ALIEN Aesthetic (Pt 2) - The Ensemble
“I also mixed it so there's a lot of overlapping dialogue because I didn't want people to get clearly what everybody was saying because I wanted everybody talking at once, thereby unhelpfully getting the audience to feel uneasy. I always get stressed when everybody is talking at once.” - Ridley Scott
In Part 2 of our deep dive into ALIEN’s aesthetic we are looking at how it frames its ensemble cast. The overlapping dialogue feels indebted to Altman (and not something we see repeated in Ridley’s filmography) while the staging itself is just (chefs kiss).
Meanwhile, Part 1 looked at the general visual strategies of Alien, and the forthcoming Part 3 will look at the framing (literal and figurative) of Ellen Ripley.
Let us start with the breakfast scene —
Anti-Heroing Out
One of the core narrative strategies of ALIEN is to resist 'heroing out' any one character for a long time. None of them have plot armour. "Crew expendable". This strategy is reinforced visually.
he establisher (shot on dolly with arm - notice the bump when it starts the countermove) shows us the whole crew around a circular table. Equal.
The scene breaks into 3-shots (including Jonesy 🐈) with visual weight given to Parker (Yaphet Kotto) and Brett (Dean Stanton) whose concerns around the "bonus situation" drives the drama.
Only then do we cut to a single of Dallas — singling him out as he dismisses the request. His visual status as the Ship's Captain is reinforced when he stands over everyone else and asks Parker to get dressed.
The scene before this is the crew waking up from cryo — and it absolutely singles out Kane. But ALIEN undercuts that immediately by de-emphasising him in the breakfast scene. Even Kane's ominous dialogue "I feel dead" is delivered off-screen. Wonderful misdirection.
Group Compositions
ALIEN uses its anamorphic widescreen to create some beautiful group compositions. In this scene (a fave), they're locating the source of the mysterious transmission. It's covered in only 2 setups + 1 insert. Yet it feels very dynamic
The actors, their performances and especially their shifting eyelines create multiple points-of-interest. This means "we cut with our mind's eye’.
Note also how Ash (Ian Holm) changes positions at the midpoint of the scene, and how that freshens up the compositions.
This is also, of course, Ash beginning to assert himself over the crew. Ultimately culminating in him making the decision that will doom the ship....
The Power of Reaction Shots
This 3-shot from ALIEN is great: the diagonal line from Kane->Dallas->Ash is visually strong and makes their exchange really dynamic.
But the genius is cutting to Lambert - at the scene’s midpoint - as she listens in. We feel her lack of power and anxiety over the coming mission.
Also notice how Kane - even though he's out-of-focus - is used to to anchor the screen geography. We understand where everyone is
This simple choice of showing Lambert's anxiety makes *us* feel anxious. There is power in simple reaction shots.
Ash Being Suspicious
Reaction shots are also used to make Ash seem suspicious.
In the scene where Ash opens the airlock (overriding Ripley) we see his reaction when Dallas orders Ripley to open the Airlock. It’s framed in a profile which I (@stuwillis) tend to view as a more… impersonal… angle because it’s like the character is avoiding eye-contact with the audience.
Later, in the chestburster scene, Ash is staged directly opposite the awakened Kane.
And even though Ash is not participating in the group’s banter, we keep on cutting back to him. Listening. Watching.
Some Favourites
Honestly, this deep dive into ALIEN started because I wanted to study in how it composed it’s many group shots. The position of the actors in the frame and how their eyelines work together (or apart) is just 🔥. So here are some of my favourites.
Stay tuned for Part 3! Meanwhile, please leave comment.