Genre Investigation: Sci-Fi

I have looked at four Sci-Fi film trailers and with them I will investigate what makes them a Sci-Fi film. This investigation will include, props, colour palettes and narrative.

Total Recall (2012)

During the trailer, a lot of props are used that we would associate with the Sci-Fi genre. Needles were shown in shots when the main protagonist was being connected up to the machine, advanced computers and hover cars which gives the idea of advanced technology which falls into the Sci-Fi genre. The locations shown in the trailer were a futuristic city packed full of blocks of flats, a bar and recall. These places could show the close connection between dystopian films and Sci-Fi films as the locations show a grim futuristic America. The colour palette conforms a lot to what we would expect of a Sci-Fi film because most of the main colours used are different shades of blue, shades that I'd describe as electrical and clinical blues. The narrative idea of this film is based on manipulation of memories and dreams vs. reality. This could be triggered by the moral panic that technology is advancing so rapidly that in the future, memory manipulation happen and how this could be bad for society. 

Tron Legacy (2010)

The narrative of this trailer could have been triggered by the growing gamer nation of this time and the worry of the impact of games on people. Many of the colours used are luminous blue, orange and blacks which the audience would connote with video games. During the first two minutes of the trailer, advanced technology is shown, however it looks all dusty and old which would suggest that this film is set in the future, or that they were able to create technology which was definitely advanced for it's time. During the trailer also, there is an interesting contrast between the game world and the real world. The main protagonist drives a normal motorbike in the beginning but then is also shown to be driving an advanced hover motorbike in the game world.

Jupiter Ascending (2015)

The first couple of shots of the trailer places the film straight into the Sci-Fi genre, because of the shots of space and planets. Futuristic space ships are also seen which again places this film as a Sci-Fi film because the use of futuristic machinery and transport is a convention of Sci-Fi films. Again this film could be classed as a Sci-Fi/dystopian hybrid because of the shots of the contrast between the city landscapes of earth and the shots of the beautiful landscapes of the different planets, which would be the contrast between utopian and dystopian ideals. Again, in this film, blue is a very prominent colour in the colours used, which is a convention of Sci-Fi films because of the connotations of blue as being with machinery and computers, which play a major role in Sci-Fi films. The narrative of the film is particularly conventional of Sci-Fi films and dystopian films. The main protagonist, Jupiter, finds out that she is the re-incarnation of a Queen from another planet, and therefore tries to get her property back, Earth. The saving of Earth is on her shoulders, which is conventional of a dystopian film and also Sci-Fi because the characters cross different planets and civilisations to save Earth. 

Gravity (2013)

Gravity is a very traditional Sci-Fi film in that it is mostly set in space and the narrative being that the main protagonist's mission in space goes horribly wrong and she tries to get back to earth, Which could be classed also as an adventure film because the film documents the protagonist's adventure home. The costumes used, the astronaut suits, instantly places this film as a Sci-Fi film, because the audience knows that it is set in space, which is also the same for the shots of the space station. The main colour palette of the film is whites and blues, which is very clean and clinical which is a palette that conforms to the genre of Sci-Fi. 

In conclusion, the research I have conducted has been very interesting as it has allowed me to understand the Sci-Fi genre more. I have learnt that:

• Colour palettes are usually different shades of blue
• Futuristic technologies are a convention
• Most of the time, Sci-Fi films are paired with another genre, i.e adventure and dystopian. 
• Sci-Fi films generally play on the public's moral panic for the future.