i. genre characteristics that i'm highlighting in my film
Main Genre: Science Fiction Adventure Film
Tone: adventure-y but in a melancholy way, alone but not lonely?
- setting in an alternate world and alien societies, fictional worlds and universes
- non-human characters, often used to comment on the human condition
- advanced science and technology (time travel is a big one)
- romanticization of the past
- takes place in an "elsewhere"
- heroes face life or death scenarios, constantly perilous circumstances
- sense of urgency, goals/mission must be accomplished in a short period of time
- dark and foreboding mood
- robot characters
- metallic and cold color palettes in space, lots of blues and purples in the environment and harsh white lighting
- earthy and warm color palettes on planets, lots of oranges and yellows in the light, green in the environments
- there is no noise in space, exterior silences
ii. a kinda direction for a plot
I read this book last year, "A Long Way to a Small, Angry, Planet" by Becky Chambers, and it's about a misfit crew on a ship in deep space who are contracted to do a very specific job in a very specific place at a very specific time. The book is decently long, but the main point of action doesn't happen until the last possible moment. I think the reason I enjoyed it so much was that much of the story was very slice of life style story telling, and even though you knew all of the points were building into the main story arc, I was much more entertained by the glimpses into the everyday life of the characters and what they do when they're on this ship for months on end.
So I'm moving in the direction of something like that. A lot of little moments that building towards a main point, but are just as interesting and beautiful as everyday kind of occurrences. More character driven than conflict driven?
iii. sketchy things