Iconography of Sci-fi Films

Iconography of Sci-Fi Films:

The silhouette of the alien in a high tech bot. This is done by the alien being far away or if the area is foggy. This shows the audience mystery of the unknown species as well as sci-fi.

The uniform and weapons are used to show that humanity is fighting back by sending in an army to deal with the aliens.

Space ships flying over a city is used to show how advanced the alien race is and how insignificant the humans are to them.

The dark green dirty clothes of a group are to convey that they are surviving in the wilderness.

Research into the specific Genre (Sci-Fi)

General Storyline's for Sci-Fi films:

In Sci-Fi there are a number of different storyline's that can be used. A typical storyline that can be used is the storyline from "Mars Attacks: A fleet of Martian spacecraft surrounds the world's major cities and all of humanity waits to see of the extraterrestrial visitors have, as they claim, "come in peace." U.S. President James dale (Jack Nicholson) receives assurance from science professor Donald Kessler (Pierce Brosnan) that the Martians' mission is a friendly one. But when a peaceful exchange ends in the total annihilation of the U.S. Congress, military men call for a full-scale nuclear retaliation.

Reviews:

Mars Attacks! Drew mixed responses from critics. Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times wrote that "Mars Attacks" is a;; 1990s cynicism and disbelief, mocking the conventions that Independence Day takes seriously. This all sounds clever enough but in truth, Mars Attacks is not as much fun as it should be. Few of its numerous actors make a lasting impression and Burton's heart and soul is not in humour.

Sci-fi sounds

Types of sounds and music used in sci-films

The Waterphone
In science fiction or horror movies the dissonant sounds of the waterphone will have almost guaranteed to have sent shivers down your spine at one point or another. The waterphone has been used in film scores and sound effects in movies as diverse as Poltergeist, The Matrix, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. And it's easy to hear why; this instrument could seriously give nightmares. 

Title sequences.

The film "alien" has given me an idea for starting shot that involves titles: I think it is a good idea to give it away that the film is relating to aliens. And with this film the title sequences starts off in outer space.


Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey (2014) — Art of the Title

I think these post are a good idea to start our titles. it gives out a vibe that the film is about something beyond earth. Also a good way to introduce our title sequence.

I think it is a good idea that theres a transformation from the craters to an eye which can slowly go into a starting shot of our two minute intro.

this is the example i am refering to, the space crate slowly transforming into an eye















This a full example of what I am  trying to state of something in the outer space turning into an eye of a human being as this is happening i think it it is a good time to show titles.





JCVD - this title sequence displays the credits along with the story-line as the characters moves around. i Think that this would be the most beneficial to our film as we can used the credits in the progression of our story which will save time for us to film more to convey our story to the audience.



I found this website very useful as it gave me ideas to what our title sequence should start and also the intro of our film.

http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/cosmos-a-spacetime-odyssey/


  i found the title sequence for Se7en quite likable . This is because throughout the whole sequence the lighting is quite dark and the images shown aren't very meaningful at first glance but later on they maybe come relevant. This creates a kind of mystery and I think that would look great in our title sequence

this also a good idea; there is something sinister about it but also the edit shows that the film is supernatural







I used the website http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/doctor-who-series-8/ to find extra title sequences. I like how it shows credits during the film as well as the start and i think it is a good idea for our own title sequences.

mise en scene for my idea

My idea includes a lot of different lighting. for example the flash back she has when she is holding her baby, should natural and believable that she is in a good place. The flash back to where her child is getting abducted by aliens includes a lot of lighting and noise coming from the space shape, even though the space ship isn't seen, i think that we should give the audience an idea that it is there from the sound and the whole atmosphere in the room for example we can have fan blowing ect.

Costumes and make up  for the women include a white dress//gown for when she's is in the hospital, however in flashbacks her clothing changes into something quite modern. Also her make in her flash backs are different, e.g dark mysterious eyes in the starting scene at the hospital. the shot with the baby in her hands, quite natural but look like she's made an effort. The scene with the aliens kidnapping her baby, few scratches and mascara running down her face.

Setting is based around the hospital and house, however other settings could involve outside shots. 

An idea of the inside of the house is going to look like. A shot of when she is carrying her baby,showing the past and making the audience know that the individual was once normal and something bad has happened in this house to make her crazy and unstable.

second story line

STORY LINE 
 A women in a psychiatrist hospital, The woman is presented as a dark and confused character who ends up in a hospital that is for mental health patients.  psychiatrist nurse or doctor comes in trying to understand what has made her come into a place like this. She puts a folder on the doctors desk and asks if there is any jobs going, the doctor looks on edge and feels the need to give her a cleaning job. one of the flash back includes her holding her baby ( rocking back forth, normal mum) this is so that the audience starts to wonder what has happened to her and her baby also question why.
Another flashback could include strong white lights starting the scene off by flashing in her house while she is cleaning the toilets. She washes her face with cold water and looks up in the mirror with a sinister look; making the audience question her motive. As weeks went on weird things started to happen. more doctors started to go missing and many patients " killed themselves." the chair men of the hospital promoted the lady to look after these patients. One misty dark night, foot steps began to appear on the mental ward. As she was walking down she opened the door to what seemed to be a patients room. her dark black eyes camouflaged with the darkness, her heavy breathing started to spook the patient! a loud scream which made the women get another flash back of a child crying with terror and she saw herself shouting "don't take my baby" an extreme close up of an eye that is not human (alien eye) then the next shot starts off with a close up of her eye.. implying that these are memories of what she has seen. When she wakes up next morning, she finds herself in a room secured with locks on her window and door. Doctor enters " Im afraid you are now a patient this mental hospital" he said in a sly jolly voice.

Characters 
The doctor ( Dr philips)
The woman (undecided because i am deciding on a spooky name)
alien ( zorak)

Settings
house
psychiatrist hospital
flash backs could involve a scene outside.

Genre 
horror/ sci fi

Conventions of the Sci-Fi Film -Alien

Possibly the most generic form of what the idea of an alien looks like comes from the 1979 film 'Alien' directed by Ridley Scott. The aliens in this film are portrayed to be more ferocious and daunting than the average alien shown throughout various other films.

There is much suspense throughout the beginning of the film that there are signs of the aliens presence and we want to put that vibe across in our film.

 Another film that I looked at is "Paul "directed by Greg Mottola, I liked how the features of the alien are represented such as the characteristics of the aliens (Paul) eyes and I think it would be a good idea to have a close up shot of the idea before revealing the alien in our film.