AICE MEDIA STUDIES BLOG: Sci-Fi Research

Science fiction, sometimes known as sci-fi, is a genre that focuses on how real or made-up science affects societies. Due to their reliance on special effects, science fiction films have amassed one of the largest budgets in the industry over time. James Cameron, Christopher Nolan, and Steven Spielberg all played a part in the success of science fiction films.

Convections:

Time travel, artificial intelligence, good and evil, and apocalypses are all common themes in science fiction films. Each movie starts with a similar question, and as we develop, so too does our response, giving us the chance to experiment with mankind and consider various what-if scenarios.

For instance, the protagonist Dr. Dave Bowman and a few other astronauts are dispatched on a trip to space together with an artificial intelligence computer system, HAL, who serves as the antagonist in Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film 2001 A Space Odyssey. A tense fight between machine and human culminates in a stressful journey through spatial and temporal as HAL starts to act in more unexpected ways. As a result, tensions between technology and scientific research are featured in the film.

Marketing:

Social media is used today to increase the likelihood that potential viewers will be interested in seeing the movie. A social networking app called Snapchat makes filters that change the way your camera looks. Jennifer Lawrence's character Mystique in Bryan Singer's 2014 X-Men: Days of Future Past shapeshifts to blue in her natural form. The X-Men Snapchat filter allows users to shape-shift into a blue form and promotes the movie to the side.

The Embodiment of Science Fiction:

The 2017 Luc Besson-directed film Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets follows special agents Valerian and Laureline, played by Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevingne, as they collaborate to uphold order throughout the inhabited territories. The pair travels to Alpha, a metropolis where various species congregate to share knowledge and resources, on a task given by the military minister. The film is based on a Pierre Christin science fiction comic book. The historical period is the 28th century, as evidenced by establishing shots of space cities with flying spaceships providing transportation. As Valerian and Laureline continue their expedition, they encounter a variety of exotic creatures.

The Matrix, a classic 1999 film directed by Lana Wachowski, depicts the story of a criminal mastermind who joins an undercover insurgency against the massive and powerful computers that now dominate the planet in the 22nd century. The viewer is taken on a cinematic rollercoaster trip throughout the entire film. Because practical effects were less expensive than CGI, which was still in its development at the time the movie was made, the directors favored using them. The movie's green hue is an intriguing effect that has become synonymous with "The Matrix." Scenes outside of the software program are typically colored, but the frame is tinted an ominous green when viewing things unfold in The Matrix.