Film Analysis

Ridley Scott's 'Alien' (1979) Quick synopsis:

The crew of a spaceship are taking there payload back to earth only to be interupted by Mother (the computer of the ship) of news that a non human signal has been identified and must be investigated. Upon arrival of the planet an Alien attaches itself onto one of the crew members and ends up loose on the ship, picking off the members of the crew one at a time.

I chose this particular scene because it is at the point in the film where you realise the crew are in danger and begin working together, where as at the beginning of the film there are a number of conflicts and differences between crew members, particularly betwen Ripley and Ash.

Scene Breakdown: (Ship Enters) this shot shows the actual scale of the ship as they head off into space I love this que as you know that the crew are now in danger and things are about to begin.

In this scene they are having to use and adapt materials onboard the ship to hunt the Alien. At this point in time the crew believe the Alien to be tiny but infact it is of a larger scale and is constantly growing as they speak.

Above shows the crew testing out the equipment before they split off to hunt the alien. The shots are very simple medium shots, flicking between Dallas, Lambert and Brett, to Ripley, Ash and Parker. The lighting in the scene is quite dark casting shadows across there faces and giving the feeling of claustrophobia, the captain in this scene is acting very cool and collected and the crew are working together well, as they know they have a problem.

The next shot shows Ripley, Brett and Parker searching the corridors of the ship for the alien. As you can see from the screenshot the set is darkly lit with only the flash light providing light. The corridor looks complex and industrial, and because it is a long shot it invites the feeling that something is going to jump across the screen. The scene is long and drawn out creating tension as we move along.

Once Parker has fixed the lights Ripley picks up a signal on the motion tracker and they slowly begin walking towards the next room where the signal is coming from. The beeping noise from the machine is a fantastic device that creates a lot of tension.

This next shot is from the room that the signal is coming from, I quite like how Ridley Scott decided to keep the camera angles quite low down to give the feeling that the alien may be looking up towards them, it also gives a feeling of false security towards the characters as you know what they are dealing with is a lot more sinister than what they think. Instead of using a shot that follows them from behind entering the room he has decided to let the actors slowly walk in, as the door moves up it brings in rays of light that sillouhette the crew, they move very slowly and the scene is incredibly drawn out creating even more tension, it is a medium long shot and yet again invites the feeling that something could jump out, the set almost engulfs the characters with its low ceilings and minimal lighting giving a feeling of danger.

Searching the Room:

The next shots shows the crew searching the room where they finally isolate where source of the movement is coming from, it is a small box, as they open box there is a lot of tension created as to whats inside it; eventually we see a cat scream and then run off, Brett holding the netting up to capture it lets the cat go, not realizing that they will pick it up later on the tracking device. Parker and Ripley laugh and tell him to go and get the cat, I particularly like this scene as the audience know that Brett has made a mistake and he doesn't realize it until Parker and Ripley laugh at him in a degrading fashion, making him look stupid.

This next shot is quite possibly one of my favourite scenes of all time, the tension created in it is brilliant. The que as Brett walks into the big room is timed brilliantly as the audience then realize that he is going die. Once again the shots in this room are timed brilliantly and are long and drawn out to create tension.