Justin Schoenfelder
Film Appreciation
The Sci-Fi Genre
Every person has their own personal preference when it comes to the movies they watch.
For some, its all about their mood, others it's about a special connection they have to a specific
genre or actor. No matter what we choose specific genres have main themes that we as an
audience can connect to. Today I'd like to talk about sci-fi. Throughout history science fiction
has had specific elements and no other film ever has. In the science fiction film their most
always is some kind of futuristic weapon, for example energy weapons, normally set in some
kind of space environment, have extraterrestrial life forms and an extension into the universe.
The first film I like to talk about is, the Star Wars saga, in this six film rendition by
George Lucas, a war ensues between Galactic Republic and the Empire. Mr. Lucas’ imagination
in the use of lighting editing set design and special effects have created a solid foundation for the
sci-fi universe. Throughout all six films, the Republic is always seen as the good guys with no
ethical issues. The use of a brighter lighting, lighter colored costumes, and a more ethical cast,
shows the purity of the Galactic Republic is Lucas saw it. On the other hand the Empire was
always shown in black, military like, uniforms with darker colors and a more evil tone.
The background music also set them apart well. Most major characters all had different
theme music when they were on screen. The most recognizable is Darth Vader's theme. When it
came to characters like Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and Han Solo the theme music was much
more upbeat and nice, as opposed to Darth Vader the Emperor or other Imperial characters where
the music was of a darker feel and more unsettling.
In the many space battles and other various conflicts throughout the films the editing and
camera placement was of the utmost importance. There was a lot of cutting between characters
and the dialogue as if you were right in the middle of a conversation, as well as a lot of firstperson shots. The most notable is the targeting sensor in Star Wars episode four as Luke was
flying down the trench to destroy the Death Star.
The second film I like to talk about is Star Trek. Again in Star Trek it was based in a
space setting with multiple intelligent alien species. Again, in this saga of films and TV shows
by the great Gene Roddenberry shows of futuristic space lifestyle that we humans may attain
someday. Though in Star Wars, lighting was based on the Republic or the Empire, in Star Trek
the lighting was a little bit more complex. Instead of having the light good guys and the dark bad
guys there was a nice mixture between the two. The lighting in Star Trek more created a mood
of what was going on in the scene, over who was good and who was bad. In normal everyday
life, the lighting would be more of a bright amber color creating more the peaceful atmosphere.
While gearing up for a space battle or a conflict the lighting would be darker. As an example, in
the TV series Star Trek Voyager, when they were about to enter a battle, the lights would all dim
to a very dark shade to the point where you could feel the tension in the room.
Sound was a lot different also. In Star Trek the sound was more of an accent to what was
happening on screen instead of being bolder to give more of an emotional feel. In Star Trek the
dialogue gave more emotions than the background sound. The use of specialized effects though
could really pull you into a situation. The smallest sounds, like a beeping tone on a control panel
could really change your mood from a happy, “this is a good day,” to, “holy crap were about to
die,” situation. A good example is when there was a small, negative tone coming off the tactical
displays; you knew there was an issue that would put the lives of the crew at risk. As a watcher,
you would get nervous for the crew wondering if they would be able to survive. Gene
Roddenberry was very good at using subtleties to make his point clear.
The editing and camera placement was more fluid in Star Trek instead of being jumpy or
very back-and-forth. The use of close-ups really portrayed the characters emotions. By closing
in on the captain's face you could really tell the type of situation they were about to go into. By
closely seeing the stern face of say, Capt. Jean-Luc Picard, you can really get the feeling of the
importance of his mission.
Lastly, the movie Starship Troopers shows a good use of sci-fi themes. Based in a not so
distant future an Army fights a bunch of alien bugs in space. In this film, the lighting and set
design touches upon Star Wars where the good guys are nice, clean, and bright and the bad guys
are dirty, dark, and nasty. The earth is clean with bright blue skies and all of its citizens are
clean-cut and nicely dressed, while when we see the “Bug Planet” it is dark with many
mountains and caverns with no greenery or pleasant sites. The bugs are all ugly and earth toned
while the humans where more shining armor, kind of touching on the knight in shining armor
fantasy.
The sound again differs between scenes on the peaceful earth and the war-torn bug
planet. On earth it's a light airy feeling almost giving you the sense of children having fun.
While on the bug planet its dark scary and gives you a sense of dread and death.
While all three films are set in different times, different areas, with different situations,
they all follow the sci-fi genre theme. By creating a space and alien world universe where there
is other intelligent life creates a future where we are not alone. By using futuristic ideas, gives us
in the present, ideas on how to create a better future for humanity. By taking ideas from films
like these and other sci-fi genre films science has advanced decades towards higher and better
technology. Without the sci-fi genre, we as humans could not be where we are today.