Ripley invades Ash's space in Alien
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- čas přidán 27. 04. 2024
- This seemingly simple scene from #Alien - where #Ripley confronts Ash for the first time - is fascinating:
The angle on Ash was shot without #SignourneyWeaver, but they use a stand-in to make the frame dirty; while the reverse angle on Ripley was shot later as a clean single° (see PS below) Yet the cumulative affect really works - Ash feels suspicious, and Ripley feels strong.
While the shortening of Ripley's eye-line gives her power, the negative space (enhanced by darkness in the environment ) makes her feel isolated.
*PS: As discussed in the pinned comment, this is very likely Sigourney Weaver (tho one commentator speculated it could be Cartwright in a wig!) and it was just shot this way because they didn't think they will get the reverse.
#shotzero #filmmaking #directing #cinematography #sci-fi #lv426
Very cool vid. While I absolutely agree that this quiet scene is really powerful in the movie (Ash's intensity and the two sidelong glances he makes towards the offscreen Kane in the med-bay before he's interrogated by Ripley give a sense that he's concealing something), I don't agree that it's not Sigourney Weaver in the initial two-shot with Ian Holm. The actor that enters the frame on the left, swaps sides, picks up the pincers and looks in the microscope without any cutting is definitely Weaver, her chin and profile are very recognisable. And when she is finally shown full-on in MCU ("And you let him in.") it has more power. I'm of the opinion that the late Terry Rawlings did an utterly incredible job editing Alien, and this is a great example. It totally works to see her up in 'his' space, making her presence felt, but maybe in the commentary, Scott was recalling not having Weaver to shoot a reverse of her approaching Ash's station. As it turns out, it wasn't needed.
I agree, based on nothing but the visible part of her facial features... remarkably similar in both shots where she is shown from that low angle and the second one actually reveals her face too. I don't suppose Scott misremembered things from what was then 20 years in the past for him, but I do think that if a stand-in was used for Sigourney at any point, it wasn't in the exact shots shown in the video.
Agreed. I think the quote that he used by Ridley had more to do with the fact that Weaver was cast very late in the process, after many callbacks and test screenings so that she was behind the curve throughout filming and never got much direction from Ridley. For her, the outsider, that worked because she was never really "part" of the core actor group and she was scrambling to learn screen acting, as this was only her second movie (with the first as a very brief walk-on role in Annie Hall.)
Yes, it's definitely Weaver in the first shot.
Are you sure?
The lips and chin region look more like Veronica Cartwright's profile.
Except for the "our guest" line, all the voice lines sound like hers. These lines appear in Cartwright's low, subdued voice. The "our guest" line sounds like it was dubbed in post production (by Weaver).
But that is just my theory: Cartwright in a wig and jacket as stand-in for Sigourney Weaver.
Thanks for the *very* thoughtful comment. I rewatched this frame-by-frame and I think you're right. The real giveaway to me was when she's on the microscope, its def her, and probably not something they'd risk with a stand-in.
I still think it works because it's almost shot like they didn't expect to get ANY coverage of Sigourney, and the MCU feels like a pickup (and they didn't try to match any of the primary action).
I've updated the description to reflect this observation that you, @khymaaren and others have made. Thank you!
I saw this at the cinema just a few days ago, and I was reminded of how unusual this scene is. The timing of Ripley's appearance is unexpected. Alien is full of strange choices and I think that's why it continues to feel fresh and interesting.
you got to see this at the cinema just a few days ago? oh how i envy you:) what a great film to seel like that. I should check to see if it is around here too.
Great analysis. It's clear that Ash is "feeling" uncomfortable around Ripley (as far as Androids feel), because he knows that she knows, or at leasts suspects, that he is hiding something from her and the rest of the crew.
Totally! He's beginning to worry that he's been caught.
The remaster (I assume 4K) looks smooth as if it came out nowadays. I like the many panning shots of the original Alien, really slow and immersive and lets you feel like you are at the scene. It’s also an interesting play on the hero/villain dynamic as it is usually the villain who invades the hero’s space. Ripley also wasn’t made clear to be the main protagonist until Dallas gets picked up in the air shaft. They really got lightning in the bottle for the original Alien.
Totally agree. For me it's a true miracle of a film - try as they have, they've never been able to recapture the magic. ALIENS was a smart sequel *because* they just tried something different.
Ripley emerges from the shadows as an intimidating antagonist. Just like the alien.
very nice anatomy of a scene. thanks!
Thank you too!
These are great observations, thanks for the video!
Thanks so much.
great analysis! you are so good!
Thank you kindly!
Saying he “didn’t get” her means he didn’t get the coverage:the other way for the first half of the scene - not that she wasn’t there. (That’s not a stand-in, in other words.)
In the future, toggle switches have no labels
Don't forget the furtive glance as he drinks his "milk", I love that little bit as well :)
Nice spot! They actually shortened that moment in the director's cut (where this excerpt is from) in the theatrical the camera moves away from him and we get a little more of that furtive glance.
did you notice that, at the end of the scene, ash was drinking a "WHITE LIQUID", the same color and viscosity of Ash's "blood"? i wonder if that was planned...
Really great video with perfect explanations delving into one of my favourite franchises. Hope you get subs fast as your work deserves it.
I hope so too!
i still remember when i was 10 years old watching alien in 1989 ,
this scene , i feeeled something is not correct , not about the alien but ash
Right? Ash is such a creep the whole way through the film.
Very nice take, thank you! Love the dynamic between Ellen and Ash.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Nice juxtaposition when he does it to her…later. Milk returns again…
I think that this maybe shows all creativeness as a reaction to pressures and limits. So, sometimes - sometimes - really inventive things can happen during prohibitions & censureship, or lack of gear or time. When you get too much resources, cash, talent and time, serendipity often leaves the house
100% I also think that this being only Ridley's second movie means he was still experimenting with what he liked as a process. ALIEN is full of overlapping dialogue and lots of improvisation, and I just don't think Ridley has done that in any other movie since!?
thank you for the video
Nicely explained.
Glad you liked it
And then Ash, the man hmm robot devoted to science reincarnated as Cornelius the priest. Ironic.
Interesting…and I sometimes wonder whether the filmmakers simply “lucked into” this kind of meaning or if it was intentional? I guess we’ll never know
In my experience of nearly 20 years in the industry... you can certainly luck into these things when you're shooting, but when you're editing it's often way more analytical and deliberate. There are editors who work off intuition and won't necessarily talk about the scene how we did here but may say something like "I think we hold on Ash, it akes hi feel suspicious, and Ripley is pressuring him to reveal something".
I always thought that Ash seemed liked he was hiding something because of the way he turned off his monitors and then asked Ripley not to look in the microscope. The image on the large monitor looks like a head with a big eye, though the alien doesn't in fact have eyes.
'Coocooned in light' might be trying a bit too hard lol
😢
Good video and work for us fans ,,, just Lets not forget the devil in the details , ash is a android who was to get this specimen at any HUMAN expense .. he knew what he was doing , he knew that , if the crew had found out ,,,his mission an life span would been terminated.. which is exactly what happened.. and in aliens since we had a heroic android , burke was the counter of bishop .. like an ash . . . Just like we seen in covenant ...
think people !!
Hey man, I enjoy this breakdown of events in this seen. But my questions are a lot. One, what was she doing before Ash was startled by her being there without him knowing about it? Also, all the doors on the ship make a pneumatic noise when the open or close, there was no sound of a door opening for Ripley. Why did she wait until that moment to ask about letting Kane in the ship when a seriously noticeable infection on his face? Why ask then and not when after she was smacked by Lambert and then bit*hed out by Dallas about "following an order?" Why then? Why not remind him that "When Dallas and Kane are off the ship I am in charge" why not then say it? I do not know. I do not think she was saving face. I think you are right about the dark negative space to her left (our right) that she is all alone in this matter. And if she is a warrant officer, does that mean she is in charge of secruity for the ship; Does that mean she is the one that is the law enforcer on the ship? I really do not know with as many times I have seen this movie, what she did on that ship before that. Is that why she is all worried about law? Is that why she is upset, blocking in Ash ("cornering him") and providing and "interrogation?" Makes you wonder. :) LOL
Great questions that I wish I had answers for!
But I'll attempt a few:
- The slap from Lambert is ONLY in the Director's Cut not the Theatrical Cut. So it could be that it plays better when she's shrinking a bit fro the others (ie avoiding direct confrontation).
- Ridley has gone on record saying that Ripley has authority but she's ignored by the others because she's a woman. I think in world that tracks as the hierarchy seems very loose ie Dallas only asserts command when he has to.
We wrote a bit more about this over at our substack! If you're as a huge a fan of this movie as me, hopefully you enjoy our deep dives over there:
shotzero.substack.com/p/the-alien-aesthetic-part-1-the-visual
David's personality is very reminiscent of Ash. 3:25 his mannerisms. are eerily the same.
Fassbender's performance of David is sublime!
Has anyone noticed that Ash doesn't close his right eye when he looks in the microscope?
NIce spot! So creepy.
@@_shotzero Another android clue (or artificial human) that shows he,s not human when he does a weird exercise thing with his arms that's not humanly possible. Can't remember what scene it's in, but I remember it.
0:55
Use your open eye, Frank.
According to rumours from the script writers,Neill Blomkamp movie was about the Sulaco ship
drifting in space after the emergencypods were released.On the ship there were a xenomorph
hidden in the lower basement of the spaceship.After fifty years they are detected by another
ship bringing colonists to a new terraformed planet for humans.They send in two robots to
investigate.They find traces of dna in the ships database,and clones Hicks,Ripley and Newt.
But as clones they don't remember anything of the events that took place in the alien3 movie.
When they arrive at the colonists destinyplanet,the xenomorph starts to lay eggs.
Then all humans on the planets are attacked and a war breaks out.Ripley,Hicks and Newt manages to
escape in a spaceship they find in a cave. It is a engineer spaceship that takes them to the
engineers homeplanet called"Paradise".But when they have left the spaceship,a deacon crawls out
and makes a cliffhanger for a followup movie 😀
Fascinating! Hopefully a comic or audiobook adaptation comes out for it!
@@_shotzero Or perhaps a cgi movie ?
Keep it up
Thank you! We posted a new video on the facehugger jump scare with Ripley and there's another one coming. Consider subscribing if you liked what you saw.
@@_shotzero done 👍
We know how to read.
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