Alien 1979

Fig.4

Alien 1979 and was directed by Widely Scott. It won a Saturn award for the best science fiction film, an academy award for the best visual film, BAFTA awards for best sound and production design and more. This is one of the most influential films created however Widely Scott himself was also influenced by some films to create “Alien.” For example, an establishing shot was used in the beginning of the film representing the spaceship, the same shot was also used to represent the spaceship in ‘Star Wars’ (1977). Space Odyssey was also another influence because there was a point where the main actor was talking about an embryo becoming something new. That phrase was then taken and manipulated into the movie, humans giving birth to aliens.   

Alien is about a crew in a Star-ship who has awakened from their capsules during a distress call almost reaching home. They investigate and encounter a nest of eggs inside an alien’s ship. Something jumps out of the egg and grabs a man’s face. They enter their ship and tried to get it out not knowing that it has successfully created an ‘embryo’ inside the man who later on gives birth to an alien. The man dies and leaves the crew stuck on a ship with an alien.

Fig.1

The acting style used in this production was natural acting which made the narration more convincing to the audience. "A breakfast table gathering ensues, and their overlapping dialogue"(Eggert, 2012) made everything seem naturalistic as that is how we humans would communicate with each other, friends or family. Using this acting style drew you more into the film and felt like you were part of the crew on the ship. The camera angle was also intelligently taken to convey more of the naturalistic style in the scene, for example, a back-shot ass if you were behind the characters, and a long shot from the kitchen table looking down at them sitting by the breakfast table giving us a point-of-view shot. The way the story built up was beautifully done as they did not just focus on scaring the audience but building us up, getting us ready for the scare, " a film that absorbs us in a mission before it involves us in an adventure, and that consistently engages the alien with curiosity and logic, instead of simply firing at it." (Roger,2003)

Fig.2

The special effect or setting team did a magnificent job (Brian Johnson and Nick Allder and more). In the begging of the film, the mise-en-scene from inside the ship started off dry and calm even though the lighting was dark, however, if we go further into the scene the mise-en-scene becomes wet and gruesome. Not only did the acting and the dialogue tell the story, the setting and special effect were also used to tell the story as well. At the end of the scene, Malcolm also agrees with my ideology that Alien "Creates in the confined space of his main set a sweaty little world on its own that responds ideally to his obsessive close-ups and restless, magnifying style" (Malcolm, 2009). Looking closely at the mise-en-scene in "a ruined alien ship contrasted by a close-quarters spacecraft setting and empty corridors packed with claustrophobic fright" (Eggert, 2012). This shows how the setting is represented to make us as audience terrified because when the camera was used, a mid-shot or a long shot was used to show the actress Sigourney trying to escape from the alien, by using a hand-held camera the audience will feel tens because of the shakiness and the “claustrophobic” feel in the room.

Fig.3

The film did an "excellent job of maintaining tension throughout the film" (Lohner,2012). This is because they start off quiet and then moved into the breakfast scene where everyone gets along and have a laugh, the tension then builds up when they start to investigate. The tension builds up when the alien was born, after this, the “noise suddenly becomes unbearable" (Eggert, 2012) at the end when the actress Sigourney tried to blow up the spaceship. There was a nice built up contrast between quiet and becoming extremely noisy until it became “unbearable.” In conclusion, it was an interesting and beautiful production, instead of scaring the audience Widely Scott builds up the tension to make the audience feel horribly terrified.

Video;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7QDzToLl70

Bibliography;

Brian Eggert 2012 - http://deepfocusreview.com/definitives/alien/

Derek Malcolm - https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/oct/13/derek-malcolm-alien-review

Roger Ebert - https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-alien-1979

Illustration;

Fig.1 - http://livingromcom.typepad.com/my_weblog/images/alien_sigourney20weaver.jpg

Fig.2 – http://application.denofgeek.com/images/m/corridors/Alien.jpg

Fig.3 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zSKRlH9HYM