Existing Video Research

As I already discussed one of the good things about the theme of this project, is the fact you instantly think of science fiction and the apocalypse. These genres of film are very popular and I often find most of the time they do a great job in conveying an atmosphere and really telling a story. As I have decided to venture off into a different direction with this project I will focus this short film on a different narrative.

The Andromeda Strain is a 1971 sci-fi film by Robert Wise about a team of scientists who race against time to save the world from an outbreak of an alien deadly virus. The clip below in particular, is something similar to what I intend on doing. I find someone wandering around in deserted land in an astronaut suit very effective, as it's just completely other worldly. Especially from the scenes from 1:40 onwards when they arrive in the small town. I think the fact the clip is in broad day light also really works, it emphasises the craziness and drama of the whole story.

The Man That Fell To Earth was a film that many people told me to look at when I first came up with the initial concept of my video. During the film a humanoid alien (Bowie) lands on Earth to bring water back to his own planet. The whole concept of a stranger falling out from the sky onto the planet for the very first time is an interesting one. I think through the use of shot types, as you can see in the trailer below, you can almost create ambiguity and uncertainty without having to rely on much more than anything else.

Perhaps the most inspiring piece for this project yet is this teaser trailer for the Ridley Scott 1979 classic Alien. In the film a group of astronauts land on a planet after receiving a distress signal, what they find on this planet is catastrophic as they are attacked by an alien life form which reproduces using the human crew as a host. Despite the film itself being greatly influential, this trailer captures exactly what I intend to do, there is no dialogue, nor is there any information really about the film rather than the title, but just a string of atmospheric, suspenseful clips which build up to a dramatic climax. Like I have been doing in previous projects, the soundtrack is the key element in the flow of this video. From the minimalistic introduction with the pounding heartbeat through to the hollow ambient sound which echoes as a wall of sirens, screams and alien sound effects build up, make this video a very interesting piece. Even from the way the title builds up line by line letter by letter, I think this trailer is very cleverly made and sells the film in a way a dramatic voice over couldn't even try to.