(Work in Progress) The Historical and Social Context

(Work in Progress) Independant Study: The evolution of special effects in my chosen Science Fiction movies

(Work in Progress) Independant Study: Social Context

(Work in Progress) Independant Study: Introduction

Science Fiction Research - A Trip to the Moon (Le Voyage dans la Lune)

A Trip to the Moon is a 1902 French film directed, produced, written and also (partly) acted by Georges Méliès. The film is 18 minutes long (at 12 frames/s) or 9 minutes long (at 24 frames/s) and
is a silent, black and white film. It stars Georges Méliès, Bleuette Bernon and Henri Delannoy and was based on 'From the Earth to the Moon' and 'Around the Moon' (both) by Jules Verne which were late 1800's books also in French.

'A Trip to the Moon' was a very influential film for its age when it first came out. It was very popular - so much that other studios pirated it but was at first thought to have been a failure when it was originally shown at fairgrounds at a high price (before it was advertised elsewhere and heightened in popularity The narrative and heavy influence on the storytelling aspect of the piece which changed the way the narrative of a film was created and the film has since been named one of the 100 greatest films of the 20th century (84th out of 100).

This film is particularly relevant for the release of a few 'futuristic' H.G. Wells novels (War of the Worlds [1898] and The First Men in the Moon [1901] ). This was also a time of traditional work methods (not much modern automation - only from the industrial revolution 60 years earlier) where lots of people were needed to make products (unlike today) and 'space travel' or even 'air travel' didn't exist.

Science Fiction Research - Metropolis (1927)

Metropolis is a 1927 German science fiction film, directed by Fritz Lang (Austrian). The running time for the film is 153 minutes and is in black and white with no actor dialogue (silent film). Fritz Lang was born in 1890 in Vienna, Austria and had a long 41 year career in film directing and production. Some of his work includes M (1931), A Journey to the Lost City (1960) and Fury (1936).  He is known to have always included a shot of his hand in his films; to make his protagonists 'hateful, violent but ultimately sympathetic figures' and to make his films dark (in tone and colour).

Fritz Lang's Biography on IMDb

Metropolis was an influential film for the time as it was set in the future! Back in the 1920s, there was said to be the 'Second Industrial Revolution' which involved making factories more advanced and processes easier and more efficient. Some of this technology was futuristic and Metropolis shows what the future may yet hold for technology (and is one of the only films of its time that does so). Metropolis has also 'paved the way' for many other films to use for 'what the future is' and futuristic concepts; a good example of this is that C3PO in Star Wars is heavily based on the Machine-man in looks (both metal, human based robots in the future that are extremely similar). The film was received so well that it is regarded as an 'Epic movie' and is influential (even 80 years on too).

Popular films that have been related to this are 'The Matrix'; 'Blade Runner; and even Star Wars have been affiliated to it.

Independant Study Rationale

"The evolution of special effects in Science Fiction movies from the 20th and the 21st centuary"

For my study, I will be focusing on Science Fiction films throughout the last 100+ years. I would like to specialise this in the special effects in films and how they have changed from the start of the 20th century up until modern day. The aim of this study will be to show the aspects of these that have changed for the good and also for the bad and also the different techniques used in certain films. I want to study between three and four films that are all set in different times in different countries/cultures.