As an American citizen, I have to say that I would be really compelled by a sci-fi movie in which a different country takes the lead. Perhaps Israel? They are known for their fiercely efficient military, so it seems plausible.* *Don't shoot. This is not a political statement. We're talking about a movie. A piece of fiction. No need for anyone's panties to twist.
It would be cool, but we're actually supplying something like 60% of their military hardware. So the movie would end up being a whole bunch of Isrealies in American fighter planes. At which point the American producers are going to start asking questions about why they're paying a bunch of foreigners when Will Smith punching aliens in the face is a proven seller. On the other hand there's no shortage of Anime where Japan has a huge military for some reason. And again, those get turned into American movies with American actors. (see: Pacific Rim, Godzilla, Horrible Akira Remake)
Because fiction! It doesn't always have to stack up from every single angle. If that's what someone expects, then they should stick to memoir and biography.
I don't think you understand my point. Movies are a business, and producers are investors. They don't want a movie that stacks up, they want a movie that they know they can sell, and "US kicks alien ass" has been selling pretty well for the past 30 years. Nationally and internationally. It's the same reason every Bollywood movie adds a big musical dance number in the middle of their movies. It's also the reason most Bollywood movies are very transparent remakes of American movies. So while it would be a pretty cool thing to see, it's not going to get any traction until it's got a role in which some American gets to punch an alien and deliver a witty line.
My favorite was finding out Raymond Burr scenes were spliced into the original Godzilla movie. They didn't even remake the movie, they just dubbed it and added scenes with Burr's dialogue. Now that you know that, rent the movie and watch it again. It's a whole different movie than you remember.
I don't think anyone asked, "what movie will be the next blockbuster hit?" The question was, "what are you tired of seeing in sci-fi?"
For me it's about the society or the unique facets of the world involved. I'm less interested in what technology is doing, or how many planets the human race occupies, or what their spaceships can do. What I like to see from Sci-Fi film and literature is an interesting and unique society, which acts as a great premise for a story. Stuff like the Hunger Games, the society in which forces their children to fight to the death in arenas (acting as the premise for the story), or the Chaos Walking trilogy, at the start of which we believe there are no women left in the world. Maybe in your film the whole world has become submerged, and there's constant conflict over boats and floating settlements? Maybe the government in your film is lying to the public about something huge, or forcing them to do something barbaric? Focus less on laser guns and spaceships, is my advice, and more on creating a unique and interesting futuristic society.
Hi, What do I want not to see ever in movies - sci fi as well as others? 1 Overly dark movies. Not talking emotional darkness - just actual darkness a la Thor etc. If I wanted to just listen to a movie I'd stuff the disc in a stereo! But I'd want to get the movie damned cheap because of the lack of visual. 2 Black and white. There is no excuse - ever. It's not cool. It's not arty. It's just wasting my telly's colour playing ability. Pi springs to mind. 3 Sparkly vampires!!! Cheers, Greg.
To go along with this, "found footage" films. I'm looking at you, Cloverfield. That's right. You know what you did.
I would like the volume to be all one level. There's nothing worse than dropping off in the middle of a quite scene only to be rudely woken by the sound of almighty hell breaking loose across the room. Same goes for when the kids have gone to bed - you turn up the volume to hear the talky bit then quickly scramble for the remote when the bad guys start firing machine guns ... And talking of that, bad guys - GO TO A FIRING RANGE AND DO SOME TARGET PRACTICE! Oh, my, GOD! If I see one more movie where the bad guys fire off fifty rounds hitting everything BUT the good guy, then the good guy fires one single bullet and kills three baddies, I will seriously scream my God damned head off! Rant over.
Not to mention how spectacularly the premiss gets stretched! I mean, yes, in this day of upload-to-youtube obsessed mobile camera carrying platforms (aka people) I can see parts of a crazy event getting captured and recorded. But everything needed to tell a whole story? A whole film. Puh-lease.
No disrespect intended to anyone and my heart goes out to the families who lost loved ones but even the short shaky shots of the trouble in Tunisia had me turning away and reaching for the migraine medication.
Stand back, I'm now going to bitch about some minor aesthetic clichés that get on my nerves. * Glowing strips on everything. We get it, it's a high tech, the object is high tech and we know this because it has glowing bits. Just, please, put down the glow sticks already. * Misrepresentation of computers. Okay, I understand why we did this back when computers where new and horrified the public with their buttons and lights, but why do we persist in making computers so ridiculous in modern movies/games? Practically everyone in the first world owns a computer of some sort, and many of them are likely watching the film/game on a computer, I think we know how they operate. So then, why do they continue to constantly make beepy noises when ever doing anything? Why are the interfaces always so bombastic? And on that note ... * A Monochromatic future with poor typography. You know, I'm typing this out now on a full colour monitor, right? So then, why is everything blue in the future? Why are most computer interfaces always in various shades of blue, often light blue text (with a preposterous typeface) on dark blue background. No! I'm putting my foot down now. In the future we will not be reading light blue text off a dark blue background, we will be reading black text off of a white (or so light as to make no difference) background, as we do now. Also, we will use normal typefaces for normal people, not "sci-fi" text. It's as if at some point in the future we loaded up all of the interface designers and typographers onto a rocket and flew them into the sun for their blasphemous use of serif typefaces and sensible colour schemes. Oh, and it seems there was space left over on this rocket for ... * Anyone with with the slightest understanding of ergonomics. As if the horrible computer interfaces weren't enough to annoy me, so many sci-fi franchises seem to suggest that we'll also be using upright touch screens, and sometimes touchable holographic displays. Hey, we're all writers here, so lets put this idea to the test. Anyone out there with a tablet, sticky tape it to the wall and then spend the day standing in front of it typing like the people in sci-fi movies. In a few hours when your arms have disconnected themselves from your body in protest you'll understand why this idea is complete and utter bullshit. As for touchable holograms, I think they'll likely be real at some point, but I doubt they'll replace more traditional input methods. Touch screens are already annoying enough to type on due to the complete absence of tactile feedback, but removing the screen altogether just makes the whole thing even worse. The only way a holographic keyboard could work is if it was large enough to compensate for this, but then you would find yourself making much larger movements just to type. Not really the way forward is it. * Metal floors on space ships. Um, we've had carpet for thousands of years. I get that space ships are mostly made of metal, but our modern buildings are mostly made of concrete, but that doesn't mean most people have concrete floors in every room. I'm not sure why laying down some carpet over the metal would be such a big ask. In fact, I'd imagine these space stations and spaceships would likely have tasteful wallpaper and perhaps even nice wooden floors, rather than all metal all the time. * People who still fight with swords. I mentioned this in another thread, but it just makes the character seem like they're trying too hard to be a badass by using a vastly inferior weapon. If the sword has some magic powers or high tech properties (like the light sabre) that give it some edge over a gun then fair enough, I'm also fine with people wielding them for ceremonial purposes. But, if it's just a regular sword that's used because "it's badass" then you're trying to hard.
Is wall-to-wall carpeting a thing where you live? I've always thought they're a bitch to keep clean (yet they are everywhere in the UK). If you're on a space ship, where would you put the carpet? How do you decide which way is the floor and would you try walk on it anyway? And assuming there's gravity, are carpets functional for, say, a military ship (those are common in sci-fi)? Should the corridors of Battlestar Galactica have rugs? Are they well enough attached to the floor that they won't start floating if the AG is lost, secure enough that that you won't trip on a bump, or when skidding to halt during an escape or a firefight, skid all the way to your ass when the rug slips from under your feet? Speaking of fires, is it safer on a warship to not have them outside of private quarters? Do you also carpet under the sliding doors or hatches (the type meant to seal off unsafe portions of a ship)? Is carpeting a warship costly, so would it be a vanity thing anyway? I mean, if they visit a planet (where you don't need an EVA suit) or something, do they take off their shoes after returning through the airlock or just drag that sand and mud in and then a robot hoovers and washes the carpets? I'm just trying to come up with other reasons than "metal floors look cool, space-y, and cold."
I wouldn't expect carpet on a ship/station with no gravity, since the very concept of a floor is dependant upon the idea of a down direction, nor would I expect it on a completely utilitarian ship such as some kind of mining vessel. But, I would expect carpet on a ship where people are expected to live for longish periods of time. Cost shouldn't really be a factor when we're talking about the types of spaceships in most science fiction, since carpet really isn't that expensive compared to the rest of the ship.
See-through computer screens and hologaphic interfaces. It's become the default 'future' look and I hate it. Why would we go backwards and have monochrome screens just so they can be seen through? It's stupid and does NOT look cool. There's a reason 50 year old HUD technology was passed over for domestic use, even in 99.9999% of cars.
