Alien 1979 Film Review

Fig. 1. Alien Movie Poster (1979).

Before you even get to the film, the movie poster on it’s own is a great work of art (see fig. 1.) that reflects the film well making it clear it’s of science fiction genre, it captures the atmosphere - the darkness, the egg that started it all with a sci-fi glow in the cracks and the letters of the film title being spread out in capitals to reflect the infinity of space, "In space no-one can hear you scream.” (Alien 1979). “Even today its poster stands as a model for high-class movie artwork: the black background, the single nobbly egg with a v-shaped crack forming, the spaced-out letters of the title, and a tagline that must have earned the marketing team the rest of the day off:” (Kim Newman 2003).

Fig. 2. Alien - Alien attached to Kane's face (1979)

Ridley Scott’s 1979 horror classic tells the story of a crew on a mission in space who discover Alien life form and it becomes their mission to, "Return alien life form, all other priorities rescinded” (Alien, 1979). The Alien brought onto the space ship via Kane (John Hurt’s) face that leaves him in a coma (see fig. 2.). The alien is finally removed from Kane’s face and later on explodes out of his stomach in a new form, (see fig. 3.) this is where things get especially good and the plot gets going, a new mission arises that disregards the new one - remain alive and no one was more ruthless, strong and determined to do this than Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver). A challenge to the staying alive mission was “throughout the movie: It evolves the nature and appearance of the creature, so we never know quite what it looks like or what it can do” (Roger Ebert, 2003).

Fig. 3. Alien - Stomach Exploding Scene (1979)

Alien deserves praise for many reasons, the first being the acting, an amazing leading role performance by Weaver (see fig. 5.) who captures your attention and keeps you intrigued in her story and has you rooting for her survival in addition to throughout the whole film she has your backing. Accompanied by another praise worthy performance from John Hurt especially in the exploding stomach scene where the alien begins she shifting. “Sigourney Weaver is more than a revelation, John Hurt is a master, and the rest are nothing short of marvellous.” (Patuquitos, 2005). In addition to the acting creating tension and atmosphere you have the camera shots also which make it hard to look away, you always see what you need to see and long enough to be horrified, scared, intrigued etc. Another legendary aspect of this film is “The FX are the best possible for 1979. In the time of the release, some scenes were stomach churning.” (Patuquitos, 2005) and goes down in history as being a horror classic, despite the stomach scene another unforgettable scene (see fig.4.) is where you find out Ash (Ian Holm) is a robot and they speak with only his head after some rewiring.

Fig. 4. Alien - Speaking with Ash's head scene (1979)

Fig. 5. Alien - Ellen Ripley (1979)

Bibliography

Alien. (1979) Directed by Scott, R. [DVD] United Kingdom: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.

Ebert, R. (2003). At: http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-alien-1979

Newman, K. (2003). At: http://www.empireonline.com/movies/alien/review/

Patuquitos. (2005). At: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078748/reviews

List of Illustrations

Figure 1. Alien "In Space No One Can Hear You Scream" (1979) [Poster] At: http://buyoldmovieposters.com/Store/sci-fi-movie-posters

Figure 2. Alien - Alien attached to Kane's face (1979 [Image] At: https://fogsmoviereviews.com/2012/01/09/movies-that-everyone-should-see-alien/comment-page-1/

Figure 3. Alien - Stomach Exploding Scene (1979) [Image] At: http://www.comingsoon.net/horror/news/748130-10-shocking-scenes-alienprometheus-films

Figure 4. Alien - Speaking with Ash's head (1979) [Image] At: https://fogsmoviereviews.com/2012/01/09/movies-that-everyone-should-see-alien/comment-page-1/

Figure 5. Alien - Ellen Ripley (1979) [Image] At: http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/ellen-ripley/images/28849305/title/alien-screencap

Invisible Cities Reflective Statement

At the start of the project I missed the briefing which put me at a disadvantage so when I got round to looking at the brief after the weekend, everyone else did tasks that they didn't need to wait for classes in order to complete it and already I was behind on my work and didn't know. I didn't start thumbnailing until a week after the brief and from there I was more behind than everyone else and I didn't totally understand the task, I didn't realise how many cities we had to do thumbnails for and how much detail - thumbnails are not a quick thing. In future if I ever have to miss a briefing again (hopefully I won't) I will look at the brief as soon as possible and find tasks to complete and get my work done as soon as possible so that I dont have to rush doing 10+ cities thumbnailing in a weekend and won't have to pull a almost all nighter to get my final paintings done last minute to a just about satisfactory quality. Another problem I had due to misunderstanding the brief is I planned an idea that was off brief, the task was to create concept art on Calvino's Invisible Cities where as I took his idea and completely changed it into something it wasn't so I wasted even more time on that idea then having to go back and create a new one.

Having done digital painting before this was my first attempt at doing enviromental/city concept art where as before I was doing concept art for characters. Throughout this project I have learned about thumbnails and new digital painting techniques such as using the lasso tool to paint, blending modes, gradient maps, experimenting with new brush tips, image creation techniques such as collage and construction and for me working a lot more in black and white where as I have always worked in colour only. I did enjoy this project as it challenged me, despite how stressful it was because of my own errors wasting so much time, I'm really pleased with two of my final paintings, (my establishing shot especially) as it was my first surrealism influenced piece and my first landscape/city painting. My low angle shot however lacks the same quality the other two have as I spent the least amount of time on that and gave myself five days (sunday - thursday) to get all three paintings done and because I had classes to attend I didn't spend as much time on the low angle shot, (basically thursday). However I'm really proud that I finally got there with Armilla despite the knock backs and that I produced something I can be proud of. I feel I did well considering this is my first project and I did get everything done and handed in on time.

Next project I will do my work as soon as I get it but pacing how much I do in a day and not to overload myself, I will make sure I'm on top of everything and will start making work schedules again. Also I will read the brief more thoroughly several times to remember what it specifically says and to prevent me going off track again.

Invisible Cities - Armilla: Animated GIFS

Exterior Shot GIF

Low Angle Shot GIF

Interior Shot GIF

Invisible Cities 'Art Of': Armilla

More Influence Maps

Invisible Cities 'Crit Day' Presentation: Armilla

Invisible Cities Research Document: Armilla

Armilla Finished Digital Painting: Low Angle Shot

Armilla Finished Digital Painting - Interior Shot

Armilla Finished Digital Painting - Exterior Establishing Shot

2001: A Space Odyssey Film Review

Figure 1: 2001: A Space Odyssey Movie Poster

This reviews examines Stanley Kurbick's science fantasy, 2001: A Space Odyssey, a intellectual film about evolution. It begins with the beginning of time going billions of years back to the apes and no sign of humans. The story line is quite confusing but thats because Kubrick treats his audience with intelligence to figure it out unlike other films that explicitly show you everything you need to know. So during the time of the apes a black monolith appears, over time and alien intelligence buries this shrieking monolith which is later found by astronauts which sends them on mission Jupiter. Mission Jupiter has a team of five, three which are kept in hibernation and two to run the ship alongside Hal who leads the mission. As events unfold Hal starts acting up, the people in hibernation die, one of the two men is let go in space when Dave was suppose to save him and Dave ends up disconnecting Hal which Hal tries desperately to stop. Shortly after Dave gets space warped and sent into the future through some epileptic effects. When he emerges from his space craft to find himself in a strange room where there’s an older version of himself, the story continues as old Dave who then sees himself dying and in a very interesting ending we see Dave reborn in the cosmos as a giant foetus.

Kubrick uses well known music to tell you something important about that scene such as at the beginning when a monkey uses a bone as a weapon and a tool for the first time music is used to create drama in this key moment in evolution - the beginning of intelligence the aspect that separates humans from other species. Kubrick also uses the music to set the mood and enchant the audience with visual effects as well as audio effects like during the scene where we see one of the space crafts as it twirls in space - you feel the sensation of weightlessness. Roger Ebert points out in his review in 1997 about this scene "the space hardware moves slowly because it's keeping the tempo of the waltz." (Ebert, 1997).

The characters in this film are very distant and have little emotion, this is reflected in the camera shots, the audience are kept away from the characters unless we need to see their face for example when Dave unplugs Hal, he is destroying another conscience with no remorse. Also in these type of scenes there is never music being played which adds to the tension being built where as in other films they use music to create suspense. There’s amazing effects for 1968 such as the space crafts floating around in space and the space warp which to me looks like trippy bright colourful lights cross the matrix. 

Figure 2: Space Warp. Special Effects 1968.

Figure 3: Dave disconnecting Hal, with no emotion.

The best bit about this film is the ending, when Dave looks through the window of a bedroom and sees an elderly version of himself at a table, he then becomes this version of him self who looks over at and even older version of himself in bed and becomes this version also. We watch him die and is reborn in the cosmos. The transitions in this film are great, how Dave goes from looking at a version of himself to becoming that version of him self in addition to at the beginning with the monkeys, “Kubrick cuts from this most simple tool, a club, to a most complex one, a space ship. The prehistoric bone is thrown up into the air and becomes a shuttle rocket on its way to a space station.” (Ebert, 1968).

Figure 4: Bedroom scene where Dave dies.

Although the visual effects made the film enjoyable the plot let it down and lost my attention, the duration of the film is way too long despite the intermission, as a viewer watching this for the first time without knowledge of what the film was about, when all there was on the screen was monkeys prancing about although the shot was nice with one point perspective long shots of landscapes it failed to hold the viewer’s attention. As well as me Renata Adler criticised “But all this is the weakest side of a very complicated, languid movie—in which almost a half-hour passes before the first man appears and the first word is spoken, and an entire hour goes by before the plot even begins to declare itself.” (Adler, 1968).

Figure 5: Foetus in the cosmos.

Bibliography:

Adler, R. (1968).  

http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9a04e6da1530ee3bbc4c53dfb2668383679ede

Ebert, R. (1997). http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-2001-a-space-odyssey-1968 

Ebert, R. (1968). http://www.rogerebert.com/rogers-journal/2001-the-monolith-and-the-message 

2001: A Space Odyssey. (1968). Directed and Produced by: Stanley Kurbick. Studio: Warner Home Video. 

Illustration List: 

Figure 1: Movie Poster. https://www.pinterest.com/lechero357/movies-2001-a-space-odyssey/

Figure 2: Space Warp. http://moviesandsongs365.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/movie-of-week-2001-space-odyssey-1968.html

Figure 3: Dave disconnecting Hal. https://www.pinterest.com/moricina/my-movies/

Figure 4: Bedroom scene where Dave dies. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/405675878910435774/

Figure 5: Foetus in the cosmos. http://trevorsviewonhollywood.weebly.com/views-on-hollywood/2001-a-space-odyssey-the-inner-life

Concept Artist Who's Who? Bryan Konietzko

Armilla - My 3 Shots

All shots will be at daytime.

Interior shot: Standing under a pipe tree looking up as all these pipes and the objects (baths/doors/taps/windows etc) on the end of them dangle over you.

Interior shot with objects.

Exterior Shot: The shot is of hills that slope/point towards the vanishing point where the city is.

If you have ever been Legoland Windsor, you know as you drive in before you reach the theme park there little lego statues on the the way, I'm taking inspiration from that and putting in a random pipes sticking out the hills and a giant tab and bath on the way to Armilla.

Low angle shot: This with more pipe trees in the background.

Low angle shot - expanded drawing on thumbnail above.

Armilla - Exterior Composition Layout Thumbnails

The first digital thumbnail is the layout I am going with for my exterior shot.

More Influence Images for Colour Keys

Armilla Thumbnail Tests

From messing with these thumbnails and colours from the influence pictures I found, for my low angle shot I have decided on no broken house brickwork at the bottom around the pipes. When air brushing put white in the middle rather than at the top where the horizon starts. Thumbnail 8 is the one to go with as a key thumbnail.

1. Needs atmosphere

2. Better than 1

3. Removed brick work from 2 and expanded floor

4. Thumbnail 2 black and white with atmosphere

5. Messing with the sky

6. Black and white no atmosphere

7. Sky with white atmosphere in the middle

8. Same as 7 with brickwork removed

Colour Keys

Using blending modes and gradient maps I tried editing a thumbnail to try out different colours... I don't feel this went well and I struggled with painting into it as thats what I did with the original thumbnail to the max, not much more could be done to it.

Influence Images for Colour Keys

Just a couple images to help me decide what colours I want to go with when painting Armilla to create a specific atmosphere. I think I'm going to use greys, greens and blues - whites and yellows included.