Sci-fi assignment

What is a sci-fi?
Science fiction, or as most people know it sci-fi is a fiction based storyline that is
often imagined future scientific or technological advances and major social or
environmental changes, which often includes portraying space or time travel and
life on other planets. In addition to this, like in every other genre, you have subgenres, an example of this would be a feminist sci-fi, such as Orphan Black.
The history of sci-fi:
Film:
It took many decades for this genre to be taken seriously. Since the early 1960s
sci-fi films have brought in large audience shares, these films are now becoming
more popular with film companies, mainly because of the large audiences that
come with them. Sci-fi films have been the leading the way in special effect
technology, they have also been used to show social commentary. Sci-fi films
appeared at the very beginning of the silent film era. Most these were short films
of around 1 or 2 minutes, they were mostly in black and white, but you would
find the odd one with slight colour tinting. These would often have a
technological theme, in the very beginning of this they were intended to be
humorous. Le Voyage dans la Lune, created by Georges Mlis in 1902, is said
to be one of the first sci-fi films created, it became very popular after its release,
this resulted in there being a future for sci-fi films because of the groundbreaking special effects. After this sci-fi films became more popular:

Jules Verne's classic 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was adapted multiple
times, into the 1916 film
Edison Studios' 1910 adaptation of Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein
the 1913 adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Into the 1920s, The Lost World, based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's book of
the same name
In the 1930s and 10940s the sci-fi genre wasnt seen much after two boxoffice sci-fi films failed massively
Sci-fi films reappeared in the early 1950s, with films such as Destination
Moon which was co-scripted by Robert A. Heinlein and Chesley Bonestell

From then sci-fi films developed massively, into the films that we see in this
current day.
TV:
sci-fi being shown on TVs started in the late 1930s, which is when sci-fi films
went downhill. Special effects and other production techniques allowed
creators to show a visual of what the future had in store for them, this
enticed a larger audience both young and old due to the fact it was
something that wasnt often seen. Popular programmes in the genre have
been produced by both the BBC and ITV.
On 11 February 1938, a thirty-five-minute altered extract of the play R.U.R.,
written by Karel apek, was broadcast live from the BBC's Alexandra Palace
studios. This was one of the first Sci-Fis shown on British television. In the

early 1960s Britains first commercial television network, ITV, to explore sci-fi
for programing purposes. ITV also attempted to create a sci-fi for children,
emerald soup it wasnt aired for very long.
Codes and conventions:
The most common feature that you see in Sci-Fis are aliens, this is what
most people associate sci-fi films and TV shows with. Futuristic ideas and
technology is often used in the sci-fi genre, the target audience if the sci-fi
genre enjoys seeing this, since they may not live to see if this happens, but it
may give them hope for what their future generations will have and how they
may live, therefore, using the sci-fi genre as a form of escapism. In addition
to this, time travel is also used a lot in sci-fi films, which adds to the idea that
anything could happen in the future. Another common feature would be
robots, due to he fact that it gives the audience he idea that one day we will
be completely dependant on them. This idea has become more popular as
the years have gone on. The next common feature would be war between
humans and aliens, this is due to the fact that we as an audience like the
idea of their being other species out there, and we are often encouraged to
believe that they wont be friendly if they ever found a way to earth.
Bibliography:
Undated (2016) Definitions of science fiction, in Wikipedia. Available at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Definitions_of_science_fiction (Accessed: 10
January 2017).
In-line Citation:
(Undated, 2016)
History of science fiction films (2017) in Wikipedia. Available at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_science_fiction_films (Accessed: 10
January 2017).
In-line Citation:
(History of science fiction films, 2017)
(No Date) Available at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_fiction_on_television (Accessed: 10
January 2017).
In-line Citation:
([CSL STYLE ERROR: reference with no printed form.])
Terms, P.I. (2017) Codes and conventions of Sci-Fi. Available at:
https://prezi.com/wmf_qtaszbgu/codes-and-conventions-of-sci-fi/ (Accessed: 11
January 2017).
In-line Citation:
(Terms, 2017)

Research into feminist Sci-Fis

Orphan Black is a Netflix show

that is based around the idea of
cloning. They use all female
clones, and have them as all as
independent women, this is what
makes this particular show a
feminist sci-fi. They use 9 clones;
however, they are being killed off
one by one.
This sci-fi is what has inspired me
to create a feminist sci-fi, since
there are not many that have
been created and become wellknown, this is due to the fact that
the sci-fi genre is male dominated. This show, has inspired me to use clones in
my sci-fi. The reason behind this would be that it is something that is yet to
happen, therefore appeals to the codes and conventions of a Sci-Fi due to the
fact that it is a form of escapism for the audiences and is also giving the
audience a sense of what could happen in the future.