Critical Analysis - Alien

ALIEN:

The film Alien is a sci-fi horror film created in 1979 directed by Ridley Scott. It stars Sigourney Weaver, Harry Dean Stanton and Ian Holm as part of a crew in the spaceship ‘Nostromo’  where they are awoken out of deep sleep to an distress signal from another planet this however was not the signal they wanted to be woken up by but a deliberate awakening. The crew begin to equip for their landing on the planet which the signal has been picked up from as they take a bad landing on the planet once landing some of the crew disperse and decided to investigate the area before towing back the broken down ship to earth what the crew don’t know is that there is an Alien on the broken down ship which begins to travel around ‘Nostromo’ preying on the crew.

I had to analyse two of the scenes from this film to my choice, these two sequences are the opening sequence and the Chest buster scene. Analyzing on the mise-en-scene, sound and editing.

The opening sequence begins with a wide panning shot of space as an establishing shot .As the film title dissolves over the shot a menacing non diegetic soundtrack slowly fades in, setting up the films tone and atmosphere. This suggests to the audience disequilibrium in the films plot.

 The title in this sequence is made from lettering compromising of basic geometric shapes; this title is built up after each anchorage fades in and out making the audience piece together what the title is. As this film is set in the future this connotes the story line as they are on quest of discovery. A computer like file opens up and tells the audience everything they need to know about ‘Nostromo’ and how many crew are aboard and what there course is ‘returning to earth’  creating instant enigma codes as to what they have done and why. A slow pulsating electronic non – diegetic score is played to accompany a straight cut to a low angle shot where the ship slowly passes over getting closer and closer which cuts to a interior shot from inside the ‘Nostromo’ this establishes the setting signifying where the story takes place. 

The mise-en-scene shows an industrial interior design of all dark metal piping and laddering artificial lights shines through the metal grills of the ships walls which is one of Ridley Scott’s directorial traits as used in Blade Runner (1982) and Gladiator (2000). A dolly shot tracks through the corridors the lighting in this shot has a red glow through the metal grills connoting danger cutting to another significant room on the ship as it suggests where crew members meet. This is the first room we see and the shot uses composition of rule of thirds this shot shows a clear camera arches framing a framing as a switch of interior design changes into a sterile area and more resemblant of living quarters there is a coat positioned on the back of the chair, this shot is has ambient lighting to show the fact that it’s not being used as if it’s on standby the non – diegetic sound changes from passive and soothing in tone to ominous and unnerving. 

The shot pans to the right as a shallow depth of field focusing on a control panel with red and blue lighting showing binary oppositions this used as we track down to the next shot of the darkened corridor and a white background room this draws the attention to the ladders in this shot and space suites giving a sign as to what they do and also a sign of escape. There is a shot of a computer turning on this is the first movement we see on the ship.

As the ships computer receives the distress signal the crew are revived from there hyper sleep  This is symbolic of giving birth as the ships computer is called mother the pods wake the crew which is what a mother does as it dominates them, in control. The non- diegetic sound changes from a sinister score to a naturist sound. Kane arises from the pods as he is the first to be born and is the first to die / give birth later on in the Chest buster scene.

A tracking dolly shot is used to show the living quarters in use with the diversity of crew eating at the table. A diegetic alarming noise grabs the crew’s attention as they vacate the table and add costume of jackets.

The next scene I decided to analyse was the Chest buster scene where the alien escape from Kane’s chest as he gives birth to the alien. This scene opens up with a low angle exterior shot of the ship returning home accompanied with a non – diegetic creeping pulsing noise like a heart monitor this instantly gives us direction as to what this scene has to offer this then cuts to an opening shot of the living quarters and the crew discussing what they should do to Kane in the mise-en-scene we see food on the table and alcohol informing the audience that this area is in use. This scene uses high key lighting to fool the audience into believing that these parts of the ship are safe to be as a sterile white is used unlike the corridors and exterior of the ship. 

Diegetic noise is used as an alarm to gain the crews notice where we hear Ash’s intercom telling the Dallas to come and see Kane however the whole crew follow his lead a cut is used to the medical bay where the audience is presented with a close up shot  of Kane in pain in the mise-en-scene we can see surgical tools this is so the audience knows that they are in the medical bay.

 The crew surround Kane to empathize his illness and to gain the audiences focus on Kane. Ash then walks through the center of the shot dividing the crew to him and Kane, Ash’s costume is completely different to the crew as they have all got some form of cream clothing on as a suggestion of uniform where as Ash is in a blue outfit signifying he doesn't fit in and is not one of them. A close up shot is then used again on Kane’s face to show his pain where he is asked ‘does he remember anything about the planet’ to which he says ‘I remember some horrible dream about been smothering ’ which cuts to Ash suggesting some form of conflict between the two whilst he was unconscious. A cut is given to the living quarters where the crew are participating on their last meal before retiring to bed. Kane begins to fill his plate full of food again a cut is used back to Ash watching Kane’s movements this happens throughout this scene creating a clear guidance as to something is wrong between the characters. 

A high angle shot is used behind Kane while he suffers in pain this shows the audience exactly where he will be positioned later on in the scene. Inter-cutting is used between the two shots of Kane in pain and Ash clearly watching him suffer. 

We see Kane lay on the middle of the table with no Ash (doctor) to help him overcome the pain in his chest where a blood splat shoots up and we then see Ash getting involved in helping Kane. The alien disperses from Kane’s chest where the aliens screech resembles the noise of someone giving birth as well as the amount of blood covering the Alien the aliens tale is as similar shape as an umbilical cord.

 Parker goes to kill the alien where as Ash tries to stop the killing letting the alien escape from the room cuts are used to show the split between the crew and Ash in Kane’s death and the Alien’s escape. As the alien retracts from the body the audience hears a non-diegetic noise faint heartbeat which passes from Kane to the Alien this is used as.