Initial Project Ideas

Proposed title: Believability (or maybe credibility/plausibility) in science-fiction films: physical effects vs. CGI

Focus film: The Thing (1982) to talk about all the physical effects

Supporting films: WestWorld (1973) or Alien (1979) for the same reason

Terminator 2 (1991) for the CG liquid Terminator

Avatar (2009) most of it is CGI

Resources so far from the library:

'Special effects: the history and techniques'

'From Alien to The Matrix: reading science fiction film'

'Performing illusions: cinema, special effects and the virtual' actor

'Science fiction cinema: from outerspace to cyberspace'

'Alien: the special effects'

I was going to talk about the genre in general, and then why special effects are so important, especially in relation to the audience. I would then talk about how believable the effects are in older and more recent film, and how they are created, as well as the impact they can have on the narrative and film as a whole.