This youtube clip of the Alien trailer shows the mysterious way the letters form as described below.
The credits roll in a mysterious way, slowly unraveling the title in vertical lines spaced equally apart. With each actor displayed, a new vertical line appears until “ALIEN” is clearly represented on the screen. The movie starts out with an extreme wide shot of the galaxy, then shows the exterior of the massive spacecraft, the Nostromo. By the panning of the interior corridors and assorted rooms you get a feeling for the space vessel. While eerie music graces your ears you can not help but to wonder what is to come. A loud chatter of computer noise seems to wake the passengers upon the Nostromo. In a device looking like a white daisy, lay the seven members of the crew.
The image below shows how we meet the crew of seven. Though all the characters are in hypersleep this scene still has quite an effect on the viewer.
The scene is intoxicating; a flower blooming in spring. Glass topped containers the size of a coffin slowly open exposing those who lay within. The men and women are dressed in white cloth, covering the bare minimum.
Through the next couple of cuts we slowly get a feel for the team. Two women and five men, varying in shape, size, age, and color, command this commercial towing vehicle. Their goal, or so they think, is to get the 20,000,000 tons of mineral ore back to planet Earth (Scott).
After receiving a command from “Mother,” the computer system in the ship; the crew is forced to re-route in order to check on another spacecraft. It is only after three members, Kane, Dallas, and Lambert, journey out on this new planet to gain access to this ship that Ripley, played by Sigourney Weaver, is able to translate the code sent from the foreign spacecraft.
The three most well-known stars in the feature venture out on a new land.
It wasn’t an unknown transmission; it was an SOS call from that vehicle. Kane, out of pure child-like curiosity, chooses to get very close to an unidentifiable egg on the ground of a massive room on the unknown ship and things take a turn for the worst. The living organism grabs hold of his face and holds on for dear life; Kane’s dear life.
We rejoin the remaining crew, upon the Nostromo just before the final three make their way back in. Through hustled commotion we learn that Kane’s life is at stake and he needs medical help immediately. Ripley urges that he not be let on board because he could contaminate the entire crew, risking all of their lives. The science officer, Ash, makes an executive decision and lets them enter. Kane’s helmet is cut off of him, showing the startling image of the alien absolutely suffocating his face. After cutting into the creature it is revealed that its’ blood is acidic and could quickly eat away at the ship with ease. Parker, a working class crew member, remarks, “It’s got a wonderful defense mechanism. You don’t dare kill it” (Scott). Following this occurrence, the alien eventually leaves his body and drops dead from somewhere in the infirmary’s ceiling. Later, at the dinner table, once Kane has “recovered,” a very graphic scene takes place, as a newborn alien pushes its way through his chest leaving behind a dead crew member, a large display of blood, and a murderous alien roaming among the ship.
“Now the action cranks up again as,” the remaining crew members split to search for the unleashed murderer (Thompson 296). One by one they are taken down by this foreign organism. First, another working class crew member is killed when searching for the ship cat, Jones. Shortly after, the captain, Dallas, gets cornered in the air shafts after taking a wrong turn while searching for the beast, and is never seen again. The crew is shook up.
Ripley is promoted upon Dallas’ death to captain and heads to the captain’s computer room to understand what is going on. She gets a look at special order 937 which communicates “Nostromo rerouted to new coordinates. Investigate life form. Gather specimen. Priority one. Insure return of organism for analysis. All other considerations secondary. Crew expendable” (Thompson 286). She is in utter shock, as I would be if I found out my life was “expendable” in the eyes of my employers. Ash creeps into the background of the commanding room offering an explanation. We now clearly see that he has been in on the Company’s plan. A confrontation between the two characters snowballs into a violent struggle. By Ash’s twitchy movements and aggression towards Ripley we can tell something is not right. While he forces a rolled up magazine into the mouth of now Captain Ripley, the other two members of the crew rush in to witness the utter madness. Once he is defeated, his body is shown in a new way. He does not have blood and organs, but rather, wires and metal are exposed. The movie takes quite a twist as we realize Ash is a robot, sent by the Company. They try to get information out of the android before putting him to rest.
Now, with only three people left on the ship and an alien on the hunt, Ripley begins to make new plans. She “gives Parker and Lambert an interim deadline of seven minutes to catch coolant tanks” in order for the three to leave the ship via the shuttle (Thompson 301). In their fearful struggle of doing just this, they meet face to face with the alien. Lambert’s eyes double in size as her body goes stiff as stone. Parker has put up a good fight but he is no match for this adaptable creature. The alien takes both of their lives, first sneaking up the inner leg of Lambert then finishing them both of in a thrash of commotion. Ripley hears their cries over the intercom and realizes she is the only one left. She plans on self-destructing the Mother ship and leaving on the shuttle by herself.
Once in the shuttle, she watches the explosion as she claims victory against the alien who has destroyed her team of five (and one robot). When settling down for a hyper sleep for the long journey home, Ripley discovers she is not alone. Suspense builds. By adapting herself the best way she could, suiting up and strapping herself to the vehicle, she is able to finally defeat her raging enemy by sending him into space, roasted due to the burn of fire jetting from the propellers. She is the sole survivor; the only true conqueror.
While I found this movie to be innovative, unique, and gratifying, I see that others might see the film in a different light. It would not be a pick of choice for impatient viewers, or audiences who are wishing to be “WOW-ed” every five minutes. Some may say that Scott’s film is slow moving, and I agree whole-heartedly. The film does have a slow pace, but the anticipation he builds with the use of mise en scene, score, editing/cutting, cinematography, and lighting is impeccable.
The slow, calm, controlled movements of the camera have established the basic rhythm of the direction – unhurried but supremely confident that what we will eventually be shown will be worth of our investment of interest. (Mulhall 15)
By slowing things down Scott is making our senses tingle. He’s making certain we catch every cut, angle, spooky sound, and foreshadowing event. Through the reading of outside sources the subliminal, deeper meaning, of certain events are revealed and taken under the microscope. Thanks to this investigation we can pick our way through the underlying aspects Scott intended for the film to possess.
The directors’ use of his set and props could not have been any better; a massive space craft containing cramped passageways, constantly framing the actors, added a nice feel to the dimensionality of the film. The props added to the sets, giving them a futuristic, credible space-like look. Muted colors help the viewer understand that we are in space and not on some sort of lush green land.
Score, or music, is also used, and not used, in a very effective manner. Eerie music plays at times of lingering onto another planet, and when searching for the alien. The use of the music in this movie keeps you on your toes. When the eyes of the audience get bigger as the music gains loudness, out of pure curiosity and suspense, you have clearly succeeded. Noise can very well make or break a film. This is an easy observation to make. However, this film brought it to my attention that lack of sound is a powerful tool as well. This can be found in the movie when all is silent as the cast searches the ship in hunt of the alien, when out pops the alien, or Jones, the ship cat. Moments like these are enough to make a grown man jump in his seat out of pure shock.
Many viewers do not consider the effect that editing/cutting has, or that this is done on purpose. After watching the film for content I sat down once again to view it in a different manner, looking at the way the film was made. The adjustments in pace play quite a role in the anticipation build up. In moments of action, such as when the alien is present and inflicting harm, the cuts are short and vivid, as if Scott is controlling our blinking mechanism. The characters and setting are shown in two second intervals, many close ups evident. In contrast, the beginning of the film showcases many long free flowing, moving shots. Panning is also present when we first see the ship. The motion is smooth and calm, lacking of anxiety and suspense.
There was a variety of camera persepectives throughout Alien, which suited it nicely. One may get bored with the same subject to camera distance and this director clearly knows this. A clear spectrum from extreme close ups to extreme wide shots is used offering variety and visual interest.
The underlying meaning and messages in the film make it that much more appealing to me. In Mulhall’s article, “Kane’s Son, Cain’s Daughter” he forms strong links between content of the movie and a meaning you might not have thought of when watching it. The first one that caught my eye was the analysis of the alien’s double mouth, capable of deadly irrevocable damage. It is obvious to wonder why two sets of teeth; however this is taken further in the article.
From the metallic incisors of the blind clearburster to the teeth-within-teeth of the warrior, it is as if its nature finds its fullest expression in images of devouring insatiability (and the threat such images pose for men and for women might be taken to be as different, in nature and in depth, as are the threat of castration and that of an infant’s limitless demands on its mother). (Mulhall 21)
Two sets of teeth make it much easier to cause big problems.
There is a reoccurring theme of childbirth taking place. The characters are first seen stepping out of “Mother’s” pods, monitor pads resembling umbilical cords. Another example would be Kane birthing the alien through his stomach. This implies that a creature takes the time to care for us as we are growing, we have a serious toll on our mother’s bodies and then we are born with two figurative set of razor sharp murdering teeth. With no type of gratification we consume the word around us. Using what we wish and tossing the rest away. This is even more applicable to our society 31 years after the film was created.
The male and female genders are seen in very different lights throughout the film. I saw masculinity being illustrated by the alien as strong, powerful, and adaptable.
When Ash imitates the alien’s distinctive parasitic violation of the human body in forcing a rolled-up magazine down Ripley’s throat, the pictures on the wall around him suggest that it is a pornographic publication; his actions thereby underline the film’s equation of the alien with masculine sexual violence, but they also imply an identification of science with masculinity. (Mulhall 31)
This is absolutely ironic, being that a woman is the only one to live, but the director makes it clear that the male gender has the upper hand in brute strength and intelligence. Only after Dallas’ death does Ripley begin to have a role in the film. Women, or femininity, is seen as a weakness; a characteristic that should be overcome in order to be adaptive and successful. Ripley is displayed as a background, unimportant character. Her voice is resisted at all times, especially by Ash. Her word means little, and she is ignored easily by the crew.
Only after extensive analyzing did I find this film to be so innovative and original. There were moments that made me laugh, which I doubt Scott was hoping for. At first glance it is easy to see a cheesy plot, an unbelievable robot character and over the top acting. The special effects are poor and the characters, and background information could have been more developed. We, as an audience, have no idea how these seven people formed a crew, if they have families, why there is a cat on board, etc. We get an impression that Dallas and Ripley might have a special bond between them but the director never expands on it. Another suggestion I would make would be to expand on the scene of the three crew members boarding the ship they were sent to check on. The set was unreal, absolutely larger than life.
Below is the set of the ship that sent out the SOS call.
Had we gotten a little bit more information from the ship the audience could begin to form ideas of what was to come, letting their imaginations run wild before we discover the intentions of the director.
Alien shows us how to successfully mix two very different genres. Though this film, in the year 2010, may be seen as a snoozer, you must sit back and let Scott have the attention of all of your senses. Once you appreciate the multiple meanings and attentive use of aspects such as lighting, score, and mise en scene, you can truly see all the potential Alien has to offer. It’s not what is seen on the big screen in this day, but does that have to mean it’s not worth the time?
Works Cited
Mulhall, Stephen. “Kane's Son, Cain's Daughter.” On Film. London: Routledge, 2002.
12-32. Print.
Scott, Ridley, dir. Alien. 1979. Twentieth Century Fox, 2010.
Thompson, Kristin. "Alien." Storytelling in the New Hollywood. Cambridge: Harvard
UP, 1999. 283-306. Print
I like how you have captions, but maybe you could make the font different from the rest (and smaller). Also, the images should be larger for the post to be more effective. Good job managing the text itself.
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