Material for Media Lab MA students, showing how Science Fiction TV and films can be a tool of analysis, critique and communication for Designers.

1. Black Mirror “Playtest” Dir. Dan Trachtenberg
Zeppotron, 2017
science
fiction
design
akseli anttila
14.03.2017

2. why science fiction?
test the extreme
implications of a
new situation

3. Soylent Green. Dir. Richard Fleischer.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1973. Film.
overpopulationsituation

4. Soylent Green. Dir. Richard Fleischer.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1973. Film.
cannibalismimplication

5. Films with significant
mainstream appeal and
decent production value.
focus
mainstream
Alien. Dir. Ridley Scott. Brandywine Productions,
Twentieth Century-Fox Productions, 1979. Film.

6. no
yes
scope
Ender’s Game. Dir. Gavin Hood. Summit Entertainment,
OddLot Entertainment, 2013. Film.
The Thing. Dir. John Carpenter. Universal Pictures,
Turman-Foster Company, 1982. Film.

7. Films that portray everyday
environments and show
examples of design solutions
that are close to the
questions encountered in
normal design practice.
focus
realistic
worlds
Star Trek. Desilu Productions, Norway Corporation,
Paramount Television 1966-69. TV Series.
A Clockwork Orange. Dir. Stanley Kubrick.
Warner Bros., Hawk Films, 1971. Film.

8. Moments in the life of the
protagonists that are every
day occurences a normal
viewer can identify with.
focus
near future mundane
Saturn 3. Dir. Stanley Donen, John Barry.
Incorporated Television Company, 1980. Film.

9. three eras
modern utopia
science noir
digital intangible

10. modern utopiaera
2001: A Space Odyssey. Dir. Stanley Kubrick.
MGM, Stanley Kubrick Producions , 1968. Film.

11. theme
modern
Visiona I Joe Colombo, Inneneinrichtung des experimentellen Interieurs Visiona I auf der Kölner
Möbelmesse für die Firma Bayer, Leverkusen, 1969 Ignazia Favata/Studio Joe Colombo, Milan
progress
and
evolution

12. star trek
1966-69
Star Trek. Gene Roddenberry. Desilu Productions, Norway Corporation,
Paramount Television 1966-69. TV Series.
Star Trek is one of the most
influential science fiction
serials in the modern age.
Running for four years, it
inspired a generation of
designers, engineers and
scientists.

13. Space station Hilton hotel
interior. Striking example of
space age modern in the
form of Djinn chairs by Olivier
Mourgue.
2001
1968
2001: A Space Odyssey. Dir. Stanley Kubrick.
MGM, Stanley Kubrick Producions , 1968. Film.

14. “Plastics.”
“Exactly how do you mean?”
“There is a great future in
Plastics. Think about it.”
The Graduate. Dir. Mike Nichols.
1967
idiom
space age
modern
Space 1999. Gerry and Sylvia Anderson.
Group 3, Incorporated Television Company (ITC), Radiotelevisione Italiana. 1975-77. TV Series.

15. science noirera
Blade Runner. Dir. Ridley Scott.
The Ladd Company, Shaw Brothers, Warner Bros., 1982. Film.

16. vision
modern
hangover oil crisis
urban
terrorism
ecology

17. theme
dystopia
Demolition of the Pruitt-Igoe housing estate
St-Louis Missouri 1972-1976
“The modern mind reversed
this perception, replacing the
certainty of progress with the
fear of the coming apocalypse...
The nightmare of consciousness
and science fiction were the
central laboratories of this
reversal.”
Franco Berardi Bifo. After the
Future 2011.

18. clockwork
orange
1971
A Clockwork Orange. Dir. Stanley Kubrick.
Warner Bros., Hawk Films, 1971. Film.
(Top) Thamesmead housing estate.
Photo by by Jon Bennet 2006.
A dysfunctional world as
a candid look at brutalist
architecture and pop art.

19. THX
1138
1971
THX 1138. Dir. George Lucas.
American Zoetrope, Warner Bros., 1971. Film.
Clinical technology embodies
the utter inhumanity and
desolation of the world.

20. soylent
green
1973
Soylent Green. Dir. Richard Fleischer.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1973. Film.
A world in the middle of an
ecological disaster is divided
between the affluent few and
the destitute masses.

21. alien
1979
Alien Dir. Ridley Scott.
Brandywine Productions, Twentieth Century-Fox Productions., 1979. Film.
Lived-in modern
environments and the
biological other.

22. blade
runner
1982
Blade Runner. Dir. Ridley Scott.
The Ladd Company, Shaw Brothers, Warner Bros., 1982. Film.
Iconic masterpiece, post
modern soup of multicultural
ingredients.

23. idiom
urban
decay
Stalker. Dir. Andrey Tarkovsky.
Mosfilm, 1979. Film.

24. idiom
technology
laid bare
Futureworld. Dir. Richard T. Heffron.
American International, Aburey Company, 1976. Film.

25. idiom
technology
vs.
organic
Space 1999. Gerry and Sylvia Anderson.
Group 3, ITC, RAI. 1975-77. TV Series.
Alien Dir. Ridley Scott.
Brandywine, 20th Century-Fox, 1979. Film.

26. digital intangibleera
Minority Report. Dir. Steven Spielberg.
Twentieth Century Fox, 2002. Film.

27. Design and production
methods became
increasingly digital. Computer
created graphics replace the
practical and optical effects
used in the past. Digital
services and products were
the focus of new business
and design opportunities.
breakpoint
physical to digital
Terminator 2: Judgement Day. Dir. James Cameron.
Carolco Pictures. 1991. Film

28. Designers and makers are
no longer constrained by the
limitations of what can be
physically manufactured.
vision
anything
can be
done
Silent Running (Making of). Dir. Douglas Trumbull.
Universal Pictures, 1972. Film.
I, Robot. Dir. Alex Proyas.
20th Century Fox, 2004. Film.

29. The world is overlaid with
constant streams of digital
information. Public and
private space are filled with
spectacles of data.
Children of Men. Dir. Alfonso Cuarón.
Universal Pictures, Strike Entertainment, Hit and Run productions. 2006. Film
vision
information
everywhere

30. minority
report
2002
Minority Report. Dir. Steven Spielberg.
Twentieth Century Fox, 2002. Film.
Designers and futurists
team up to create a seminal
Science Fiction production.

31. Oblivion. Dir. Joseph Kosinski.
Universal Pictures. 2013. Film.
oblivion
2013
A production that plays with
audience expectations using
the language of modern,
nostalgia and dystopian
futures.

32. idiom
info
overlay
Iron Man 3. Dir. Shane Black.
Marvel Studios. 2013. Film.

33. idiom
space
age
modern
...again
Oblivion. Dir. Joseph Kosinski.
Universal Pictures. 2013. Film.

34. science fiction
as inspiration

35. the modern utopia
offers a set of idioms
to portray positive
progress
design idioms

36. design idioms
modern utopia
Ericsson Intel Nokia
Microsoft Microsoft Microsoft

37. science fiction
beyond styling
prototypes
critique
inspiration

38. inspiration
“[Douglas Caldwell] was
amazed to see a solution to a
2,000-year-old problem that he
dealt with every day. In a scene
near the climax, the X-Men are
gat ed around a large display
surface... the map changes
practice
shape, as if it was made of
hundreds of tiny pins, each
rising and falling to form the
topography needed...The reason
this speculative technology
was so important to Douglas
was that he worked for the US Shedroff, Nathan; Christopher Noessel (2012-09-17).
Make It So: Interaction Design Lessons from Science
Fiction (p. 11). Rosenfeld Media. Kindle Edition.
Army Topographic Engineering
Center. Part of his job was to
create 3D maps and ship them
to generals in the field, so they
could study the theater of battle
and consider tactics.”

39. inspiration
Police issue taser gun

40. inspiration
1948 GE Master-Slave Manipulator

41. inspiration
Motorla StarTac phone

42. practice
sf prototypes
“SF prototypes... endeavour to
create science fiction developed
specifically on science fact as
a way to inspire a conversation
about the future and ultimately
explore the implications of that
science on the everyday lives of
people”
Brian David Johnson. Science Fiction Prototyping. 2011

43. lifeblogs
final cut
2004
Final Cut Dir. Omar Naim.
Lions Gate Entertainment, 2004. Film.
Examining the ethical and
practical questions related to
recording everything a person
sees and hears.
case study

44. findings
Privacy issues related to handling sensitive personal data: What
are the responsibilities of the parties that have access to all the
experiences of a person.
Relationship between data curation and creating narrative and
meaning: The data snippets selected from the entirety can be used
to create different narratives.
Interaction design issues when dealing with terabytes of
audiovisual data: Lifelogging creates enormous amounts of data
that need to be acted upon in order to create meaning.
Importance of thanatocentric design considerations when
creating systems of long-term personal data storage: What will
happen to personal data when the owner dies, who will inherit it or
have access to it.
privacy
truth
really big data
ownership

45. critical design
“Critical Design uses speculative
design proposals to challenge
narrow assumptions,
preconceptions and givens
about the role products play in
everyday life. It is more of an
attitude than anything else, a
position rather than a method...
Its opposite is affirmative
design: design that reinforces
the status quo.”
Dunne and Raby, After Life Euthanasia Device, 2009.
practice

46. science fiction as
innovation toolkit
scenarios
exploration
critique
inspiration

47. different
worlds
fiction
and reality
however...

48. Movies are powered by
dramatic conflict. Interfaces
offer dramatic potential if
the user has to struggle to
use them. They should be
especially difficult to use for
critical tasks.
different worlds
dramatic factors
Frau im Mond. Dir. Fritz Lang.
Fritz Lang-Films, UFA, 1929. DVD.

49. Creating a real world space
suit has a completely
different set of design
requirements than a movie
prop. The audience wants
to see the face of the
actor, while the real world
astronaut has to be protected
from radiation and glaring
sunlight.
different worlds
space suit
NASA photo. Apollo 13 suit.
Star Trek Into Darkness. Dir. J. J. Abrams.
Paramoount pictures, 2013. Film.

50. Transparent information walls
are an excellent dramatic
vehicle to show both exciting
visuals and the actor at
the same time. Real world
ergonomics are ignored
for maximum visual and
dramatic impact.
info walls
U.S. Navy photo by Photographer’s Mate 3rd Class
William L. Vandermate.
Minority Report. Dir. Steven Spielberg.
Twentieth Century Fox, 2002. Film.
different worlds

51. abstracting
the reflected
subject from its
surroundings
black mirror

52. what is your agenda?
critical agenda
affirmative agenda
progress
design
drama

53. Soylent Green. Dir. Richard Fleischer.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1973. Film.