Science Fiction

The first thing i did was made a spider diagram on the sci-fi genre to see what ideas I related to it. I thought of aliens, futuristic, stars, space, technology, astronauts,time travel. I then looked at the science fiction genre in general.

Science fiction films are usually scientific, visionary, comic-strip-like, imaginative, and usually visualised through imaginative settings using advanced technology gadgets e.g. robots and spaceships and special effects. There are always heros and villains. They often take place on planets in space or in the future or another universe. Science-fiction cinema's origins come from the writers Jules Verne and H.G. Wells. Jules Verne wrote 'Two thousand leagues under the sea' in 1869 -1890 and 'A journey to the centre of the earth' in 1864. Jules Verne's work was much more futuristic he wrote 'Anticipations' in 1901, which experimented in prophesy, and 'War of the worlds' in 1898. Science fiction films may provide a grim outlook, portraying a dystopic view of the world that appears cold and unnerving. These films can be a genre on their own but they often overlap into horror and romance.

Some examples of science fiction films are Metropolis 1927, A Clockwork Orange 1971, Star Wars (Trilogy), Batman 1989 (and other sequels), Armageddon 1998, The Truman Show 1998.

To place the story of The Lady and the Lion into the science fiction genre I would have to adapt certain elements of the text to suit the genre. I would do this by using the equivalents of what is already in the text.

Looking over the scene from I am using, I have picked out the things that I would need to change:

Lion prince :When it was time for him to come home again, he’d found pearls and diamonds for the two eldest; but he had searched everywhere in vain for a rose. This upset him, because his youngest child was his favourite.

He was travelling through a forest. In the middle was a splendid castle and around the castle was a garden.

Half of it was in bright summer time and the other half in gloomy winter. On one side grew the prettiest flowers but on the other everything was dead and buried in snow.

‘What a blessing!’ he said to his servant, and ordered him to pick a rose from the beautiful rose bush there.

But then, as they were riding away, a ferocious lion leapt out

‘Anyone who tries to steal my roses will be eaten by me.’

Father : I’d no idea it was your garden. Please forgive me. What can I do to save my life?’

Lion Prince :‘Nothing can save it. Only if you give me what you first meet when you go home. If you agree to do that, then I’ll let you live. And you can take the rose for your daughter as well’

Father: ‘But it might be my youngest daughter. She loves me best and always runs to meet me when I get home.’

Lion Prince : So the man gave in, took the rose, and promised that the lion should have whatever he first met when he got home.

To make this qualify for the science fiction genre, I would have to set it in either the future or in space.

My ideas started by putting the text into the genre, in short it could be this:

Daughters ask father for a piece of the moon or something on the moon, then father flies to the moon, aliens attack when he tries to take whatever it is that he has taken back.

I began looking at films that were in the sci fi genre and specifically referred to the moon a lot as this would be where the scene could possibly take place. I looked at 'Moon' directed by Duncan Jones in 2009. Imdb gives a short summary of the film: '

Astronaut Sam Bell has a quintessentially personal encounter toward the end of his three-year stint on the Moon, where he, working alongside his computer, GERTY, sends back to Earth parcels of a resource that has helped diminish our planet's power problems.'

The reason I looked at this film is because the majority of the film takes place on the moon, so I wanted to see how they made it look realistic, what colours they used, what the texture was like etc.

I looked at the first science fiction film ever made by Georges Melies, It was made in 1902 and is a french black and white silent film. It was based on two novels called 'From the Earth to the Moon' by Jules Verne and 'The First Men in the Moon' by H.G. Wells. The film was called 'Le Voyage dans la lune' in English 'Trip to the Moon'. It was about a group of astronomers that go and explore the moon. The special effects are very poor but that is understandable looking at the year it was made!! I really like the way it is so naive, they have not portrayed the moon in a realistic way whatsoever unlike films of today that are as real as they are in real life. I want to go on to look at more recent sci-fi films to see how they have portrayed space.

In comparison to a 'Trip to the moon', I watched 'Avatar' directed by James Cameron 2009 which is probably the most recent Sci-fi film made. 'Avatar' captures the beauty in everything you see, although it doesn't take place on the moon, it does take place in another world which is also an idea I could explore. It has similarities to earth, like the land sea and sky aspects, but everything else is from the imagination and could be another planet in the universe.

These are images from Avatar that show you the kind of setting James Cameron created. He used CG animation to create this, thats why everything was possible. I could try and apply the ideas behind 'Avatar' to the scene I am looking at as I could create a totally new world and set it then, as though it was in the future. I could look at other futuristic concepts.

I thought about combining both of these concepts into my set production. I would need to take ideas from futuristic film design and generic sci fi films.