Film and Extraterrestrial Life: Science Fact or Fiction?

Catalog description

The search for life beyond planet Earth has been the subject of much interdisciplinary scientific search and has stimulated human imagination. Scientific discoveries of exoplanets (outside of our solar system), of extremophiles (life which can survive in extreme conditions) and the discoveries of conditions on other bodies in our solar system which might be able to support life, has provided progress in answering the question of the existence of extraterrestrial life. Not only have a plethora of fictional work appeared in the film media to depict scenarios of life beyond Earth, but there has also been an abundance of video media created to present the scientific ideas to the wider audience beyond the scientific community. This course intends a critical evaluation of both nonfiction and fictional media works in the educational dissemination of scientific ideas and the effective presentation of concepts. We will analyze techniques in photography, mise en scene, editing, sound, dramatization and writing as they are applied to topics in astrobiology.