Special feature of 1905 film network Since the emergence of the series of movies, most viewers have equated science fiction movies with large-scale production. However, in fact, as long as it is done skillfully, a low-cost science fiction film with no scenes, special effects and no lineup can also bring unexpected surprises.
In this program, producer and film critic Ji Shaoting are invited to talk with us about science fiction films that are not afraid of poverty.
Ask and answer quickly.
50 thousand, 100 thousand, you can also make science fiction movies?
In the audience’s impression, science fiction films are always associated with terms such as "big production", "high cost" and "burning money". Its production cost is nearly 900 million yuan, and its production cost is more than 2 billion yuan. The cost of these classic productions seems to confirm this view.
In fact, many low-cost sci-fi movies can also bring viewers a brand-new viewing experience. According to the volume of investment, these low-cost science fiction films can be divided into three levels: ultra-poor, very poor and micro-poor.
"Ultra-poor" science fiction film (tens of thousands)
"Super poor" sci-fi films can be filmed with a budget of tens of thousands of yuan. For example, The Originator, a feature film directed by Shane carus, was written, starred and invested by director Shane Carruth himself. The production cost was less than $7,000, but the box office earned $425,000.
"Very poor" science fiction film (100,000-level)
The production cost of "very poor" sci-fi movies is about several hundred thousand yuan. For example, the shooting cost of a film directed by Richard Schenkman is 15 thousand dollars, about 110 thousand yuan; The shooting cost of the film "The Night of the Comet" is only 50,000 US dollars, about 350,000 yuan.
"Micro-poor" science fiction film (million-ten million)
The production cost of "micro-poor" sci-fi films is about one million to ten million yuan. For example, Mad Max, a masterpiece known as the "wasteland wind" in the history of science fiction, costs about 2.1 million RMB. The production cost of domestic sci-fi films directed in 2023 is about 10 million RMB.
Advantages of low-budget science fiction films
Compared with large-scale sci-fi movies with special effects rendering, low-cost sci-fi movies have no funds to "build a spaceship" or explore other worlds, and lack visual effects selling points in visual display, so they pay more attention to the depth of exploration in content, and are keen to set the story in a narrow space such as living room and office, and conduct a deeper and more philosophical discussion on a scientific proposition. It also shows a more unique sci-fi texture.
For example, the recently released film tells that the office staff are caught in the "Monday" time cycle, and the only way to escape from the cycle is to fulfill the boss’s dream. The film reveals the truth of the workplace in the form of science fiction. Employees are under pressure and tired, while the boss is at ease. After the film was released, it was widely discussed. Perhaps for ordinary people, the unconstrained style in life is more grounded than the distant exploration of the universe. Small-budget science fiction films abandon the grand narrative of traditional science fiction films and will resonate with the audience closer to life.
"Saving Money" of Small-budget Science Fiction Films
Small-budget sci-fi films will inevitably encounter limitations in the production process. For example, in order to save costs, the creator of the Space Exploration Editorial Department chose to use wood carvings to make the remains of the space return capsule. In this regard, Ji Shaoting shared the "saving money" of three small-budget science fiction works in the program:
Flexible setting
There are three common settings in science fiction movies: parallel universe, time cycle and close encounters of the third kind, which is what we often call "aliens". The expressions of these three kinds of settings in the film can be adjusted according to whether the funds are sufficient. For example, in the famous one-day cycle movie, the protagonist circulates in a small town, while the Japanese sci-fi movie Crazy Monday, which has a relatively low cost, narrows the scope of the cycle to an office.
The film invites famous actors to play magical aliens with a lot of special effects. The cheap version of this kind of setting is "Cosmic Exploration Editorial Department" directed by Kong Dashan, in which the main actors look for aliens. Although there are no aliens in the whole film, it also has a unique sci-fi texture.
Carved script
The script and the actor’s lines are very important in the presentation of film texture. For example, the classic film The Night of the Comet has a solid play and a huge amount of lines, which seems to be a small conversation in life, but in fact it is extremely scary. At the beginning of the film, the details of the heroine’s phone call changed from "I want to take XXX on the expressway" to "XXX takes me on the expressway", which implies that the universe is disordered under electromagnetic interference.
Preceding art
The production of low-cost sci-fi movies should "spend money on the cutting edge", especially in art design and rendering. For example, the film spends most of its money on the design of the internal structure of the body of the AI robot. The translucent body shows a complex mechanical structure, which brings unexpected visual shock to the audience. The film also won the 88th Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.
The limitations and prospects of domestic low-cost science fiction films.
Since the publication of Cosmic Exploration Editorial Department in 2023, the production of small-budget sci-fi films in China seems to have come to a standstill. Is the creator’s vision too high, or does his creative ability fail to keep up? In this regard, Ji Shaoting believes that creators and industries have corresponding problems.
On the one hand, the ability of creators in the whole industry is relatively weak, and directors with rich studio experience and deep understanding of science fiction like Kong Dashan are rare at present.
On the other hand, the vigorous development of low-cost sci-fi films depends on the basic development of the whole film industry. Only when the soil of the whole film industry is more fertile and the industrial base is improved, can low-cost sci-fi films have a broader creative space.
Trends of new sci-fi films
At the end of the program, Ji Shaoting commented on the future trends of films in the field of science fiction: "From the film list, we can find many heavy industry works like, and, and there are also many films with relatively low cost. I look forward to seeing more differentiated science fiction works in the future. " Sci-fi doesn’t have to be a blockbuster. I hope there will be a hundred sci-fi movies on the screen in China in the future.