In this video, let's have a look at #retrofuturism through the lens of late 1960s to late 1980s cinema, and how the films 2001 A Space Odyssey, Alien and Akira set the mark for the depiction of Sci-Fi user interfaces. Let's also have a look at how video games have capitalised on a similar aesthetic, specifically, games such as Alien Isolation, We Went Back and the unlikely to see the light of day, Routine.
Links:
Ron Cobb - roncobb.net/index.html
Semiotic Standard - alienanthology.fandom.com/wik...
PT - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P.T._(v...)
Routine - www.lunar-software.com/
Music By: TrackTribe, ELPHNT and Yung Kartz
Produced by: Chris Kernaghan
Support: Discombobulate
Do you ever wonder what the future holds? What could your day-to-day life theoretically look like in 10, 50 or even 100 years? The further out the future, the harder it is to predict what normal life will look like, but that doesn't stop futurists trying to predict transport, fashion, technology or general aesthetic styling.
#Retrofuturism is a vision of the future, from the past. The film and gaming industry has a long history of showcasing their depictions of the future, and that's what we're going to take a look at today. What I'm particularly interested in, for this short video at least, are visions of the future beginning from the late 60s, right up until the late 80s as depicted in cinema. Then, let's have a look at how various video games share their versions of the future - with some examples notably taking inspiration from the film's discussed prior, and one game, unfortunately unlikely to see the light of day.
Alien is synonymous with #retrofuturism, particularly, cassette futurism. In this universe, humans are a spacefaring species, capable of travelling many light years to other stars, yet the user interfaces used throughout feel very much like a strange mix of digital and analogue, crews seemingly dependent on physical storage mediums, like cassettes, with feedback served though monochrome, vector style graphics on CRT displays.
Using CRT displays, with all their limitations and curves, wasn't a choice out of limitation but rather an aesthetic choice made to coincide with the industrial setting of the mining-ship Nostromo. It's worth pointing out that Kubrick's 2001 came out 11 years earlier, and imagines that individuals in the future will have access to completely flat, high resolution panels. But we'll move on to that shortly.
Finally, let's talk about the use of iconography throughout Alien - influential iconography, designed by the legendary set designer, Ron Cobb. Cobb would design what's known as the semiotic standard - a series of icons specifically for the film, referring to features such as pressurised area, bulk-head, laser and my favourite, coffee.
Honestly, I could easily spend a whole 10-minute video talking about how cool these icons are.
Did you know science fiction writer, and futurist, Arthur C Clarke predicted that geostationary satellites would become an integral part of telecommunications? Or that he predicted the internet in 1964? Of course, there are many predictions that he made that didn't see the light of day, but those that he did get correct, are hugely important to the continued technological progress of our species.
Clarke co-wrote the screenplay for the classic film, 2001 A Space Odyssey, which he concurrently wrote the novel as well.
The film is noted for its depiction of space travel in the future, as well as the design language used throughout and unique, certainly in 1968, dedication to minimalist aesthetics. A fine introduction to #retrofuturism, courtesy of Clark and Kubrick's unrelenting dedication to visual superiority.
Focus on UI etc, IBM displays. What did typical displays, computers look like at the time? Mention tablets etc in 2001. Use of colour, particularly red. Combination of monochrome displays and tactile buttons.
Like Alien that preceded it, Akira is another example of Cassette Futurism. Released in 1988 in Japan, Akira showcases a wonderful collection of hand drawn digital user interfaces throughout. A number of which resemble the user-interfaces used in 2001 A Space Odyssey. Without any real life constraints, they’re obviously user-interfaces for the sake of user-interfaces, drawn more for their aesthetic qualities, with little evidence to suggest that they’re useful in any way. However, that can be often said for a lot of retro-futuristic ideas and visuals, and it should be remembered that these visuals aid the tone, and atmosphere, that the director wants to illustrate.
One particularly effective example is a holographic interface that shows the viewer the amount of energy the titular Akira is generating. We can see subtle, low level movements when we first see this interface, which eventually shifts to show Akira’s true power.