I had to analyze two
scenes from the 1979, sci-fi horror film, Alien, and discuss how the
cinematography helps to add to the scenes.
The first scene I had
to analyze was the Chestburster scene, where the crew helplessly holds down
Kane as the alien forces itself out of his chest. The scene starts with the crew sitting around
the table in the canteen, celebrating Kane’s ‘recovery’. The wide medium shot creates a sort of
normality and the three shot helps to support this and makes the scene feel
more innocent and creates a false sense of security in the audience, who like
me, believe Kane has recovered and is fine, which creates more surprise,
confusion and shock as the scene progresses. I also felt that the eye level
shot helped to make me feel part of the scene and part of the crew, which makes
the viewer more caring for Kane when he rolls in pain. The quite neutral eye
level mid shot also makes me and the audience more unaware and oblivious to the
alien inside of Kane.
However when Kane
starts to cough uncontrollably, he appears in the centre of the screen, and the
shot obeys the rule of thirds. This helps to make Kane the centre of attention
for the audience and creates more tension as the audience and I are unsure on
what is happening but we know it is important as he dominates the shot. As the crew and the audience start to worry
for Kane, it quickly changes to a high angle mid-close up. This helps to show
how vulnerable Kane is, and foreshadows threat from within. In this shot it also shows some of the crew,
which also foreshadows that they aren’t save either. As well as that Kane appears with his back
towards the camera, the mise en scene of this shows how Kane isn’t himself,
which creates more suspense as I and the audience want to know what is wrong
with him.
The diegetic sound of
Kane coughing and the crew asking if he is okay, just add to the realism of the
scene and makes it more believable. I found myself feeling like part of the
crew and feeling like I was in the room with them, confused as to why Kane was
coughing. As he collapses onto the table, it cuts to hand held point of view
shots of Kane struggling on the table. These jerky shots help to make the
audience feel apart of the scene and I felt like I was helping to hold down
Kane. The majority of shots in the scene
are in deep focus, this makes it harder to miss anything and allows the
audience to see everything. This makes
the scene more shocking and disturbing and you feel apart of it and the medium
close ups makes the audience witness all of Kane’s struggle and pain, and made
the scene more memorable and disturbing for me, as you can see all the agony
Kane is in.
But the sudden shift
to shallow focus and the close up of the alien, once it burst through, shows
the significance of it and foreshadows the dominance it will have over the
other members of the crew. Moreover the sudden silence and the lack of diegetic
sound, which the alien provokes, shows the shocking and horrible nature of it
and just emphasizes the tragic nature of Kane’s death.
The second scene I had
to analyze was the, Here Kitty scene. In the scene Brett goes after the cat but
however is attacked and killed by the alien. The scene uses a lot of close ups
on Brett and uses shallow focus to distort the background and create more
tension and suspense as the audience and I watch the unfocused alien creep up
on Brett. The cinematography is also added to by the diegetic sound of his
death. Also it doesn't use music and made it more realistic for me and more
believable. Moreover the scene uses low key lighting which is a convention of
the horror genre, and makes the audience more suspicious of what is about to
happen, but also again it builds more tension and suspense as the audience can
anticipate Brett’s death. As well as that,
the editing helps to create a confusion and made me feel like I was apart of
the scene. Also after Brett is attacked, there is a Shot Reverse Shot, using
the cat. This creates the point of view
of the cat and makes the audience feel like they are witnessing Brett’s death,
bringing a shocking realism to the scene.
