Title Sequence Order
· a Brandywine-Ronald Shusett production
· a Ridley Scott film
· Tom Sherritt
· Sigourney Weaver
· Veronica Catwright
· Harry Dean Stanton
· John Hurt
· Ian Holm
· and Yaphet Kotto as Parker
· music by Jerry Goldsmith conducted by Lionel Newman (in small print) original music copyright 1979 Fox Farfare Music Inc
· executive producer Ronald Shusett
· screenplay by Dan O’Bannon
· story by Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shuett
· Produced by Gordon Carroll, Davi Giler and Walter Hill
· Directed by Ridley Scott
· ALIEN (title comes in slowly throughout opening sequence)
Right from the start of the opening the audience is introduced to the movies genre of a Sci-fi Horror from the setting with is in outer space and the non-digetic sound. The information below is displayed for the audience to give them some general information about the ship we see after the title sequence.
commercial towing vehicle ‘The Nostromo’
crew: seven
cargo: refinery processing 20,000,000 tons of mineral ore
course: returning to earth
By getting the above information the audience now know the purpose for the seven people for being on the ship and where there going. The director may have chosen to do this to get the liner narrative moving forward. On the other hand however, the non-diegetic sound of the eerie music suggests that it’s not going to go smoothly. It give the audience negative foreboding feeling for future events.
The audience gets a view of the ship after the tittle sequence and the mise-en-scene of it looks like a castle giving the feel of the stereotypical horror movie with a creep castle on a hill. On the other hand its not really discernible meaning the audience is unknowingly feeling a conventional familiarity with it.
The eerie non-diegetic sound and the slowness of the title of the movie build up the suspense for when we see the space ship. The tracking shot gives the audience a tour of the inside of the ship and in set the scene this also gives the effect that they are there themselves. The audience also get a look at the different technology this adds to the eerie unusual feel.
We then get to see the 7 characters sleeping and then the bed suddenly opening and at this point the audience still doesn’t know why but this is done purposely to get the movie to flow and keep the audience guessing.
The Title ‘ALIEN’ comes in slowly along with the title sequence.
The non-diegetic eerie music and the font of the title adds to the suspense the audience would feel right from the start in this opening. This, in turn is setting the mood and the location of this film. The way the title ‘ALIEN’ slowly creeps in at the beginning give a sense of mystery and foreboding dread, fear and uneasy furthermore the eerie music adds to this. The title gives away that this 'uneasy' feeling may have something to do with aliens, as a consequence the audience probably have already inferred this.
