Alien Analysis.

Alien, directed by Ridley Scott was produced and released in 1979 and is a science fiction film which also contains aspects of horror and film noir as well as sticking to the conventions of a typical sci-fi film. The film is shot completely upon the spaceship, Mother, which is very conventional of the sci-fi genre.

The film Alien is known as containing one of the most horrific and disturbing scenes of the time – The Chestburster scene. This scene is shown in the middle of the film and the outcome of it leads to the climax of the film, the scene shows John Hurts character, Kane, being affected by his Alien attack at the beginning of the film when all seemed to be clear.

The beginning of the scene starts with all the characters and the audience unaware of what is about to happen as it was believed that Kane was finally uncontaminated by the alien. For this reason the shock of what happens is juxtaposed by the happiness that the crew had shown in the previous scene when they found out that he was supposedly free from disease. Kane starts showing signs that all is not well when the characters are eating dinner, during this part of the scene the food in the foreground is shown out of focus and the characters in the background are in focus, this is known as shallow focus and is used to emphasise the characters emotions and how Kane is acting.

Eventually the other crew members start to realise that something is up, however it is too late. The director then cuts to a mid-shot of the back of the characters which is shown in a high angle shot to show how the Kane has become vulnerable to the disease. Many high angle shots are used in this sequence for this same reason, especially when Kane is on the table, although at this point there is also some high angle shots of the other crew members who are trying to help him, this helps to emphasise the fact that the crew are in a position of power as they are the ones who are trying to help him. At the same point when Kane is on the table the lighting is very unnatural and synthetic as it is through the rest of the film due to it being set in space, but at this point it is as if there is a spotlight upon him emphasising his pain and just what is happening to him.

At the end of the scene Kane’s chest bursts open to reveal an Alien who has been held up inside and it is as if the Alien has just been born through Kane. This is where the highlights of the horror genre are entered into this film as the scene contains a lot of blood and its purpose is to scare the audience. At the time this may have succeeded nicely however nowadays due to advances within film special effects it failed to scare me as I felt it seemed very unrealistic.

There is no music played throughout the scene which I feel is very significant to the impact that the scene has upon the audience as it highlights the diegetic sound in the scene such as the screams and reactions of the characters as well as the thrashing about of Kane and the other crew members. The only non-diegetic sound used in the scene is after Kane’s chest has burst as there is a muffled heart beat in the background, which I believe is supposed to be coming from Kane’s heart to show what has happened is so serious you can ever hear his heart beat however his heart is not physically shown in the shot and therefore cannot be classed as diegetic sound.  The heart beat sound also has the effect of seeming as if it is a countdown of how long Kane is going to live for now that this has happened, this is a typical convention of sci-fi films.

Although the Chestburster scene contains the gore element of horror, there is also another scene which contains different conventions of horror throughout, the here kitty scene. In the scene the crew member Brett, is searching for the lost cat, although it does not end as would have been expected at the beginning of the scene. The scene spends most of the scene building up the tension before Brett ends up being attacked by the Alien.

The first thing that I noticed in the scene is the framing at the beginning when Brett is moving through the corridors which is done very nicely and helps to establish the scene and focus on Brett himself, this is also done through the use of shallow focus in much of the scene. The scene contains a variety of camera shots including the most common being close up shots of Brett to show his emotions and the build up of tension through his facial expressions. The lighting of this scene links very much to film noir as it is all low key lighting which is at contrast to the previous discussed scene which was mainly synthetic unnatural lights.   

Similar to the last scene there is a background non-diegetic sound of a heartbeat which this time is counting down to the climax of that scene when Brett gets attacked. There is also non-diegetic music in the scene which comes to a loud bag at the climax after being built up throughout the scene, this helps to create tension through the scene and then create a shock once the attack actually occurs. There is also the diegetic sound of Brett saying “Here Kitty” which helps to emphasise to the audience just what he is doing there.

The editing of the scene is very slow which helps to create the tension, however it quickly changes to fast paced once the attack happens to confuse the audience. There is also a use of parallel editing in this scene with Brett searching for the cat, this is used to highlight the reasons for Brett being there bus also to show the audience that he is not near reaching the cat.

All of the scenes throughout Alien intertwine with each other however these two both show the conventions of both sci-fi  and horror as well as starting with a sense of security which then leads to a shock/scare at the end.

Analysis- The Hurt Locker

I understand i have wrote rather a lot - appologies but i struggled to cut it down, enjoy:

When analysing a scene from the Hurt Locker it became clear that the main and more prominent analytical part of the scene was the cinematography and therefore it is what I am going to focus on from the scenee cinematography and therefore it is what i more. Cinematography is basically known as “the art of making motion pictures” and specifically that includes how the use of camera shots and angles help to portray the film and its themes.

In the scene from the Hurt Locker the cinematography is used coherently and in interesting ways throughout the clip as well as focusing on other aspects which vaguely link to cinematography like the framing of each still. The film is about a bomb squad unit in the Iraq war trying to deactivate a bomb, however in the scene even with limited knowledge of the plot and storyline one can still enjoy and be interested in the scene as there is little knowledge needed to come to grips with what is happening in the scene. In this scene specifically the bomb squad unit enter a house in order to find a group of people, for a unknown reason, however they discover a mangled body of a local boy as well as coming to the understanding that who they were looking for had only recently just left.

The scene starts off with the unit preparing to enter the house as well as preparing a plan for what is ahead, the cinematography in these first few shots allows the audience to come to terms with what is happening as there is a high angle establishing shot of the unit which enables the audience to establish the scene however the use of the high angle shot implies there is a vulnerability within the group as they are not sure what they could be walking into and could also be foreshadowing what is to come in the scene as they start to understand the danger in which they are in after they find the dead boy. The idea that the unit is in danger is again foreshadowed in the next few shots and camera movements as they include a zoom and close up of the soldiers prepping their guns; this is used in vague way to show that there is some form of danger or else they would not have the guns but the use of the zoom helps to emphasise this and create more significance to the weapon putting the idea in the audiences mind that it may be needed more than they might have originally thought.

As well as here and throughout the rest of the clip and most probably the film the camera uses handheld shots which includes jerky camera movements and creates an incoherency of the shots which could confuse the audience however this is done to create a sense of a realistic scene for the audience as it is as if it is in the form of a documentary or even a news broadcast, the realism of the scene is also added to later on by the use of eye level shots of each of the characters and the setting itself.

Although the cinematography used helps to create a realistic feel of the clip there is also an emphasis on the fact that the director is also trying to make sure the audience doesn’t start to believe it too much as she uses many techniques which are conventional of film rather than documentaries such as the use of a tilt up which is used early on In the scene to establish the character as well. The mise-en-scene also plays a part in this reality fix for the audience as there is a shot where the soldier is seen walking through the reflection of water on the ground which therefore shows him upside down, this shows that the soldier is out of place of where he is but is also very technically done which makes the clip leave part of the documentary or news broadcast idea behind.

The cinematography however is used very fluidly through the use of shot reverse shot between the characters when they are walking through the building communicating with each other as this helps to not create any confusing in the audience for who is talking as well as showing the reactions and body language of each character when communicating with the others and therefore not missing any key points. The fluidity of the cinematography is also shown through the use of a long take pan of the characters searching the building this long take is used specifically to create a fluidity which is clearly shown as well as bringing back the idea of a news broadcast.

With pretty much all of the shots that are used in this scene the rule of thirds is highly considered throughout although there are some shots where this as well of the framing of the shots are used impressively. Including when the soldiers are walking down the corridors, the rule of thirds is used as the two outside thirds are taken up by the walls and therefore the middle third is focused only on the soldiers walking down the corridor so that the audience will just focus on them .It could also show a sense on confinement as it is seen as a very narrow space and therefore again showing the danger of the scene as well as unnerving the audience and creating tension.

There is also a shot in the corridor where there is two soldiers at the top close to the camera but another at the bottom of the corridor alone and out of focus this shows the isolation of the soldier as well as the danger he could be in. Framing is used well in a shot where we see on the soldiers through a window this enables the audience just to focus on him as it is as if he has a box around him emphasising his character.

However my personal favourite still of the clip is before the soldiers walk into the bedroom as the first third contains one soldier and the last third contains another soldier however the middle thirst is full of the darkness which is the doorway, there is a use of contrasting colours that juxtapose each other  as the outside is rather bright however the doorway is pitch black creating a tension and showing the danger of what could be ahead. This shot is done in a long shot to show all of the soldier’s bodies and the doorway completely to make sure that the audience can see everything that is going on.

When the soldiers enter the doorway they do not come across anything immediately however when searching the room the scene is shot in silence this is significance as it creates a tension within the audience as non of the soldiers seem to be at ease, It also creates tension through the fact that the only noise that it being played is the diegetic sound of the guns which again shows there significance within the scene and emphasising that they are still in danger.

When the soldiers then leave the bedroom and enter more of the abandoned house there is a quick pan used to show the room which they were just in but also to show that they are about to enter more of the unknown, during part of this scene where the soldier then begin to search more of the house there is the use of many close up shot reverse shots of the characters faces to create a tension within the audience as the audience is able to see the fear and danger in the facial expressions of the soldiers and it becomes clear there is a definite danger. This fear of danger is then fulfilled as they find a local boy who has been mutilated by a bomb placed in his body and then sent off, during this part of the scene more close up shots of the faces of the soldiers are used to show the horror they have just found, there is also a close up pan of the body used to shock the audience after it is clear that the victim is only young.

Overall I feel that the cinematography is used well in this clip as it is used very fluidly and in a way which is attempting to make the audience emote different emotions such as fear and shock, and it not only attempts to do this I feel that it achieves this with flying colours.