Science Fiction & Media Language

Genre Conventions:

Conventions- The standard and accepted means of representing a genre; 'the key ingredient'.

Narrative:

• Less detailed or thought provoking ideas, usually very simple similar to action movies
• Centre around a few key concepts that are never what people expect in everyday life
• Humans vs Aliens 
• Visiting alien planets
• Using fiction to create wild yet plausible scenarios
• Time travel etc
• Post apocalyptic 

Characters:

• Heroic, intelligent 
• Well spoken, of alien races often
• Usually unusual but plausible and close to humans making them relatable
• Wise older character
• Protagonist- Human male usually due to target audience
• Antagonist- Usually alien male
• Often more than one hero (hero teams)

Mise en Scene:

• Unusual settings and costumes that usually seem somewhat futuristic
• Innovative special effects and practical effects
• Spaceships and unusual vehicles
• Lots of space-like colours (Black, Purple, Green, Metallic, Neon)
• Relatable imagery in terms of faces of humans to make the films more relatable
• Sometimes set on earth in future
• High tech weaponry
• Extravagant makeup on non humans 

Themes: 

• Sometimes dealing with ideologies and beliefs over what humans are capable of
• Bravery and loyalty to humanity 
• Humanity overcoming technology and aliens
• Creating a new future
• Teamwork
• Reviewing and criticising the advancement and furthering of technology 
• The power of love
• Humans destroying their own planet
• Few vs many (David and the Goliath) 

Other:

• Innovative special effects with lots of CGI
• More modern fonts or graphics
• Regular music with strange 
• Common actors and directors such as Spielberg and Harrison Ford