Sci-Fi Movies – My Inspiration Pt1
Alright. Just for fun i sat down a while ago and compiled a list of Sci-Fi movies that are a great inspiration for me as an artist. By inspiration i don’t always mean the whole visual style of a movie but also the atmosphere and the ideas behind the story. ‘Children Of Men’ is a good example for a very amazing atmosphere and story. The visuals there are amazing too but aren’t the main drive in the movie. This list is not listed by first = best and last = worst movie. It’s just a list of movies that you should have seen if you want to do Sci-Fi based art nowadays. I’m a big big movies fan and a very visual person. So it’s a natural thing for me catching up ideas and influences, more or less intentional, from movies. So yeah…if you’re on the search for movies for a nice evening… then i hope this list will help you pick a few candidates that you haven’t seen so far. Feel free to post your thoughts on the movies!
*Not listed by favourites.
Blade Runner
What can i say about this one. It ranks in the definite top ten of my all time fav movies. The whole design and visual quality still works amazing and will still be working in 100 years. Ridley Scott is a true master to me. I even read the books that bring the story to an end The visuals from the movie made the scenes described in the books so dense. I really enjoy that universe. Even if i wouldn’t want to live in that world.
Blade Runner on IMDb
Outlander
Oh what can i say about this one. Most of you probably don’t know it. To me it’s a pretty unique one. Generally it’s quite a cool mix of fantasy and scifi elements. It got quite a cool style going in it. The VFX aren’t always top but the ideas in it are kind of cool. And i like Jim Caviezel as an actor. I should watch it again some time soon.
2001 & 2010
Granted… 2001 is a pretty boring movie. Nonetheless i decided to put it into the list since its visuals and camera work are still high end and a good guide for anyone who is attempting such movie projects. 2010 on the other hand has more action and a particular cool design. Syd Mead hits my taste with pretty much everything he does when it comes to concept work for movies.
TRON
I said it so often in the past and i will say it again now… i want an honor VFX oscar for this movie! Back then they denied the VFX nomination with the argument that they did it all with computers and that’s ‘cheating!’. Now today you cannot even fathom how important TRON was back then. And beside that there aren’t that many scenes in the movie where computers were involved. A lot of things were done by hand in very very tedious procedures. Of course the overall design, again with the help of Syd Mead, helped to make it look so crazy unique. And it got Jeff Bridges in top shape and Bruce Boxleitner. I love both of them in there.
Starwars (All 6)
Of course parts 4-6 are the better ones. Nonetheless i would always recommend to watch the new episodes too. You ask why? Well… the design and look. These movies are so good sources of inspiration. If you want the heart then go for the parts 4-6. If you want some hi-end scifi/fantasy inspiration… go for parts 1-3. To me personally the city of Coruscant is a big source of inspiration and ideas. As some of you know i’m a big megacities fan and love to create these too. And i can tell you that it’s a massive piece of work to get something like that together. The Coruscant from episode 2 and 3 looks just amazing and always serves as a fantastic reference whenever i try to create something sci-fi city like.
Alright… end of part 1. I think when you have seen and studied these movie you have all the basics you need. More stuff in a few days. I have quite some movies left. =)
Regards
