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The Sci-Fi Conventions In Science Fiction

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1. Science Fiction, sci-fi, is one of my favorite genres. Sometimes they are action-packed full of futuristic battles, or they are sometimes thought-provoking stories with abstract ideas. They are movies like Terminator (1984), directed by James Cameron, Star Wars (1977), directed by George Lucas, and Back to the Future (1985), directed by Robert Zemickis. A few predominant conventions in the sci-fi genre are time, establishing shots, and an advanced artifact of great power. All the sci-fi movies I listed above have these conventions. The abstract idea of time is played with a lot in movies. There are notions of time travel and space-time. Characters can travel between the past and the future. In Terminator, main character such as Kyle Reese and Terminator both teleport back to the past, to alter time. In Star Wars, they travel in spaceships at the speed of light. In a short period of time, they can travel the universe. In Back to the Future, there is car that literally acts as a time machine. It can go to the past, present, or future. Time is a recurring convention of science fiction. …show more content…

This is the first shot that gives us insight on the foreign and futuristic setting. In Terminator, the terminator is immediately teleported to the present earth, so we know that something in the future has come to the past. This establishes the Terminator coming to alter the future. In Star Wars, the audience in the opening scene is shown planets, and a spaceship firing at another spaceship. This directly sets the mood of the rest of the movie. In Back to the Future, the opening scene is a bunch of clocks going off. This is a symbol that establishes that this whole movie revolves around time. The establishing shot is more common in sci-fi movies due to its more alien

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One of the massive aspects of movie making is the movement and angles at which the camera is held. One film that does a great job of creating this form of cinematography is Raising Arizona, directed and produced by the Coen brothers. This fast paced crime comedy does an excellent job of capturing the audience’s attention by making them feel as though they are actually a part of the action. An example of the great camera movement is when the camera bobs up and down as it gets closer to the Arizona’s house, this creates the effect that the viewer is actually the person who is approaching the house.

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For example, the story states, “Unbelievable,’ Eckels breathed, the light of the Machine on his thin face. ‘A real Time Machine.’ He shook his head” (Bradbury 289). As this example shows, time machines are more interesting because they show not to mess with the past, and they are more common to science fiction. In contrast, “Nethergrave” uses computers and being able to go into the computer.

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