Was Lambert raped by the Alien?

Started by Ellen Ripley, Nov 02, 2007, 07:42:37 PM

Author
Was Lambert raped by the Alien? (Read 223,694 times)

Elmazalman

Elmazalman

#840
Yes, I've seen these before. Nice photos!

There's a side view of the scene in the CINEFEX ALIEN (1980) article. It's a b/w image.

Incidentally, watching The Thing 4K last night, and seeing the animatronic dummies set on fire, reminded me of something else from that 1980 article (by Don Shay). A similar sort of dummy was created from a life cast of Tom Skerritt and used for a shot of his twitching, burning body. I didn't think the cocoon scene was filmed in such a graphic manner.

TC

TC

#841
Looking at the outtakes for the Parker/Lambert death scene, it always seemed to me that the guiding principle for the edit was whether or not the alien suffered from even the slightest taint of man-in-a-rubber-suit syndrome. If it did, it was immediately banished to the outtakes bin. Two of those shots were the crab walk shot, and the one where the alien walks to Parker on the floor having just thrown him against the wall. You can tell Bolaji was completely blind inside the suit and was feeling his way forward to find Yaphet's prone body. Even the shot that's in the final edit of an out of focus alien (in the foreground, and in silhouette) sneaking up behind Lambert looks a bit dodgy to me.

https://youtu.be/SmGzYjJYvU4

The final shot of the alien outside the Narcissus, however--I think they made the right choice of including the full shot of the alien. By the end of the film I feel like they owed me a revealing look at the entire creature.

TC

Elmazalman

Elmazalman

#842
Quote from: TC on Oct 27, 2021, 02:12:21 PM
Looking at the outtakes for the Parker/Lambert death scene, it always seemed to me that the guiding principle for the edit was whether or not the alien suffered from even the slightest taint of man-in-a-rubber-suit syndrome. If it did, it was immediately banished to the outtakes bin. Two of those shots were the crab walk shot, and the one where the alien walks to Parker on the floor having just thrown him against the wall. You can tell Bolaji was completely blind inside the suit and was feeling his way forward to find Yaphet's prone body. Even the shot that's in the final edit of an out of focus alien (in the foreground, and in silhouette) sneaking up behind Lambert looks a bit dodgy to me.

https://youtu.be/SmGzYjJYvU4

The final shot of the alien outside the Narcissus, however--I think they made the right choice of including the full shot of the alien. By the end of the film I feel like they owed me a revealing look at the entire creature.

TC
Which shot seems dodgy to you? This one:



I like that outtake of the Alien, reaching down for Parker on the deck. Thankfully, it was replaced with a much tighter shot for the final film.

TC

TC

#843
Quote from: Elmazalman on Oct 27, 2021, 02:52:08 PM
Which shot seems dodgy to you?

No, in the youTube fan-extended edit I linked to, it's at 00:04 and another at 00:08, though I'm not sure if the take that's in the released film is the same as either of the ones shown there.

The thing is, just like with CG animations of people, our eye is so finely attuned to the nuance of human movement that we can easily tell when there's an actual person inside the performance.

It's the same with the test footage mentioned earlier of Bolaji creeping through the half-finished Nostromo set, and costumed in only a crude banana head and his skivvies. I think Scott could tell from that early test that there was no way he could film a full body actor walking from A to B and successfully disguise the human inside, no matter how good the suit was. If you compare all the early storyboards of what Scott thought he could achieve, with what's in the actual film, you can see that there are no shots of the alien actually ambulating anywhere—it just couldn't be done without giving the game away. I guess it's one reason why when it's pursuing Dallas in the airshafts we get to watch it moving only as electronic blips on the motion tracker. Kind of like the shark in Jaws when it's chasing the boat; it looked so hokey Spielberg decided the better option was to show us the barrels on the surface instead (being towed around by the shark).

Speaking about movement, and looking at that YouTube fan-edit again, it's interesting how the close-ups of the animatronic head only really come alive when there's additional movement in frame, such as the dribbling drool and the smoke and steam puffs being blown through frame, (and in Brett's death scene, all the rain and rivulets of water). There are outtakes in which there's none of that, and they just seem so dull.

I give it to Scott, he really knows how to dress a scene up to bring it to life. Although the strobe lights in the Ripley escape run were a bit overboard, IMO.

TC

Elmazalman

Elmazalman

#844
The shots of the silhouette of the Alien (0:04 - 0:08) coming into shot behind Lambert are from the finished film.

Agreed. All the smoke, burning incense, water, scissor arcs, shredded plastic and slime, brought the Alien and the sets to life.

nanison

nanison

#845
That full scene is awful to me, the movie edit is by far the best. The silhouette scene is beautiful, looks like an ancient astronaut from another world.

Elmazalman

Elmazalman

#846
Quote from: nanison on Oct 27, 2021, 04:40:21 PM
That full scene is awful to me, the movie edit is by far the best. The silhouette scene is beautiful, looks like an ancient astronaut from another world.
I like the silhouette shots of the Alien, too. I also like how quick glimpses of its elbow can be seen, and the side of its head, as it moves to Lambert, as she stares down at it.

TheBATMAN

TheBATMAN

#847
Oh to see this iteration of the creature in the films again. The smaller, screeching cats of AVP just dont compare.

nanison

nanison

#848
It feels completely otherworldly that is why the film after 40 plus years still feels special. Same for the derelict with its odd design and shape. It simple has never been replicated in any other science fiction monster film.

The alien feels irrational, curious and playful. It feels like a young animal exploring its surroundings. That silhouetted walk just feels weird in a good way, it walks like the boogeyman very slow to creep you out with its arms spread so you feel you have no where to run to.
I actually think Ridley Scott was inspired by Michael Myers. The movie shares the same type of dread and Myers just acts like the alien here.

SiL

SiL

#849
Quote from: nanison on Oct 27, 2021, 06:54:34 PM

I actually think Ridley Scott was inspired by Michael Myers. The movie shares the same type of dread and Myers just acts like the alien here.
That would be a bit difficult, since Alien wrapped filming four days before Halloween was released ;D

xeno_alpha_07

QuoteThere's a side view of the scene in the CINEFEX ALIEN (1980) article. It's a b/w image.

Incidentally, watching The Thing 4K last night, and seeing the animatronic dummies set on fire, reminded me of something else from that 1980 article (by Don Shay). A similar sort of dummy was created from a life cast of Tom Skerritt and used for a shot of his twitching, burning body. I didn't think the cocoon scene was filmed in such a graphic manner.

I have the Alien: The Special Effects book stored away so I will have to revisit that article again as a lot of the contents have left my memory.  On the positive side, I get to re-soak all that information again  ;D  The Cinefex articles are a brilliant and informative source of information.

I didn't think they had filmed something that graphic for the cocoon scene either  :o  So not only did Ripley have to put someone she cared for out of their suffering she watched him twitching and burning  :o 

Elmazalman

Elmazalman

#851
The fabrication and incineration of the articulated dummy is on the last page of the Creating an Alien Ambience article. Page 43, from ALIEN: The Special Effects.

xeno_alpha_07

Quote from: Elmazalman on Oct 27, 2021, 11:16:23 PM
The fabrication and incineration of the articulated dummy is on the last page of the Creating an Alien Ambience article. Page 43, from ALIEN: The Special Effects.

Thank you  :). It's coming up to 1 am so will dig the book out at a later time.  I really want to read this again and other books since this discussion  :)

nanison

nanison

#853
Quote from: SiL on Oct 27, 2021, 07:51:37 PM
Quote from: nanison on Oct 27, 2021, 06:54:34 PM

I actually think Ridley Scott was inspired by Michael Myers. The movie shares the same type of dread and Myers just acts like the alien here.
That would be a bit difficult, since Alien wrapped filming four days before Halloween was released ;D

Lol oh dang! Anyway I still find there's similarities. Who knows maybe Ridley knew Carpenter well and picked some things up through chatting up lol

Darwinsgirl


Ivor Powell introduced Ridley to "Texas Chain Saw Massacre" he was very impressed with the film. He had not seen many film's along that line.

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