How is sound and lighting used to create suspense in the Alien Dallas Shaft Scene

How is sound and lighting used to create suspense in the Alien Dallas Shaft Scene

Alien is a sci-fi horror thriller first released in the USA on the 25th of may 1979 by the production companies Brandywine Productions and Twentieth Century-Fox Productions. 

By 2004 the film has made $185,000,000 worldwide. The intended target audience for the film would be sci-fi fans, however the film has also spawned a secondary audience of psychological horror fans as evidenced in this quote from IMDB ,"The science fiction genre was being revolutionized at this time and 'Alien' had a horror characteristic to it which was psychological, visually striking and compelling with the type of strength in silence not seen since '2001: A Space Odyssey' in 1968." The film has been met with positive feedback as evidenced by the user reviews on IMDB,"10/10, no doubt at all".

During this essay I will be exploring how director Ridley scott uses sound and lighting to create suspense in the Dallas Shaft Scene.

As the scene opens we the audience hear a door open, with non diagetic sounds of onminous music in the background sublty to convey a sense menace however this feeling isnt so upfront due to the volume of the music. As a result of this sound is already creating susepense as Ridley Scott is already showing that our establishing location is dangerous. The scene progresses and we hear a man out of breath as he utters " I'm on the first junction". We see a long shot of a dark vent with a small light in the middle for the audience to identify as the man uttering these words. Scott has used this low key lighting technique to convey that this man is isolated and vunerable, additonally the fact that this man is out of breath and we can clearly hear it suggests he has faced a previous challenge that has worn him down however the lighting suggest that he must now face a larger challenge that may test his survival.Moreover such a small light in contrast to the large surronding black background conveys the enormity of his current challenge. The use of lighting and sound in the moment of the scene engages the audience as we are interested in this challenge this man will face as if the shot itself was a man who isnt out of breathe and in a well lit environment, then the audience would know that this man is in control and we wouldnt be interested in the outcome of the scene, however his lack of control emphaised by his panting and the darkness around intrigues us, we want to know what the challenge is and is he going to survive it.

As Ripley the protaginst of the film opens the airlock for the man to continue his journey we hear a sci-fi door close, however the sound isnt smooth , rather the sound it gives off as its closing is irrantant to the viewers ear connoting that this environment isnt well maintained and old thus conveying a dangerous environment. Furthermore the door closes slowly with this irratant sound last for a long time. This builds tension as it creates a similar feeling remisent of the creeky door in horror films or hand on the chalkboard imagery in pop culture which are used to foreshadow a bad event. These devices start to emphaises how dangerous this man's challenge is and engages the audience as we are attracted to this danger and want to know more about what is so important that he may be risking his life. 

Soon we hear hear a slow paced sounds which sounds reminsicent of a heartbeat monitor, with this we again we this man breathing emphasising how this job he has to do is already draining the life out of him. In additon the heartbeat monitor sound builds tension as it further enforces the idea that this man is in danger as it conveys that his crew may be reading his stress levels or keeping a signal on him or maybe on something else. These questions generated by this one sound create susepense as if this sound isnt infact tracking him and something else this may would engage the audience as we want to know what is it he is chasing after. Furthermore we have been trained by other texts in the media that when we hear the sound of a heartbeat monitor said character is on the brink of death, thus we start to worry for the wellbeing of this character therefore creating susepense as we want to know the outcome of this characters survival.

In the shot we see the man walking towards the camera in the dark shaft. As he moves closer towards the camera certain areas are lit up. The surronding reflection and highlights of the vent show how boxed in he is and how dangerous his jobs is, thus creating a sense of claustrophobia and causing the auidence to concern ourselves with the safety of this person, therefore giving the audience a reason to continue watching.



Soon we hear ochestral mucic which is slowly building pace. This music is mysterious we can hear the sounds of violins in the background which create tension and a sense of investigation both reflecting the feelings of the man and the audience as we are held in susepense with the errie and claustrophbic environment that has been created via the use of lighting and the errie ochestral music. Moreover the music appears to be building pace thus building up to an important action. We the audience can identify this pace and we are currious as to what's it building up to.

We large bass rumble which indicates an upcoming danger, its quick but it has a long lasting presence as it plays on the audiences "on the edge" feeling that has been created by several previous devices used.  this noise connates a dangerous presence lurking in the background  or a dangerous event unfolding soon ,we the audience are intrigued as to how the events turn out. Additonally the breathing noises get louder and start to echo. This conveys how isloated this man is if his voice starts to echo and also how vunerable he is since he is alone in this confined vent. The audience are held in susepense as we grow ever more fearful for this man's well being,moreover the volume of the breathing furhter exaggerates how tired he must be and how strenuous his task is indicating to the audience that his likelyhood for survival may be low. However we continue to watch in hope that these signs are wrong.


Eventually we hear the man say "close the hatches behind me", as soon as he utters those words the music hits a high note indicating that this idea is a bad one and also the phrase itself tells us the audience he will be essentially if he were to be attacked. However the very idea that he is putting himself in danger by ordering this has been established by the high note.

Around 1:43 we see a shot ot the sci-fi door closing in on a light source. This imagery connotes how this mans hope of escape is lost as the light can represent life and hope and this dark sci-fi door is closing in on it. However this door closing in on the light source may also suggest how this mans life may be coming to an end linking to the idea of light connotes life with these dark doors closing in on them its almost as if Scott is showing how death is closing in on this mans life. This mencing imagery creates susepense by once agian playing on our fears for this man's saftey however each time a feature has been used for the purpose of making us worry for him, our anxiety grows even more we want to know the outcome of this persons life and we want to know as soon as possible.

We then hear another large bass rumble indicating that something is very wrong. Next we can hear violins playing in the background softly, however this particular sound makes him sound lost as he travels through the vent as if he doesn't know what he is doing. This emphasies his vunerablity and we are ever more engaged in the narritve of the scene.

Next we hear a diagetic sound of speech, the man says "I've reached (pause for breath) the junction". The man sounds out of breath and defeated. It is made clear that if this man were to be attacked, he would lack the energy to escape. We the audience can establish around this time that this man chances of survival are silm to none as he is already defeated without actually experincing the real challenge. This creates susepense as we now are focused more on what is it he is actually trying to do than his saftety, however we still carry on watching, hoping for a turn of events.

These fears for this man's health and well bing are further explored as we soon just hear the beeping of the heartbeat monitor sound beat slightly louder. It becomes apparent that Scott wants us to focus on this man's health as this beeping noise is clearly indicating to a build up of something. It becomes increasingly obvious that this man in danger and this heartbeat sound creates a susepenseful mood as the audience are intrigued as to what is it that is puttung this man in danger.

Around this point we see a low angle shot of a ladder with light shining downwards from the top, as this man is climbing down away from the light.This imagery connotes the idea of this man climbing down to the dephs of hell; he is climbing away from the light which in the context has been shot to seem as if it is like heaven i.e the light makes it seem safe but the darkness at the bottom of the ladder connotes danger and death. We the audience have been in a postion that we are almost screaming at the screen begging this person to go up, yet he cannot hear us. We are thus held in susepense as we hope that this man will come to his senses and go up the ladder asking for help, however this is not the case and he continues to climb downwards. We continue to consume this scene in ancipation as to the outcome of his situation.

As the scene progresses the heartbeat signal noise cuts off as a woman explains how she's "lost his signal". This line connotes how isolated this man truly is also the fact that this sound has turned off foreshadows his possible death as losing signal on a hearbeat monitor means death. It becomes clear that this man has no control over his current situation and therefore the audience are held in susepense as we are curious to discover whether this man ever gains control.

In additon we soon hear a woman shout "oh god it's moving towards you". This line proves our previous fears for the man and we are desperate to find out if he survives or not. Also the line is ambiguous and causes the audience to think about what is coming for him. Furthermore the word it holds significance as it connotes whatever it is thats coming after him its not human thus Scott plays on audiences imagination to think about what it could be thats causing these people to be worried. We think of the worst with our imagination and we are kept in susepense as to what this thing is.

The music then get's louder and more frantic as the man tries to escape, we feel his struggle as he climbs down the ladder and our fears that have been played on by previous devices are further explored and exaggerated. We know something bad is coming and its coming fast and we prepare ourselves psychologically for its unveiling.

As the man climbs down and turns around the music cuts to a scream and then noises of static with sounds reminsicent of a microphone dropping. The transistion of the music to scream shocks us into wanting to find out more. Note the fate of this man in the shot isnt made clear and Scott once again use audiences imagination to think the worse.

Overall in the alien dallas scene director ridley scott uses sound to emphasise how much danger this man has put himself in. This creates susepense as it explores the relationship of the film character and the audience and plays on the viewers fears for his saftey. Moreover light is used to exaggerate the lack of control this man has over his environment and situation thus also exploiting our fears for this mans saftey.