moodscanner: January 2014

Title Poster from "20000 Leagues Under the Sea" (1954)

This is gonna be a special post about the Steampunk style.

One of the fascinating things are these crossover elements in movies, design or, for example, music. The same mood, the same notions which are transferred into different media, expressing the same idea.

Steampunk can also be quiet a transparent thing.

In 2012, there were two movies which I was most anxious to see: "The Dark Knight Rises" and "Prometheus".

Ridley Scott's visionary and iconic "Alien" is one of my absolute favorite and essential examples of sci-fi production design (I'll write about it in a further post, as I once announced). "Prometheus" marks the great return of this knighted british filmmaker to his roots and a revival of the "Alien" saga. A mixture of prequel, reboot and extension of it. See it as whatever you want, I rather consider the movie as a more sophisticated prequel. Anyway, it's also a most welcome rejection of the terrible, poorly received "Alien vs Predator" series.

The Production Design of "Prometheus" is almost perfectly done. Almost, because its design is built on its predecessor "Alien" and basically upgrades it on a state-of-the-art (digital) level, without loosing its unique look. They also added a lot of new details and gadgets, and every single detail, regarding the visuals, the sound and make-up design, is really, really well done. But after all, there's nothing about it which we didn't see yet so far in another sci-fi movie or concept art. There are a lot of elements and visuals that stunned me when watching "Prometheus" (in 3D). I could write a lot about the creatures, the cinematography, the lightning, the characters. But one aspect that occurred to me in particular was the resemblance of the protagonists' space suits to some old diving suits design, as seen on illustrations of Jules Verne's underwater stories.

I've always been very fascinated by any Retro-futuristic Design. And if I discover any slight elements of it in a movie's production design or another media, I'm immediately captured by it and feel the urge to make connections to other experiences with that kind of design. This wonderful subcultural variation of retro design is very present in Jules Verne's visions too, of course.

Still from "Prometheus" (2012)

The suits

Beside all the high-tech materials and gadgets the Prometheus crew members' suits are equipped with, their general look reminds me a lot of old fashioned diving suits. Sure, you could relate almost every sci-fi based design to some historical, maybe primitive (earthly) technical equipment which must have inspired modern designers and filmmakers.

I even guess that Ridley Scott's team had a look at the typical alien space suits in the 50s or, the illustrations and movie of Jules Verne's "20'000 leagues under the sea" (1954). But especially the Prometheus suits remind me strongly on these old diving (and exploring) suits.

Still from "Prometheus" (2012)

The exploring

The basic situation - a group of people (mostly scientists) walking on unknown grounds and exploring new territories or creatures, is common in so many sci-fi and fantasy stories. From Star Trek's "Away-Teams" to Jules Verne's diving squads and now the crew of the Prometheus.

Ridley Scotts sends his protagonists back to the roots of Science-Fiction and lets them discover and struggle on an unknown planet, facing the greatest mysteries of mankind's origins. The moments before the crew leaves the ship and puts on the helmets, or communicates with each other during the trip, are filled with this specific mood which is typical for the beginning of an adventure.

Still from "Prometheus" (2012)

Ancient equipment and ghosts of the depth

I truly love the combination of old fashioned hardware technology and the concept of a science-fiction mission - in outer space, underwater or wherever it takes place.
Other examples of movies which are (in my opinion) somehow connected to this notion are "Stargate" (1994) or "Sphere" (1997). Being in the desert and exploring ancient pyramids and fighting against highly sophisticated "gods" or diving deeper and deeper into the sea, until you discover an alien legacy. For some reason I've always been fascinated by diving suits. Some passionate divers I know personally, always tell me about the fascinating aspect of being isolated and in a state of loneliness, when you're underwater on your own. You not only have to consider a lot of technical procedure, it's also absolutely necessary to know how to breath and react in certain situations when you're down there.
Moving in a non-CO2 based alien atmosphere and being on a scientific mission can be quiet the same actually.