Exploring the Science Fiction Genre

Sabiha R Goriya Intro to Film 100 Final Term Paper 12/01/2018 Exploring the science fiction genre has always been a popular subject in film studies. It is exceptionally brilliant how this influential genre has been constructed using various elements and techniques of filmmaking in many movies and television series. The two very iconic examples of science fiction movies are Inception and Blade runner: 2049. These two masterpieces have set an inspiration for many filmmakers through an extraordinary use of filmmaking skills such as narration, cinematography and special sound and visual effects.

To summarize Inception, the movie features the main character- Cobb (played by Leonardo D’caprio) who is an extractor of information from a person’s mind and he wills to form a team to be able to make “Inception” possible.

Inception is basically embedding an idea so greatly into someone’s mind that they have no doubt that they came up with that idea on their own and so they would act on it in real life.

This team is offered a job to plant the idea of dissolving an energy conglomerate into the mind of the son of the corporation’s founder; Robert Fischer. The team includes an identity forger who can become other people within the dream state, a chemist who creates a powerful sedative that will allow everyone to dream for hours while being linked to one another and a mental architect who designs the world that the Robert Fischer will dream within. When got the chance; the team links into Fischer’s dream and travel into deeper and deeper layers of his dream state.

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However, the major issue is that the deeper the team goes the more dangerous and unstable the dream worlds become. With each team member existing on a different dream level, it is exciting to watch how Cobb would come through on the deepest level in order to implant the idea and save the team. The Inception director- Christopher Nolan has an excellent impact on the storytelling of Inception. Each dream layer distinguished in the story to be running at different speeds, therefore the deeper you go the more years you are there in relation to the actual amount of present-reality time. Thus the film visually becomes an accordion that is pulled fully taut as the characters go deeper into the mind of Robert. Nolan uses the elements in the first level to showcase the shift from reality to dream world as the rain begins to pour for no apparent reason. And one layer deeper the laws of gravity are bent as the hotel lobby begins to shift off center.

All of this adds such depth to the world he is creating, but the cinematography he uses ensures that we as the audience understand that this is a world we can connect to. The narrative of Inception focuses on plot and audience awareness. The temporal ordering of narrative events is a key part of Inception’s narrative structure. However, from there on the story progresses in chronological order, beginning when Cobb and Arthur meet Saito in the helicopter and ending with the close of the film. Within the chronological narrative events the actual event of Inception takes place in no less than five levels of recursion including four dream levels and the reality frame. By making each of the individual narrative events relatable to the audience, the filmmakers have made a very complex narrative structure comprehensible, while also leaving some elements to the viewer’s own discretion.

As a result of the complex and layered narrative, character goals are placed in less esteem in favor of greater exposition. On the other hand, Blade runner: 2049 is a sequel of 1982’s great creation. The plot of Blade runner: 2049 takes place in Los Angeles, 2049. This is a hyper-technological and overpopulated city where Nexus 8 that is a replicant improved from the previous Nexus 6 that were androids- physically humans, but smarter and stronger. In 2049, these replicants were pursued and retired by special agents known as Blade Runners; one of whom is Agent K. who lives with a home hologram. In his last case to locate and retire a replicant, K finds traces of a burial close to Morton’s home, and he unearths a mysterious box where are discovered the mortal remains of Rachael, a replicant who was missing since 2019 after she fled with a Blade Runner, Rick Deckard. Discovering too the impossible that Rachael was pregnant and that possibly her child could be alive.

K is ordered by his head to find and destroy Rachael’s descendant before the news be known to the public. But this revelation is known by blind scientist named Wallace; creator of the Nexus 8 who is obsessed to create replicants able to bring new life. Unknown for K, Wallace orders to his personal assistant to find Deckard for that he reveals him the location of the child he had with Rachael. But the mission complicates for K when he starts to question about his own false memories, doubting if himself could be Deckard’s child. While Inception plays with its viewer’s mind through extremely complex plot, Blade runner: 2049 also leaves its audience mesmerized by its extraordinary visual effects used in the movie. Blade runner: 2049 won 2018 BAFTA as well as 90th Oscar’s award for Best Visual Effects. This film delivered stunning imagery by creating the digital characters of JOI and by re-creating the digital character of Rachel which was played in original Blade runner movie in 1982.

Some of the Blade Runner 2049 sets were actually made from miniatures. In director Denis Villeneuve’s Blade runner: 2049, the Los Angeles of future is populated with megalithic buildings on a scale unconceivable in today’s world. In order to create the effect of a series of towering structures, 3D modeling and laser-cutting techniques with traditional model-making craftsmanship were used. In addition throughout the film, the dark, apocalyptic atmosphere which was essential for the movie plot was maintained by enhancing different weathers conditions such as fog, rain, snow and storms digitally. Blade runner: 2049 has proved that even the impossible imaginations can be brought to life on screen using the computers nowadays. Compared to Blade runner; 2049, Inception made a great use of cinematography in the movie.

To make the mind game of Inception a physical reality, the makers had to build unique rigs that would make actors appear as though they were walking on walls using the special-effects. One of the most complicated sequences of the movie was when it involved a fight inside a 120-foot-long by 30-foot-wide revolving corridor. To create such environment, the scene was shot using not massive, rotating sets that twisted and turned and forced Gordon-Levitt (the actor performing the scene) to maneuver with utmost caution. Nolan’s crew built a series of different hallway settings: a horizontal one that rotated 360 degrees, a vertical one that allowed actors to wear wires and another on which the actors were strapped to steel trolleys, which were eventually erased using visual effects.

This scene was brought to such amazing result by using the combination of great cinematography skills and brilliant visual effects. The cinematography injects the film’s imagery with recursion, architecture, noir elements, and gravity-defying elements. In the middle of the film Inception, there were neutral blue hues in the first dream level, warm orange/brown hues in the second dream level, and a white/grey sterile look in the third dream level to help the audience distinguish between the locations. In the film, camera angles and techniques are utilized in many different ways. They provide depth in the shot and let the audience see the entire scene from many different points of view.

The example of this technique comes into play during the very first scene, in which the main protagonist, Cobb played by Leonardo D’Caprio, finds himself washed up on the beach. The entire scene starts with revealing Cobb’s face on the beach, but we never actually see Saito’s face up close until later on. This creates a sense of mystery and intrigue. The great plot full of twists and turns in these movies can leave the audience stunned and breathless, desperate to watch it again. To conclude, the perfect combination of great narration, excellent cinematography and amazing special effects makes Inception and Blade runner: 2049 the two best idols in science fiction film history.