Week 2: Small-Scale Sci-fi

     We're now onto Week 2 of the portfolio project, and we're in the process of narrowing down exactly what our short film will be about.  In the meantime, it has occurred to me that some of the examples of science fiction films I went over last week may have been a little too big to give a good idea of what we're aiming for with this project.  We have a relatively small amount of time and no official budget to produce our opening, so I think it's a good idea to look at a couple of sci-fi movies that are much smaller scale than the films I'd previously discussed.

Her (2013)

     Her is a science fiction romantic drama written, directed, and produced by Spike Jonze and starring Joaquin Phoenix.  The film's story is about a man named Theodore Twombly who develops and falls in love with an artificial intelligence with a female voice named Samantha.  If you've read my previous post looking at sci-fi film openings, it's clear that Her is distinctly different from those films.  While those movies dealt with flying cars, space ships, aliens, and traveling to other planets, Her is just about a guy falling in love with a computer software.  It's much smaller and much more personal.  Remember: science fiction doesn't need to be big, it just has to do with a scientific discovery or technology that doesn't exist (yet).  Her focuses on the topic of artificial intelligence and how AI relates to humanity, putting it squarely in the science fiction genre without having to be some grand story about flying through the future or interstellar conflicts in another galaxy.

Upgrade (2018)

     Upgrade is another great example of small-scale sci-fi.  Written and directed by Leigh Whannel and starring Logan Marshall-Green, Upgrade is a science fiction action thriller about Grey Trace, a man who lost his wife and was crippled in a mugging.  After being implanted with a chip that allows him to regain control over his body as well as giving him superhuman strength and agility, Grey uses the abilities granted to him by the chip to hunt down and get revenge on.  Cybernetic enhancements are a pretty run-of-the-mill sci-fi trope, so why do I specifically use Upgrade as an example?  It's simple: budget.  The film was produced with a budget of only $5 million, which is pocket change in terms of movie budgets.  While most films that focus heavily on cybernetics or trans-humanism would need a lot of cash to pump into special effects, Upgrade avoids this by having the sci-fi aspects of the film being something that is not always shown on screen.  Instead of having elaborate cyborg costumes or using CGI to create cybernetic body parts, Upgrade negates the need for such things by having the cybernetics hidden away inside the body of its main protagonist.  The film is a good example of how sci-fi concepts that are usually brought to life with a lot of special effects (and a big budget) can be portrayed in a way that is more doable for a smaller scale production.

     Check in next time for further developments on our project.  See you then!