with the main antagonist.

Examples-

Dune

follows Paul Atreides, a gifted young man born into

a great destiny beyond his understanding.

Paul must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe

to ensure the future of his family and his people.

This film uses many high angles and extreme long shots and

dark lighting to insinuate the grandiose malevolence that is yet to come.