What is the earliest science fiction movie?

The Chinese science fiction blockbuster "The Three-Body Problem", adapted from the novel of the same name by the famous Chinese science fiction writer Liu Cixin, has announced that the film will be released in July 2016. This news is undoubtedly a shot in the arm for the development of Chinese science fiction movies. We are accustomed to watching Hollywood-style science fiction blockbusters. Can Chinese science fiction blockbusters satisfy our appetite? In any case, science fiction movies are the key force to detonate the silent local film industry. So, what magical power does science fiction movies have, and what do we need to know about it?

Science fiction movies were born much earlier than you think

Starting from Place Bellecour in the center of Lyon, France, and walking about 4 kilometers southeast, you will find the movie The former home of the inventors, the Lumiere brothers. In 1895, the brothers shot their first film "The Gate of the Lumiere Factory" not far from their home.

It is not accidental that cinema was born in France. France at the end of the 19th century produced many "imaginative" technological achievements, such as the steam-powered "Bat Plane", the modular Eiffel Tower, and movies, a means of effectively recording the activities of people and things. . In the earliest batch of film reels, we have already found some elements with a science fiction color.

The earliest science fiction movies were only 16 minutes long

Due to early film shooting technology, especially the length of the film, it was almost impossible for these earliest movies to tell a complete story. At best, it can only present a humorous slice of life. Science fiction researchers recognize that the first science fiction "feature film" with a complete plot was Georges Méliès' "A Journey to the Moon" in 1902. By today's standards, "A Journey to the Moon", which is only 16 minutes long, can only be regarded as a "micro-movie", but at the time, it was an integration of Jules Verne's "From the Earth to the Moon" and Herbert George Wells's "The First Man", an epoch-making masterpiece that incorporates many of Méliès's own whims.

The advancement of film technology has created conditions for more and more science fiction works to be put on the big screen. In the "silent film era" before the advent of talkies, 3.5-hour masterpieces like "Metropolis" had already appeared. This German science fiction film, completed in 1927, sets up a polarized future world: the rich and powerful live in dreamy luxury mansions and lead a hedonistic life every day; while the poor working-class people are trapped for a long time. In the dark underground city, accompanied by cold machines, you work hard all day long. This film's shaping of future cities and fantasy descriptions of many technological details have influenced a large number of classic science fiction films including "Star Wars", "The Fifth Element" and "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind".

The earliest "special effects" were born out of the needs of science fiction movies

From the classic relics of the silent film era to increasingly gorgeous masterpieces in the second half of the 20th century and the 21st century, Science fiction films have often played a role in promoting the advancement of film technology for more than a century. In other words, in order to pursue better performance effects, filmmakers introduce or even develop new movie stunts. This is a norm in the field of science fiction films, and this tradition continues to this day.

Near the Cathedral Saint-Jean in the old town of Lyon, there is a museum that displays movie props, miniature landscapes and movie storyboards, allowing people to trace the double spiral rise of science fiction films and the development of film technology. relationship. Science fiction films in the silent film era have attached great importance to creating a sense of technology in the scenes. However, this can often only be achieved through some so-called "fake machines", that is, props and machinery that are full of industrial elements but do not conform to reality. In "A Journey to the Moon" Such is the case with the "Moon Cannon". The earliest stunt photography was also born due to the needs of science fiction films. As shown in "Hugo", the smoke effect when the "Moon Man" was killed was a trick achieved by Méliès by controlling the "abnormal operation" of the camera and film. .

In addition, early science fiction films also gave birth to the development of makeup stunts. In the "infancy" of movies with a low level of technology, it was relatively easy to create weird or terrifying characters through the combination of makeup, headgear and lighting. Therefore, Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein", Robert St. Vincent's "Dr. Jekyll" and other horror-tinged science fiction works became popular themes among early science fiction filmmakers.

Scientific and technological achievements create miracles for science fiction movies

With the advancement of film technology, science fiction film directors often try to integrate the latest scientific and technological achievements into their films, or use them as the basis for research The special effects required for the film, and so on, the technical content of science fiction films is advancing rapidly, and they often become the "pioneers" of the entire film industry. In "2001: A Space Odyssey", the shutdown song played by the villain supercomputer HAL9000 was the first song played by a computer in human history. In order to shoot "Star Wars", George Lucas founded Industrial Light and Magic, establishing the position of computer animation in film and television production. The green screen special effects in "Terminator" and the motion capture technology in "Avatar" have pushed these important movie stunts to new heights. In order to collect materials for "Avatar 2" scheduled to be released at the end of 2017, director James Cameron even built a deep-sea submersible and entered the "Challenger Deep" in the Mariana Trench, adding more science to the film color.

However, the advancement of film stunts has also brought another hidden worry to science fiction films: dazzling special effects can sometimes temporarily cover up the hollowness of the film itself. "Jurassic Park 3" is a typical example. example. For science fiction films, in addition to visual effects, the "soul" of the film is still an indispensable and more important element.

See how science fiction masterpieces and movies "connect" with each other

The success of science fiction movies and excellent science fiction works complement each other. Over the past 100 years, countless classic science fiction works have been adapted for the screen, and the blockbuster movies have in turn boosted the popularity of the original novels.

Converting text into images that retain the original meaning of the work is also a challenge faced by filmmakers. From the early attempts by science fiction filmmakers to adapt "Frankenstein" to the filmization of "The Three-Body Problem", these challenges have always existed. After all, Mary Shelley did not describe every detail of the monster made from human corpses, and Liu Cixin did not accurately create the image of the "Three-body Man". The space for imagination is unlimited, but the image presented on the big screen will inevitably weaken the mystery that the author has painstakingly created. How to retain the "original flavor" as much as possible obviously requires more thinking. How to put science fiction works on the screen is really a brain-burning problem for filmmakers, but it is the continuous solution of these thorny problems that makes them inspired, pushing back the progress of film technology and the emergence of excellent science fiction works.

(Author: Miao Ruojiu)