Computer Generated Imagery is a big part of sci-fi as most of this genre is not real, we cannot physically build a spaceship and fly out into space and film is to we must use CGI to create things, from space ships flying through space to entire galaxies, that would be impossible to do otherwise. Most sci-fi spends a lot of money and time on their CGI as it is such a huge part of it and sci-fi fans expect a plethora of special effects when they go to see the movie.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYvyLLc7mTE
The above example is Star Trek from 2010, even in the trailer we can see a massive amount of special effects and CGI that was to be expected from a sci-fi film of this calibre.
Sound Effects
Again, sound effects are used hugely in sci-fi films, they are all generally created from other objects as we have no real life objects to record and use. CGI is not enough to create the atmosphere of science fiction and must also have sound effects to back all the CGI and make the film what it is. Most sound effects in science fiction are done by Foley artists who specialise in creating sound effects from other objects. Sci-fi sound effects are generally very robotic and computer like with a lot of beeps and other sounds that are associated with sci-fi.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aaMpWNEAv4
The above example contains a lot of different sound effects that would all have to have been created using different sounds as there are nothing such as pod racers. Even the alien voices would have needed to have been created by more than likely using someones voice and adding different filters and effects to get the desired result.
Mis-en-scene
From exotic world to the insides of space ships, sci-fi relies a lot of props and backgrounds to give the atmosphere and the feeling of extraterrestrial worlds. To make the films more realistic, the mis-en-scene of the sci-fi genre must be very well detailed to in order to make the film audience feel like they are there and part of the scene itself. Most sci-fi backgrounds and props are very well detailed in order to make it as realistic as possible. There is a lot of imagination needed to create the mis-en-scene as sci-fi movies are all created from drawings and not from real life examples, similar to the CGI and sounds effects.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDRLtgr2T9E&feature=related
The above link is a good example of mis-en-scene in a movie. This was taken from Alien inside an alien ship and the amount of details and time that was taken to create this scene is massive but sets the atmosphere for the whole scene very well. The time taken to create this scene would have been huge compared to how long the background was used in the film (approx 5 mins) but is a key point in making the film feel as realistic as possible.
Storyboarding
Storyboarding is incredibly important in any movie but becomes a key point in sci-fi movies as the majority of the film is created entirely from imagination so storyboarding in a sci-fi movie allows the director and writers to show the prop and CGI team exactly what they need to create rather than trying to explain it to them. It also gives the film direction and allows the rest of the team, especially the camera men and actors exactly where they need to be and what they need to do at each point in the filming of the movie.
Scriptwriting
Every film needs a script, without it there would be no story and this makes it a very important part of the sci-fi genre. Most sci-fi writers generally tend to stick to that type of story as it is a very niche genre that not everyone will enjoy so each script needs to be new and fresh in order to captivate the audience.
Above is the script from Alien during a scene. This script details what is going on at the specific scene, not just the conversation but also states the different actions that are needed at specific points. Someone looks like they have drawn images to correspond with the speech, maybe trying to get a picture of exactly what they think each part will look like.
Continuity
Continuity
Continuity is very important part of any movie, but what is it? Every scene needs to continue on from the last one, for example, a drop of blood or a person holding a book in a certain hand must be exactly the same to ensure a more realistic movie. Many movies make mistakes in terms of continuity and it has become a popular topic to point out these errors and there are even television shows dedicated to this.
The above image shows slight continuity errors that perhaps you may not pick up due to you paying more attention to the character rather than the surrounding area. These kind of continuity errors, especially the chair moving happen a lot.
