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What is needed in a Sci-fi/Fantasy movie?

B

BrownwriterChi

Hello,

I've decided to try to write a sci-fi/fantasy movie since its the only type I can afford to write. So i just wanted to know if anyone here knows what type of things should be included in them?
 
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Animal Farm is a fantastic look at Socialism in my opinion. Everything falls apart...

But definately when something try not to think about what genre it is. As long as it is compelling and entertaining people will still partake. Finding out what the staples of science fiction will be of little help to you. Finding out what does work but no one knows about yet will. Just use whatever comes to mind. I also thinking producing a sci-fi is probably one of the more expensive genres out there with so much design to go into them.
 
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No Aliens required. Remember 2001 a Space Odyssey?

Forget budget or research at first. Just ask yourself a 'What if...' question.

What if a passenger Space Shuttle is hijacked?
What if residents of a mining community on Mars is being picked off by a serial killer?
What if colonists to a Space Station run out of food?

Whatever man, just start with a hypothetical and write your ass off!

After you finish, get some feedback, and then do a rewrite with budgetary considerations in mind.

Story first, everything else later.
 
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Nightingale said:
There's no such thing as a "recipe" to create a story...
Click to expand...

Sure there is, and they work very well. Every movie uses the same basic recipe. When a movie doesn't use it, it generally fails. People have an innate and holistic understanding of story structure and screwing with that only works when you know the rules inside out. Take Pulp Fiction. That screws with basic movie structure, but it works because Tarantino knows the basics of story structure so well that he can screw with in ways amateurs could not.

What's the old adage? You have to know the rules before you can break them.

Personally, I'd not worry about anything other than writing it out. My personal philosophy is that editing and making sense of your story is the last thing you do. Just write and write and write some more. Get it all out on paper or on the computer or in scribble pads or notebooks or the backs of scraps of cardboard or napkins. Whenever you have an idea, write it out. Carry a pen and pad wherever you go and just write everything that comes to mind. Observe people, places, things, events and write about all of them.

When you've got a thousand or so pages of material, THEN you can edit it down to a 120 page screenplay :)
 
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I find my ideas gravitate toward Sci-fi/fantasy all the time because it feels so open ended. You can do pretty much anything. Like others have been saying just ask yourself questions, things you'd like to see. Visuals that send chills down your spine, and use that energy to write like crazy.

I recently finished a polished draft of my sci-fi screenplay Moonkinder, and I looked back on all the full length scenes I cut out.
I have 130 pages of cut scenes. The screenplay is only 109 pages. These are entire scenes that I wrote, developed, and eventually got rid of because I thought of something better. I NEVER would have found the scenes I am currently using without running through three or four fully formed ideas, spending a ton of time on them, and then harshly cutting them out because at their root, were not good enough.
With Sci-fi there's no reason to settle for a scene that isn't absolutely perfect for its spot in the story. I guess one could say that about any genre though.

I ramble, but my point is to fill notebooks full of brainstorming and then cherry pick the best stuff. The other stuff will still be there if you need it.
 
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bilinguru said:
No Aliens required. Remember 2001 a Space Odyssey?

Forget budget or research at first. Just ask yourself a 'What if...' question.

What if a passenger Space Shuttle is hijacked?
What if residents of a mining community on Mars is being picked off by a serial killer?
What if colonists to a Space Station run out of food?

Whatever man, just start with a hypothetical and write your ass off!

After you finish, get some feedback, and then do a rewrite with budgetary considerations in mind.

Story first, everything else later.
Click to expand...

I couldn't agree more. For me, sci-fi is at it's best when it plays the what-if game, and takes the question seriously.
 
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Thanks to everyone for the advice you guys have given me. It really has helped, and i have been putting alot of thought into this. But I've decided that before I try writing a SciFi/Fantasy movie, I will read books about it.

So in the meantime I will continue to write out my scifi ideas. Then, eventually I'll be able to write the script.

Thanks, to everyone

BWC
 
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