Steven

Payne Alien (1979) Dir. Ridley Scott

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Alien follows the events occurring upon the Nostromo, a commercial vessel owned by the Weyland Yutani Corporation for the transport of minerals through space. When returning to Earth, the crew are in stasis, asleep for the majority of the journey, but the ship awakens them when an unknown transmission is received. The crew is ordered to investigate the transmission, and reluctantly, they oblige. Whilst investigating a nearby planetoid, Kane, the ships executive officer, is attacked. Captain Dallas and the ships navigator, Lambert, bring Kane back to the Nostromo, bypassing the quarantine precautions put in place to protect the crew with the help of Ash, the ships science officer, and going against the orders of Ripley, the ships captain when Dallas is not on board. They later find that Kane has been host to a parasite that bursts free (literally) and hides on board the Nostromo, Fig 1 Alien Film Poster rapidly growing larger and stronger and one by one, picking off each of the crew members on board until only Ripley remains. Many consider Alien a masterpiece of science fiction cinema. It has influenced various realms of entertainment ever since its release and thanks to this, is one of the biggest film franchises of all time. Director Ridley Scott used a variety of production techniques in order to achieve the shots he desired. Like many films of the time, models were used to achieve certain shots that could not necessarily be established realistically. In Alien, all the ships were models crafted from wood, plastic and components from model battleship kits. Scott also used animal innards to achieve more realistic organic elements for the Facehugger and foods such as milk and caviar for the innards of the severed head of Ash the android. Variety Magazine says, Plainly put, Alien is an old-fashioned scary movie set in a highly realistic sci-fi future, made all the more believable by expert technical craftsmanship. (Variety, 2007) The overall design of the alien aesthetic was down to surrealist artist H.R. Giger. Giger is known for his highly erotic, biomechanical interpretations of human anatomy. He was brought in by Scott to design the general appearance of the alien environment, the alien ship and the alien itself in each of its growth stages from egg to adult. The aesthetic of the alien environment drastically contrasts the clean, cold, industrial design of the Nostromo, making the alien environment literally alien. The design is unlike anything ever seen in science fiction and this is solely because it was created not from a design perspective, but from an artistic one.

Fig 2 The Interior of the Alien Ship

Fig 3 The Interior of the Nostromo

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Ridley Scott explains the reasons for the aesthetic choices, saying, Gradually, down the line I realized it made a lot of sense to have Giger design everything that was to do with the alien. That includes the landscape and the spacecraft and that everything that was Earthly would be Michael Seymour and his team, right? And so that made a lot of sense. Two separate brains working on two separate worlds. (Ridley Scott, The Work of H.R. Giger on the Movie Alien (1979) Part Two) Alien is also well known for establishing one of the strongest female protagonists in cinema, Ellen Ripley. Ripley is the primary protagonist in Alien and its sequels Aliens, Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection. Sigourney Weaver, the actress behind Ripley, explains why she chose to take on the role. I think what attracted me to Ellen Ripley was that she, first of all, was a character written as a man, so it was written in a very straightforward way. She was a direct person who didnt have these scenes where she was suddenly vulnerable. She didnt throw her hands up and wait for someone else to save her. She was a thinking, moving, deciding creature. (Sigourney Weaver, Sigourney Weaver on Ellen Ripley from the Alien Films) The character of Ripley made a refreshing change to the typical, damsel-in-distress portrayal of women in cinema, much like that of Ann Darrow in King Kong.

Fig 4 Ripley Protecting Newt in Aliens

Fig 5 Driscoll and Denham Protecting Ann Darrow in King Kong

Alien has played a distinctive role in the way films are developed today, from technical production, design, feel and casting, much in the way that Metropolis has, and the science fiction genre would be very different if Alien had not played its part.

Steven Payne Bibliography Quotes

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Variety Staff. (2007) Alien. In: variety.com 04.06.07 [online] http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117789175?refcatid=31 (Accessed on 13/11/11) The Work of H.R. Giger on the Movie Alien (1979) Part Two. (2010) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3o6DJb7llY&feature=related (Accessed on: 13/11/11). Sigourney Weaver on Ellen Ripley from the Alien Films (2009) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zev0m1Gmw0g (Accessed on 13/11/11)

List of Illustrations
Fig. 1. Alien Film Poster From: Alien Directed by: Ridley Scott. [film poster] UK: Twentieth Century Fox

Fig. 2. The Interior of the Alien Ship From: Alien Directed by: Ridley Scott. [film still] UK: Twentieth Century Fox Fig. 3. The Interior of the Nostromo From: Alien Directed by: Ridley Scott. [film still] UK: Twentieth Century Fox Fig. 4. Ripley Protecting Newt in Aliens From: Aliens Directed by: James Cameron. [film still] USA: Twentieth Century Fox Fig. 5. Driscoll and Denham Protecting Ann Darrow in King Kong From: King Kong Directed by: Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack. [film still] USA: RKO Radio Pictures