16/05/2013 - The Sci-Fi And/Or Steampunk Look.

The Sci-Fi look is so much like the futuristic look, but it also leans towards steampunk. It's the glorification of technology and hot clothes to make a fashion that's perfect for the situations at hand. In this blog post I'm going to explore the less futuristic and more rustic look of the Sci-Fi world.

I'm going to be starting with a few TV shows and move onto movies.

Warehouse 13, 2009 TV series 

Warehouse 13 is a TV show that first aired in 2009, it's about a warehouse, the 13th warehouse in a chain of warehouses that have been around since anybody can remember. It's main objective is to find and catalog historical items that cause hiccups in the worlds society by disturbing the peace. For instance anybody that looked through the binoculars of the captain of the Enola Gay aircraft, the aircraft that held the bomb 'Little boy' which hit Hiroshima, it's said that the pilot of the aircraft looked through the binoculars and saw the explosion, therefore anybody somebody looked at through those binoculars would turn to ash.

The theme and ordinary outfits of those in warehouse 13 are ordinary to say the least, but their guns and the outfits they use to monitor artifacts and to work around the warehouse are pretty much the definition of steampunk. For instance, the guns they use are 'Tesla Guns', small modernized weapons to do with the Tesla device made by Nikola Tesla, it only stuns people and knocks them out for a short period of time.


Another steampunk theme to the look of the show is the goggles, they're mostly worn by the character Claudia Donovan,  the picture I have used to show these goggles is not the best, but it was the only decent one I could find without having to watch the episodes and hope she wears them to get a good screencap. Goggles are a big part of the female steampunk look.

Last thing I'm going to mention on the topic of Warehouse 13 is their communication devices. They use Farnsworths', which are a callout to the television pioneer Philo Farnsworth. they use them to communicate. It's a nice change from the ipads and iphones' skype system that most tv shows use nowadays. The picture to the left is Claudia's farnsworth (to the right), and she has customized hers which gives it the more steampunk feel. 
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1132290/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philo_Farnsworth

Doctor Who, 2005 TV series

Doctor Who is a TV series created in the UK about an alien that travels through time with A human female companion, but everybody knows that so I'm not going to go into it too much. Because I'm focusing on the steampunk aspect of Sci-Fi, I will be focusing on three of the most recent episodes: The Snowmen, The Rings of Akhenaten and The Crimson Horror. All of which have the common steampunk themes.

The Steampunk themes in The Snowmen are subtle to anybody that views because the outfits seem to fit the era, but the regality of those outfits were high above any of which a barmaid/governess would wear, The Doctor is cut back in this category because he probably has the crown jewels from the future in his collection. The contraptions in the episode also fit the steampunk theme, as they are very amateur, especially the globe of snow that contained The Great Intelligence.

The Rings Of Akhenaten hasn't got many nods to steampunk, it's set in a sci-fi scene on a planet, the main steampunky part of the episode is the guard people trying to get the queen back to do the ceremony to the gods. Their faces and outfits are the items that really fit the bill. The buttons on the coats and the goggle-like eyes.

 The Crimson Horror is also set in a time when the outfits are quite ordinarily like that. Except the machinery once again is more of the steampunk theme, i'm starting to think that the budget for Doctor Who is getting lower and lower due to the fact everything seems to be getting more amateur spare parts sort of things, it's plausible, or the set dressers just really love steampunk.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0436992/

Lemon Snicket: A Series Of Unfortunate Events

This movie literally is narrated by the writer, it's a very steampunk setting from scene one, where the writer is using a typewriter and living in a clock tower. Everything is very steampunk. Their clothing and the furniture, almost everything has the clockwork old theme. For someone like me that loves the steampunk look and would literally live with everything around them in that style it if they had enough money, the look is very appealing.
 
There's no sci-fi themes in this movie but I wanted to go through it purely for the steampunk styles, it's less of the techno futuristic look and more of the classic look. The girls outfit highlight the steampunk theme more than Claus (he young boy's), although Count Olafs fits the theme.  


Another shoutout to steampunk is Claus' spyglass, it's very simple but little trinkets such as that are used in Oder steampunk roleplays, men are often seen carrying one.

The house on stilts in the ocean of leeches which belonged to the kids aunt fits the themes also, it's unique and its the the style of a steampunk residence with its fenced roof, rounded windows, brick steps and wooden beams. It's very gypsy-esque which also plays on many steampunk fantasies.

Steampunk has and always will be a mix of the gotihic Victorian styles, so Count Olafs house with borderlines creepy also fits into this criteria with its roof, windows, and general setting.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0339291/  

NEXT BLOG POST:
Sanctuary, 2008 TV series  
The League Of Extraordinary Gentleman, 2003 Movie
Van Helsing, 2004 Movie

-LJ

13/05/2013 - The Future Look

For a more 'Fantasy' themed article on the topic of looks, visit Rains' blog here: http://rainhmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/its-all-about-look.html

For years we've been playing with movie magic and costume making to build up a detailed work up of what a future environment and future clothing may look like. In this blog post I will be exploring movies and television shows, talking about the way they portray the future through look.

A main theme that's constantly played with and seen in most takes of the future is silver or copper, it gives the future a very metal and technological feel to it.

Continuum, 2012 TV series

Continuum is a TV show that was first aired in 2012, it was created by Simon Barry, It's at in present day and future day 2077, where an a future terrorist group named 'Liber8' escape execution by using a device given to their leader by Alec Sadler, the CEO and basic ruler of the new world. What they don't expect is that a young agent sees the pieces of the circular device in the groups hands, and she runs over to them just as they merge the device and get sent back. 

Continuum Promotional Photo.

The look of Continuum is very much what you would expect from people in 2012, although the outfits in 2077 are ordinary, except for the police and the way they work, everything is a technological database and each police officer in the future has a chip in their head and their eyes are modified to see things differently. The general aesthetics of the future does appeal to me, everything seems easier. Kiera Cameron, the main character is seen going to 2012 in this sci-fi getup and gets a lot of strange looks, which causes her to change the color with the color wheel on the outfit so it looked as if she was wearing black jeans and a copper colored jacket. (Picture to the right)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1954347/

Revolution, 2012 TV series

Revolution is a future set show, except it lacks the sci-fi theme, in 2012 the world loses all power, everything turns off, even the things not connected to the electrical grid, like cars and mobiles. All at once everything turned off and never turned back on. It was created by Eric Kripke (Known for Supernatural). Everything basically goes native, they live off of the land. 

It has a very western feel, just because of the fact they have no electricity, uses horses to travel and grow their own food. everybody really had an ordinary way of looking, their clothes are tattered though due to no longer being able to manufacture new ones, but they get through. it's a very civilized new way and more logical way of seeing the future, governments collapsing and a mali`cia rise up to become the new law. everything is very green and overgrown, it's a different future look that I like. 

The world is almost completely covered in plant life, it thrives more now there's noting stopping it. The world of the future seems scary with this, everyone is fending for themselves and is willing to kill for food. The look of the world is very well done, although i think if only 15 years had passed there wouldn't be as much foliage as there is.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2070791/

The Host, 2013 Movie

The Host is a movie set in the future, it's an adaptation of a book written by Stephanie Meyer (Twilight) although the screenplay was written by Andrew Niccol. I can't recall if there was a year mentioned that the movie was set, but it's clearly the future. Humans have been taken over by an alien race, their bodies became a vessel that is hosted by worms/souls. The main character is Wanderer "Wanda", a soul who moves into a live girls body - Melanie Stryder, who convinces Wanderer to get her body back to her family.

How the Souls arrive

Ringed blue eyes

The way to distinguish humans and the Hosts are the yes, the worms create a blue ring around the eyes of the bodies they inhabit. It's very futuristic, apart from the clothing of civilians, that's very suburban 60s. The Seekers (people that rule over the rest of the Souls) drive mirrored vehicles and live in tall skyscrapers. It's very sci-fi, with the huge grids where the souls come down to earth in. the seekers seem very elegant, they always wear white and keep clean, especially their vehicles, which obviously have to be clean as they're mirrored.  
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1517260/

-LJ