"Cinematic Device" In The Alien Franchise"
Spartacus
MemberOvomorphMarch 16, 20121302 Views22 Replies[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/LT.HIGHTIMES/a1aChalezea1.jpg[/img]
In each of the Alien Franchise Films, for me at least, there seems to have been one particluar "Cinematic Device" that was prevelant throughout the film and/or used somewhere that was so significant in each film, that it, in my mind, MADE that film, or if you prefer, was the one thing that stood out that made a difference in any entertinment value I felt that film had at the time.
ALIEN : This was the hardest one to come up with, all of the others including what I think it'll be for Prometheus were quite easy to see, but for the original film it was a little bit more tricky. In the end I settled on this...MODELING/ART DIRECTION. In this regard ALIEN was special. A Model...a frikking Model folks...approximately 60 feet tall was built by Giger and Scott for the Space Jockey set alone. The claustrophobic nature of the set built for the actors with real levels and working gadgets was and is to this day in my mind...LEGENDARY.
ALIENS: No question here for this film. Cameron's use of "Reverse Photography" is astounding. The work done on the facehugger scene in which Newt and Ripley are trapped in their quarters was brilliant, and throughout the rest of that film Cameron employed that same technique whenever they ran into filming trouble for any proposed shots.
ALIEN 3: ANIMATRONICS. Just saying that name is fun. And what a technique. Thank G-d for it in fact as far as making movies goes. The Animatronics in some of the scenes in ALIEN 3 are unforgettable, you could swear that thang was real, who cares if it was a Baby Boar or Doggie...lmao.
ALIEN RESURRECTION: No doubt about it we have "arrived" in the age of Sound & Vision. The THX audio work done for REZ is remarkeable but what really pushed this film over the top was the CGI work done in it. The first scene in which we see her and hear the roar of the QUEEN "Beezlenut" is such a JOY if you have 5.1 surround or THX and a decent LCD Large screen to experience it all again with...and again... and again...the Underwater scenes neeeded special substances made of milk base to be poured into the water so the CGI camera effects would be picked up and work under it.
PROMETHEUS: Ridley himself told us allalready what this one is. "3D". In fact he claims he will "never shoot again without it" !!! It's going to be realy interesting to see what we can see off to the sides of the screen in the thing too I think.
Bonus: I realized why "Rick" has always had a hard tme hearing and understanding what I mean about Parker having gas in Alien while drinking his coffee on the Nostromo at the begginning of the film, the first time we see him. It's because unless you see the film again in 5.1 or DTS...it is far less noticeable. SOUND makes a big diff. IMO, maybe the biggest of all...in every film made today...the proper or improper use of it can have a deep influence on how any film is percieved.
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