Sci-Fi Genre Movies

Space travel, androids, artificial intelligence, dystopian cities, aliens, laser weapons. What do these genre conventions paint? They all depict the world of science fiction.

Science fiction, known as sci-fi, is one of the oldest film genres. One of the very first science fiction films debuted all the way back in 1902, titled “A Trip to the Moon” (“Le Voyage dans la Lune” in French), is a 12-minute whimsical silent film that shows a group of astronomers shooting themselves to the moon in a giant bullet-shaped ship, and things don’t go as planned.

Image via Wikipedia 

While it would take 67 years after the film's debut for NASA's Apollo 11 to finally reach the moon, eventually, "A Trip to the Moon" transitioned from speculative fiction into reality—sans the giant face, of course.

We, as humans, have always been infatuated with the science fiction genre for this very reason. Unlike fantasy, where monsters and magic exist outside the bounds of possibility, science fiction explores what could be. It’s the improbable made possible.

Space travel into the future, humans adopting exoskeletons for additional strength, and living among androids are possible; we're just not there yet. Hence, the fiction part. Because of this, the sci-fi genre is incredibly fascinating to explore and consume.  

Image via Warner Brothers 

As we explain in our 101 genre guide, genres often act as umbrellas, covering a range of sub-genres that collectively define the main category, and science fiction is no exception. In this article, we’ll break down some of the genre's core elements, explore its various subcategories, and discuss what you can typically expect from sci-fi.

Space operas 

If you looked at the title of this sub-genre and instantly thought, “I'm not a fan of operas” or “I'm not a fan of musicals,” rest assured, this sub-genre has little to do with either.

In fact, many people's favorite space franchises, such as "Star Wars" and "Dune" fall under the space opera genre. You could say they fall more in line with a soap opera than a musical opera.

"Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back." Image via Disney 

Space operas emphasize drama and adventure, distinguishing them from more technical science fiction. Often melodramatic and commonly set in space using advanced sci-fi technology, the focus isn’t on the tech or the space itself, but the characters, the world-building, and the epic narrative. How does Darth Vader’s suit keep him alive, exactly? It doesn’t matter; it makes cool noises! 

In this genre, space serves as a vibrant backdrop for the saga. Space operas are colorful, dramatic, and often feature large-scale, universe-spanning adventures as the backdrop to epic battles of good vs. evil. 

"Battlestar Galactica." Image via SyFy

In many cases, you can tell a story is a space opera because you could swap the setting of space for a fantasy realm and replace spacecraft with boats or dragons, and the story would still work just as well. But that’s not something you could do with the likes of “Ex Machina,” “Interstellar,” or “Sunshine,” which are hard science fiction. 

Hard science fiction

While hard science fiction might sound like a category you’d find at your local GameStop, it doesn’t refer to the difficulty of a science fiction video game. It is actually a sub-genre that focuses on scientific accuracy and the technical details of science fiction elements within its world.

"Ex Machina." Image via A24

This isn’t to say that the science of science fiction has to be realistic, but instead, that the science and lore within the film’s universe are fully realized. This creates a more immersive and grounded experience for the audience. As such, you’ll find that hard sci-fi films lean toward more drama-oriented films rather than being action-focused.

Examples of hard sci-fi include "Moon," "Ad Astra," and "The Martian," all films where grounded science takes precedence over spectacle.

"Ad Astra." Image via 20th Century Studios 

Conversely, in soft sci-fi, the technology and scientific elements aren't thoroughly explained or broken down for the audience. Take "Dune," for example, where shield suits and galactic travel are presented without explaining how they work.

"Dune." Image via Warner Brothers 

Dystopian/Cyberpunk 

For many of our younger readers, you might associate Cyberpunk with the "CD PROJEKT RED" video game, "Cyberpunk 2077." However, cyberpunk also refers to a well-established sub-genre of science fiction.

"Dredd."

"Judge Dredd," "Blade Runner," "Total Recall," "Demolition Man," and "Ghost in the Shell" are all examples of cyberpunk films. Often used interchangeably with the dystopian genre, which typically refers to a broken or oppressive future society, cyberpunk science fiction presents a world not ruled by authoritarian governments, alien species, or warlords. Instead, it’s the corporations that reign supreme.

These stories often occur after some form of economic collapse, where only the rich and ultra-wealthy enjoy what we would consider a "normal" life, and this is usually hidden away in privileged zones of a city or the world, or off-world as fantastically demonstrated in “Elysium.”

Life is not easy for most of the earth's population within the cyberpunk genre. A state of low life and high-tech defines it. This means living in poor, often grimy conditions, surrounded by or dependent on advanced technology, such as cybernetic limbs, neural implants, or augmented reality lenses.

"Ghost in the Shell."

While we often believe that advanced technology will make our lives easier and guide us towards a more utopian future, like the city of Wakanda in "Black Panther,"  cyberpunk places us in a world where corporations have used and capitalized on technology. Now, society is at the whim of those who control it. A core plot of cyberpunk-focused films is the uprising of those at the bottom to bring balance back to a system rigged against them.

Steampunk 

Now, while we often associate sci-fi with the future because it involves technology that doesn’t yet exist but could possibly exist one day, that doesn’t mean a science fiction film has to take place in the future.

A prime example is "Back to the Future." In the first and third films, most of the story is set in the past. However, the characters use proposed future technology, like the time-traveling DeLorean, to get there. This is what classifies it as science fiction: the science at hand. However, steampunk takes an even more interesting approach by grounding its stories primarily in the 19th century, using industrial, steam-powered machinery as the scientific base.

"Mortal Engines." image via Universal Pictures 

We still see classic sci-fi elements within steampunk, such as flying vehicles, advanced gadgets, and imaginative engineering, but they’re all characterized by a retrofuturistic aesthetic. So, instead of lasers and galactic hyperdrives, we get gears, pistons, coal, and steam.

While several notable steampunk-inspired films have been made, such as "The Time Machine," "Mortal Engines," "Treasure Planet," and, for better or worse, "Wild Wild West," the genre hasn't reached the same level of mainstream popularity as other branches of science fiction.

Science fantasy 

As noted, science fiction conventions rely on technology, travel, and potential intergalactic advancements that could one day be possible. On the other end of the genre spectrum, fantasy relies on elements of the supernatural and magic: fire being conjured from someone’s hand, the ability to fly, or summoning demon soldiers to do your bidding—elements that are simply impossible within our universe.

But when you combine the two, you get an interesting blend known as science fantasy, a genre where science meets magic. Science fantasy bends the rules a little. These worlds still follow a kind of internal science, even if they’re packed with supernatural elements. Sure, the stuff might be impossible in our universe, but in theirs, it all checks out within the logic of their world.

"Star Wars." Image via Disney 

The most prominent example is the Jedi from the "Star Wars" universe. These wizard-like figures exist in a world of space travel, futuristic weapons, and advanced technology, a universe where mysticism and science coexist.  

With artificial intelligence expected to overhaul the global workforce, autonomous vehicles becoming more advanced, rockets capable of landing where they took off, and robots performing backflips and parkour, it almost feels like many elements that once defined science fiction are now part of everyday life and sometimes, watching a science fiction film may feel like watching a documentary from the near future, and not always one with a pleasant message. However, with science fantasy, there remains a sense of escapism, which is why the popularity of franchises like "Avatar," "Arcane," and "Guardians of the Galaxy" continues to skyrocket (pun intended). 

Filming sci-fi 

If you live in a European country, filming a fantasy short film is not out of the realm of possibility. With the number of ruins and ancient structures scattered across the landscape, it’s easy to find real-world locations your actors can interact with, be in, or at the very least have in the background, eliminating the need for complex compositing, even with camera movement. This was pretty much the blueprint for "Game of Thrones." 

When it comes to sci-fi, however, with its genre conventions of spaceships, alien worlds, robots, alien races, and intergalactic travel, the idea of creating a sci-fi project can feel out of this world (pun intended). Creating a believable sci-fi setting, like a spaceship or futuristic city, requires extensive set design, costumes, props, and visual effects, which can easily exceed the cost of many prosumer-level cinema cameras.

However, that doesn’t mean you need to give up. 

Take the short film "BAG MAN," for example. 

Per IMDB: "'BAG MAN' is the understated story of a 12-year-old boy, who takes us on an introspective journey out of the city and into the remote countryside of upstate New York. With a mysterious duffle bag in hand, its contents unknown to us, we journey from the urban hustle of Harlem, into the winter-ravaged woodlands a world away. On the road, we slowly discover his real intentions, and the significance of what is hidden inside a young boy's bag.” 

And what’s in the young boy’s bag? An alien weapon, one that he uses to de-escalate a tense situation. The short story brings science fiction into a grounded, realistic world by introducing a single sci-fi element, the alien weapon, instead of relying on an entirely futuristic setting.

This shows that the only constraint doesn’t have to be the world itself; it can be just one prop or concept. And that could be a great angle to take if you’re looking to create or edit a science fiction short film on a limited budget. (And with WeVideo's online video editor, you can do all the above!)

Final thoughts  

Some genres have a core narrative backbone that often serves as the structure for various sub-genres within the primary genre. With science fiction, however, there isn’t necessarily a single tentpole structure to follow. This is part of what makes the genre so fantastic to both create and consume.

Sci-fi can encompass everything from classic good-versus-evil showdowns to escaping a monstrous alien, trying to save a dying son, traveling through time to a planet of apes, surviving alone on a desolate world, or attempting to reach Earth after a space shuttle collision. 

There’s no one structure that sci-fi films are bound to, which keeps the genre constantly evolving!

Of course, as we noted in our Comedy Genre Guide, sub-genres can be distilled further into more categorized and niche categories (almost infinitely).

For example, there are Western sci-fis, which blend Western genre conventions. These might be set on the old American frontier, such as "Cowboys & Aliens," or in the distant future with familiar Western influences, like "Serenity" or "John Carter of Mars."

Likewise, science fiction can blend seamlessly with comedy in films like "Spaceballs," "Galaxy Quest," "Guardians of the Galaxy," and "Mars Attacks." As long as your story upholds the core principles of science fiction, as outlined throughout this article, your opportunities are infinite and beyond (final pun).