Humans Mini Mock

 To what extent does the first episode of Humans conform to conventions of the science fiction genre? 

Plan - 

knee jerk reaction- Humans is very conventional to the sci-fi genre it does this by using postmodernist ideas such as Style Over Substances, Criticism of Metanarrative etc. It also uses Allegory like Hyperreality to strength its convention-ness. 

Intro- DAC 

Paragraph one -  How humans conform to the sci-fi genre through the mise-en-scene e.g. setting, costume, lighting etc. Link this to the criticism of Metanarrartive, how it rejects the 'normal'. 

Paragraph two-  Style over substances: cinematography and editing. Some parts of the narrative are there to fit in the 'conventions'. Talk about issues of representation, link to other Films/TV shows

Paragraph three- Narrative Elements: conflict good vs evil. Narrative elements: development of new techniques link to hyperreality 

Conclusion -  

Conventions are rules or certain modes that relate to a distinct genre or a style of a media product. They are created by past work and developing audience familiarity and expectation. Media conventions are the ways media codes are used and combined to form individual or generic media styles. The TV show 'Humans' is highly conventional to the science fiction genre. It conforms to the code and conventions by using the characteristic of postmodernism and allegories. 'Humans' is written by the British team Sam Vincent and Jonathan Brackley. It is based on Swedish sci-fi drama 'Real Humans', similar to 'Humans ' it focuses on Artificial Intelligences. The first episode aired among June-August 2015. However, in 2019, channel 4 announced that the series was cancelled. 

'Humans' conforms to the conventional of the sci-fi genre through the mise-en-scene. The setting of the story is futuristic, it is set in an alternative timeline. This is shown through the location/setting, For instance when Laura gets off the train in one of the first scenes. The director uses a close-up shot of Laura, the camera then changes the audience's attention towards the guard. This is done by the camera pausing and holding on the guard's face. Which allows the audience to focus their attention on the character. Through the mise-en-scene of the costume, the colour of the eye, we assume that it is a Synth. In the tracking shot; as the camera pans over it shows Synths doing normal everyday activities. This implies to the spectators that Synths are apart of civilisation. In this scene also we see a synth handing over a newspaper to Laura, however, she moves it away. Here it might foreshadow Laura's feelings towards Synths. The 'new' society shown allows to 'Humans' conform to the codes of sci-fi. As it portrays the same society but it an alternative timeline. Jean Baullaird's characteristic of postmodernism, criticism of metanarrative, can be used to explain this. Having Synths apart of civilisation rejects 'the normal'. 

It can also be argued that 'Humans' is too conventional, it focuses more on the aesthetic than the narrative.

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