AnotherDesignBlog.

Posts for Tag: sci-fi

Fantastic Pulp Fiction Covers

"The term pulp fiction originally referred to "pulp" paper magazines of the late 19th century, such as Weird Tales and The Strand, which featured the work  of such prolific literary masters as H.G. Wells  (The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds), Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, (The Lost World, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes) J.R.R. Tolkien (Lord of the Rings) and Edgar Rice Burroughs (Tarzan of the Apes). Generally, pulp fiction stories focused on man struggling with dark, powerful and often, evil forces -- both internal and external -- beyond his control. By the early and mid-20th century, pulp fiction, with its mix of science fact and speculative fiction, launched a new era and genre of fantasy stories with compelling alternative or parallel realities." Source: http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3992 and http://www.coverbrowser.com/

Vintage Mexican Horror, Sci-Fi & Action Lobby Cards

Images from a variety of science fiction, horror and adventure films released in Mexico
http://www.animationarchive.org/2006/03/media-more-fun-mexican-lobby-cards.html

More Mexican horror movie lobby card madness
http://enlejemordersertilbage.blogspot.com/2009/01/more-mexican-horror-movie-...

Frankenstein's Mixed up Mexican Lobby Cards
http://frankensteinia.blogspot.com/2009/07/mixed-up-mexican-lobby-cards.html 

Syd Mead & Blade Runner | Concept Artwork, Posters, Interviews

Blade Runner Posters, Official and Fan versions

Syd Mead on Blade Runner

Blade Runner Design Work by Syd Mead

VISUAL FUTURIST Trailer (BLADE RUNNER Version)
see http://www.sydmead.com/features/documentary/

2019: A Future Imagined

Visual Futurist Syd Mead ("Blade Runner," "Aliens," "Tron") reflects upon the nature of creativity and how it drives the future. Photographed in P2 High Definition, this featurette provides insight into the fascinating mind of one of the most influential artists of modern cinema and automotive design via http://www.fastcodesign.com/1662813/syd-mead-blade-runner-concept-designer-en... 

Syd Mead Collection on Flickr (Blade Runner plus other work)

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Enter the 'War of the Worlds'

The Book Covers
Sourced from the remarkable collection of H.G Wells 'War of the World' covers and ephemera, with items stretching back over 100 years http://drzeus.best.vwh.net/wotw/wotw.html

Also, check out this chart mapping the comparative use of cover subjects, namely Tripods, Planets, Words, Martians and reference to the 1953 movie, all used as graphical subjects in the covers. Tripods=Win. http://drzeus.best.vwh.net/wotw/graphics.html

The Orson Welles Broadcast
Get a warm milky drink, close your curtains, then your eyes, and immersive yourself into the genuinely scary original 1938 radio broadcast of Orson Welles "War of the Worlds"...
 Source: http://www.archive.org/details/OrsonWellesMrBruns

"The War of the Worlds was an episode of the American radio drama anthology series Mercury Theatre on the Air. It was performed as a Halloween episode of the series on October 30, 1938 and aired over the Columbia Broadcasting System radio network. Directed and narrated by Orson Welles, the episode was an adaptation of H. G. Wells' novel The War of the Worlds. The first two thirds of the 60-minute broadcast were presented as a series of simulated "news bulletins", which suggested to many listeners that an actual alien invasion by Martians was currently in progress. Compounding the issue was the fact that the Mercury Theatre on the Air was a 'sustaining show', meaning it ran without commercial breaks, thus adding to the program's quality of realism. Although there were sensationalist accounts in the press about a supposed panic in response to the broadcast, the precise extent of listener response has been debated. In the days following the adaptation, however, there was widespread outrage. The program's news-bulletin format was decried as cruelly deceptive by some newspapers and public figures, leading to an outcry against the perpetrators of the broadcast, but the episode secured Orson Welles' fame." Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_of_the_Worlds_(radio_drama)

And finally...

A test reel by stop-motion guru Ray Harryhausen, created for a pitch to RKO in 1949. This footage is from the documentary, 'The Harryhausen Chronicles', on almost every Harryhausen DVD.

Barbarella! Barbarella!

Jean-Claude Forest created the science fiction comic character of Barbarella for V-Magazine in 1962, which was then made into the film with Jane Fonda in 1968 and directed by Roger Vadim. The content of Barbarella, a young woman sexily strolling through adventures around the galaxy, has inspired a raft of psychedelic and downright groovy graphical styles some of which I have gathered for this post. There's also some cool Curzon Cinema Midnight Movie posters that feature Barbarella by Tom Hodge.

Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbarella_(film)
http://www.wrongsideoftheart.com/2009/10/barbarella-1968-france-italy/
http://www.hollywoodcomics.com/forestbbd.html
http://www.hollywoodcomics.com/forestbarbgallery.html
http://thedudedesigns.blogspot.com/2010/02/midnight-movies-sci-fi-london.html
http://www.ultraswank.net/film/thoughts-on-barbarella/
http://www.atthemovies.co.uk/movie-posters/4198.html
http://www.morbidmonster.com/LobbyCards/index.html
http://www.annyas.com/screenshots/

Making of Tron: Then & Now...

Whether you like or dislike the storyline for the new Tron, you can't deny how good looking it all is (or maybe you can, but I love the way it looks anyhow, maybe not as much as the original but it's a pretty good light show). I thought it'd be an interesting post comparing the making of documentaries from both films. For the original Tron you have two documentaries to choose from, the short one from the collectors edition DVD or the 9 part long one from 1982...enjoy!
TRON LEGACY
This is a slick making of video from Digital Domain about their VFX work for Tron Legacy. Digital Domain: http://www.digitaldomain.com/ and Tron Legacy official website: http://disney.go.com/tron/

VS. ORIGINAL TRON
THE SHORT DOCUMENTARY...

From the Collector Edition's DVD. Cool to hear how inspired John Lasseter was by Tron! Also insane animation procedure for the 3D CG.

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