Above is a link to the music we plan to use in our thriller opening; more specifically our title card. We plan to play the song just after our lead character finishes his pulpy noir monologue. The song would then play over various close up shots of various objects which hint towards the narrative, similar to the opening title sequence of the film se7en. Finally the image featured in our video is the prototype title card we have designed for our thriller, For the final title we plan to have an extreme long shot a derelict building with our protagonist walking into it. I chosen this song as conveys conventional film noir music more specifically I listened to other film noir films, video games and cartoon themes to gain an insight into the general sound of a noir opening. Such music include the theme song for the film LA confidential, the theme song to the video game LA Noir and finally a song from the OST of film noir like anime Big O. Clearly most themes have is the heavy use of saxophones, piano's and trumpets at a slow pace to create a sad and dark mood.
Songs I have used for reference in search of the main theme to our title card
Name of our thriller has been decided: Memento mori (which is latin for Remember your mortality)
We decided this name as we feel it holds significance to our vigilante character whom we've now named "Dahlia" after the black dahlia murder in la 1947 the period and setting of our piece.
The title links in with our 1st protagonist as he believes he is now longer a man but a symbol; symbol are forever immortal i.e religious symbols and the ideas they bring with it. Furthermore the remember your mortality part is a hint toward the large corporate conspiracy narrative device we have included in our film. corrupt corporations that believe they are immortal and can do whatever they want
We've named him Dahlia because in our narrative the papers and the police mistaken him and hold him responsible for the murders occurring
Our detective character has a name: Theodore "Teddy" Kaplin; common 40's American name
Props- development of the "Dahlia's" mask
To create the mask for our masked vigilante we have decided to refer to two helpful videos on how to design a mask similar to the Rorschach mask from the film watchmen.
We hope to adopt this technique and use our design to create the "Dahlia's" mask
One way we could print our graphic onto the mask is use sublimation printing techniques since we have access to one in the school it would be appropriate, however this technique may be too "high tech" to convey a 40's atmosphere .
Below are two images that we have used as reference our rough mask design as seen in the previous ideas and costume post.
Note: the image on the left we were looking at the middle one in particular and how shadows affect the face; perhaps implementing this shaded shape as a graphic on the mask.
According to the Statistical yearbook produced by the BFI in 2012 the Thriller genre is ranked 7 out of 16 in terms of box office gross. Therefore the thriller genre is a film genre which is a fairly profitable genre as it made £55.3 million in terms of box office gross but the genre's audience is niche; only 28 films were produced in 2011 whereas the genre comedy, 113 films were produced in 2011 thus indicating how the thriller genre almost has a niche audience in terms of consumption as evidenced by the number of films released.
In the UK and the Republic of Ireland the thriller genre is ranked 9 out of 16 genres in terms of film screenings at cinemas.
This signifies that thriller films shown as much as other films such as family . In 2011 a thriller film on average would be screened at 150 cinema's whereas the family genre was screened at around 450 cinema's; perhaps this is because thriller film's audience is more constricted in contrast to family film, thus your less likely to make as much money with screening thriller titles at a lot of cinemas than a family film which has a broad audience therefore the production company who have produced the film won't lose much money if they were to screen it to a mass audience.
Produced by the BFI
Audience consumption
From the donut chart on the left hand corner, it is evident that audiences consume film the most on their television's with a 77.0% watching films on TV channels. In contrast only 3.4% of audiences consume film at the cinema. Due to many limitations it would be appropriate that if I were to release my thriller I would release it on the internet because of lack of resources and funding I would not be able to release it on television, DVD and mass sold, or screened at a cinema. On the other hand films that are downloaded or streamed via the internet are consumed by a larger audience than those who consume films at the cinema by an average 2 percent. This means I would be able to release my film on the internet for free and get an adequate audience to consume it.
The chart on the right ranks films in terms of an above average audience among the 15- 24 age group,
According to the chart on the right the most viewed film consumed by the 15-24 demographic was the inbetweeners movie in 2011. Only two thriller films were ranked in the list, 127 hours and Black swan both of which were ranked lowly. From this information one can establish that the comedy genre is consumed the most by 15-24 year olds whereas the thriller genre is apparent in the consumption of this audience but it is fairly small. Therefore If I were to produce my thriller film I would aim at a slightly older audience perhaps around 15 or 18. Most likely the 18 and above demographic as the most popular film on the list " the inbetweeners movie", target audience was the 15 year old and up. Since this film was very popular one could assume that the comedy genre is very popular among the 15 year old demographic therefore If I were to release my for this intended audience I fear that it may be drowned by the consumption of other comedies. Furthermore by focusing on an older audience I can include more themes that are featured in the thriller genre in greater and smarter detail, for instance death. However by closing off my audience to the 18 market my audience becomes niche.
The graph on the left hand side of the page documents age distribution of cinema-goers, between the years of 1997-2011. It is apparent that according to this graph people between the ages of 15 - 24 consume film in the cinema the most in the past years and probably with years to come as evidenced by the trend which has been set. This in fact justifies my plan to target a 15 - 24 year old demographic as they are the ones who consume the most film at the cinema therefore it would be only logical to cater for a mass audience, however earlier in this text I have established plans to release my film on the internet rather than in the cinema therefore this information may hold little relevance to my thriller development.On the other hand because this target demographic is also known for its large consumption of new media platforms such as the internet; by releasing my film online there is a chance that my film may be consumed by the same demographic additionally it would mean that my film would be expected to be as "cinematic" as possible to cater for this demographic who are used to seeing film with cinema like quality.
This graph on the right hand side collates the results of a survey researching the top performing films released in the UK and Republic of Ireland in 2010. The films have been split terms of the consumption of audience gender; the male and female audience. Films to take note of in this list are the two films The ghost and Green zone. Both Green zone and the ghost are thriller titles; according to this graph it would seem that men consume the thriller genre more than women with 62.5% percent of men as a whole have consumed these films whereas only 37.5% of women have consumed them altogether. From this research it would seem that I should cater towards the male demographic however the niche female audience should be accounted for as well as they are a fairly large demographic. Therefore it would be best that I cater for both audiences and take features that were used to appeal to the films demographics for instance the psychological aspects of The ghost which may have drawn in the female audience with the action elements of Green zone which may have drawn in the male demographic.
Social group The graph on the left hand side documents the results of films with an above-average AB and DE audience share in 2011. According to this graph AB audiences consume the thriller genre more than the lower class DE audience with the thriller films tinker tailor spy and black swan appearing in the AB listing. Furthermore this graph also tells us that thewealthierAB demographic have a higher share in the consumption of the UK's top 20 films of 2011 than the DE's share with 31 percent of AB audiences consuming these films to 19 percent of DE audiences consuming them. From this one can establish that it would be more reasonable to target the AB audience as according to this graph they consume both film in general and thriller films more than DE audiences so by targeting them I receive a larger audience. However to do this I believe I must look at the features that made the thriller film Tinker, tailor, soldier, spy successfulamong this audience as it was second in ranking on the AB list; 47% of AB audiences went to see the film which is almost half of the AB population.
From conductingresearch on rottentomatoes.com, the film has been met with positive reviews achieving 83% on the tomatometer and 65% of audiences liking it, with reviewers saying "Tinker Tailor requires close watching, but viewers are rewarded with a moody, layered and involving thriller". From this one can understand why this film may appeal to audience as it involves its viewers with a deep mystery and gets them asking for me.Perhaps this should be taken in consideration of my thriller film, more specifically this would mean I would have to create a strong hook in my opening therefore involving my audience in my narrative. Additionally a reviewer on the site claimed "The film has intrigues, shootings, infidelities and clues -- lots of
clues -- which we ponder, along with the poker-faced Smiley, played with
Oscar-nominated perfection by Gary Oldman." Fromthis one can gather one of the main selling points of the film was its mystery and the many clues it gave to its audiences which caused them to think about the narrative; so to cater to my audience it would be appropriate that my narrative features a strong mystery filled with onscreen clues that challenge the viewers mind. Another reviewer said that the film had "Outstanding performances and fascinating visual design are somewhat marred by a slow pace and a dry narrative." This quote explains one of the films flaws; pacing issues, so to cater for my audience I must find a way to create tension and mystery at a reasonable pace. Additionally the quote does explain how its actors delivered a strong performance and also how the visuals helped the film become appealing therefore 3 mains points i should focus from looking at this quote are interesting visuals, good casting- to have strong actors and also a good pace of narrative.
Before we chose to develop a film noir story we first put down our ideas in a spider diagram to determine which one we would choose to develop
The ideas listed in the diagram are:
A spy mystery around a man hiding from the government
A Man who finds an exact copy of himself one the beach injured.
A sci-fi thriller based around the Manhattan project.
A man buried alive by a gang of mobster, as he is laying in his coffin he starts to narrate whilst attempting to break out.
A film Noir detective story
We decided to chose the Film Noir story as we felt this will allow us to explore a range of devices to crate suspense for example lighting and sound. We felt the genre's slow pace will allow us not to rely on action to drive the narrative. Furthermore since we are doing this genre in terms of location, the need for a hollywood worthy set is fairly minimal in contrast to creating a sci-fi thriller. Finally by choosing this genre we can look at many film and other types of texts like video games and TV for reference, especially for re-creating its distinct style.
Ideas,costumes and character profiles for Thriller plan
Rough sketches of characters with some annotation click to zoom
My group and I have decided to go for a film noir themed thriller. We have decided that our narrative will follow the exploits of a 40's masked vigilante as he investigates a series of murders committed by the infamous Dahlia killer of the 1940's, however the deeper our protagonist investigates the more uglier the truth gets as these murders tie back to a corporate conspiracy that will shake the streets of LA. Unfortunatelythe vigilanteis
also the police's main suspect for these killings and must clear his
name. Meanwhile our secondary protagonist the detective is hot on his
trail and would do anything to bring him into the law.
Costume and concept
Above is a rough sketch of a concept for costumes for our two protagonists.
Our main inspiration for the costume of our masked vigilante were characters such as priest from the film franklyn and 1940's detective wear as well as the character Darkman in the Sam Rami film called Darkman.
For the design of the characters mask, I felt that it was vital to the character that he isn't seen as a man but more as a symbol so to portray this idea I designed his mask to be reminiscent of the facial structure drawings used when developing a portrait in art to create the idea that he is everyone and to convey a sense of mystery.
Costume is very vital to our opening as we want to convey a 1940's period.
Facial structure drawings that inspired the mask design
Priest- franklyn
Darkman's costume
Lighting
Since we are producing an opening inspired by film noir lighting is also a big aspect. During a search on the internet we have found a number of helpful tutorials commenting on how to produce a film noir style effect. Below is an example of a tutorial we are using to help us.
Inspirations Films that we were inspired by particularly were thriller such as Watchmen, Sin city and Psycho. In addition we plan to use features in from other titles that have inspired us for instance a kinetic typography effect that was featured in the film man on fire and the video game max payne 3 to create emphasis would be effective for a gritty internal monologue.
How is the antagonist and protaginists represented in the film's die hard and the dark knight?
The dark knight Interrogation scene how are the antagonist and protaginists represented?
The Dark knight is a crime superhero thriller directed by Christopher Nolan and was released in the USA on the 14th of July 2008 by the producton companies Warner Bros. Pictures, Legendary Picture,
Syncopy and Dc comics. The film has made $1,001,921,825 worldwide in terms of box office gross.
The films intended target audinece are comic book fans or fans of the batman brand. Overall from the research gathered from IMDB, the film has been met with positive reviews with its audiences claiming "The Dark Knight is visually stunning, powerful and
moving. What else could anyone want."
During this analysis I will be exploring how are the antagonist and protaginists represented in the Interrogation scene
As the scene opens we are introduced to our antagonist The Joker with a mid-shot of The joker in a dark room.Majority of his face is concealed by the darkness however this dark lighting emphasises his disfigurement as we the audience are more likely to be drawn to the parts of his face that are lit. This dark lighting brings with it evil connotations based similarly to the Helmet nickel theory. Although The Joker isnt wearing black he is surrounded by it therefore audiences can easily establish the moral fidelity of this character. Moreover a form of disfigurement in an antagonist is a common convention of many film genre's which contain an antagonist and a protagonist and allow the audience to easly identify who is evil based on their physical appearance.
As the scene progresses we hear The joker speak, he is well spoken and has a clear voice which is a somewhat unconventional feature for a film villian as we have been trained to associate villians with deep and brutish voices. However one may argue that in fact The Joker is your common stock thriller villian; he is well spoken which indicates he is educated therefore he uses his intelligence to hurt others as a substitute for lacking phsyical strength. This trait eventally leads to the common "brain vs brawn" confrontation with the protaginist.
During the interrogation we hear a classic connventional derranged laugh from The Joker thus allowing the audience to identify him as the "psycho" villian. This is further explored when at the end of the scene The Joker is essentially asking Batman, protaginist to choose between two peoples lives to save. This connotes how The Joker lacks empathy for anyone or anything; he see's human life as something to play with.
The protagonist
Around the 1:34 we are introduced to our protaginst, The Batman. 1:34 and We see the Batman slam The Joker's head onto a table. This act of violence indicates to the viewer that this character may be the common "shoot first ask questions later" character seen in many film genres especially in the action genre, however this particular action is far too violent and brutish for the common hero archetype and connotes some antagonist like features. Additionally when we hear The Batman's voice, its deep and monster like which is also an unconventional feature for the protaginst but a conventional feature for an antagonist.
In additon Batman's costume is black which is a colour which is generally associated with antagonists due to its often evil connotations of death and fear. As a result of this these elements cause the verfremdungeffekt; Batman is presented as good, however his appearence and his deed can be considered as antagonistic. This may cause the audience to distance themselves from the character; questioning his motives.
The verfremdungeffekt was coined by Victor Shklovsky in 1935 to describe characters who are presented as being good but do evil deeds for example the character Dexter Morgan who wears white and works for the police force however he is also a serial killer. This allows audiences to distance themselves and question the characters moral fidelity and motives. This effect is further explored around 3:27 when The Batman violently picks up The Joker, the audience distance themselves even more and think about the protagonists true morality. This is repeated again around 4:17 when Batman smashes Jokers face against the wall, we distance ourselves again. Some may even start to align themselves with The Joker however previous The Jokers previous conversations with other characters make it clear that he is an antagonist but in this situation he is presented as a victim in someways as he is beaten by The Batman mercilessly and doesn't fight back. On the other hand he does fight back using his words to "get under The Batman's skin".
Overall the scene presents the protaginst in an unconventional manner by making him seem violent; a feature which is normally asscociated with an antagonist. However the antagonist has been presented with common connventions such as the evil laugh and calculating personality. This calculating villian archetype is shared in the film Die hard which I will be also analysing a scene to look at how its antagonist and protaginists are represented.
Die hard: Yippee Ki Yay scene how are the antagonist and protagonists represented?
Die hard is an action film with thriller elements directed by John McTierman and was released in the USA on the 15 of July 1988 by the production companies Twentieth Century Fox
Film Corporation, Gordon company, Lawrence Gordon Productions and Silver Productions. Because the film is an action title at most with some thriller elements, the film will follow many "hero vs villain" conventions like old cowboy films and may lack some of the features seen in modern thriller films. In terms of box office gross the film has made $137,400,000 worldwide. The films intended auidence are action film fans. The film has been met with several positive reviews even becoming an iconic film in pop culture being cited as "one of the best action movies
ever
made, and it just might well be the perfect modern action film."
During this analysis I will be exploring how are the antagonist and protaginists represented in the Die hard,Yippee Ki Yay scene.
As the scene opens we see a high angle shot of the antagonist Hans Grubber, around this moment in the film Grubber is losing control of the bulding and his pan is start to come apart. The shot emphasises his loss of control as its fairly high, not too high to suggest he is a small and weak person but still high enough to suggest the lack of control he has over his situation.
The scene progresses and we first hear him order his companions, "I thought I told all of you I want radio silence". This qoute conveys how Grubber is a man who gives orders and is in charge; he wants things done and he wants them done now. In addtion Grubber talks with a thick European accent. This is a connventional film villian trait linking to counties which were considered as America's enemies in the past i.e. Russia, Germany and England, it allows audiences to easily identify antagonist from protaginist.
Grubbers personality and traits are further presented though his clothing. In the scene he is wearing a black suit which allows the audience to identify him as an antagonist using the idea based on the helmet nickel theory. The theory states that the moral fidelity of a character is depicted in terms of appearance, i.e. audiences can establish who is good and who is evil by looking at the colours of their costumes such as a villain would normally wear black to show death or fear whereas a hero may wear white to show purity In additon the fact that he's wearing a suit connotes that he is intelligent and because he is an atagonist he uses his intelligence to hurt others rather than relying on physical strength similarly to The Joker.
Grubbers costume contrasts with John McClane's costume largely as Grubbers costume represents the "evil and corrupt" rich, McClane's represents the "All American" blue collar worker.
The protagonist
0:05 into the scene we are introduced to our protaginist John McClane, he is wearing a brown vest and jean which convey's a blue collar worker look. This Ordinary person look is a significant trait to a film protaginst as it connotes McClane as the "all american " stock type hero the audience can easily identify and root for. Futhermore this everyday worker look makes him easy to root for as he is, one of us the common person, we can relate to him easier than a character who is a billionare. Additonally this Blue collar look is connventional to film genres which feature an antagonist and protaginst eventally this leads up to the"upper class vs the everyday man"confrontation in the final act. We when first hear McClane speak he replies to Grubber in a jokey manner, "ooh I'm sorry Hans I didnt get that message. These jokes connote how tough McClane is as he finds himself in a situation that would be awkward for any normal person but he remains calm and control as evidenced with the use of jokes. In additon MclClanes costume is distressed further evidencing his tough guy role as he still goes on not worrying about his appearance or any injuries inficted upon him.
As the scene progresses Grubber references other "All American" action heroes such as John wayne and Rambo with McClane replying "I was always partial to Roy Rogers". Roy Rogers is one of the earliest cowboy action stars; by mentioning his name, the director is almost making comparisons with McClane and Rogers trying to depict him as the modern All American Cowboy hero we root for.
Finally McClane ends the transmission with the iconic line that will cement him as the action thriller tough guy "yippe Ki Yay mother f**ker". This qoute further presents him as the new modern cowboy we root for as well as the typical action thriller tough guy.
Overall in comparison to the Dark knight, Die hard follows very connventional rules to present its protaginsits and antagonists using the common everyday person versus the "establishment" to drive its characters further.
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 companiesBrandywine 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.
