Text analysis - Alien - Josh Platt

Order and duration of titles

0:04-0:07 - "a Brandywine - Ronald Shusett production" - Production Company
0:09-0:12 - "a Ridley Scott film" - Director
0:18-0:21 - "Tom Skerritt" - Actor
0:23-0:26 - "Sigourney Weaver" - Actress
0:28-0:32 - "Veronica Cartwright" - Actress
0:34-0:37 - "Harry Dean Stanton" - Actor
0:39-0:43 - "John Hurt" - Actor
0:45-0:48 - "Ian Holm" - Actor
0:50-0:54 - "and Yaphet Kotto as Parker" - Actor
0:56-1:00 - "music by Jerry Goldsmith/conducted by Lionel Newman/original music copyright 1979 Fox Fanfare Music Inc" - Composer of music and the music company
1:03-1:07 - "executive producer Ronald Shusett" - Executive producer
1:10-1:14 - "screenplay by Dan O'Bannon/story by Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett" - Screenplay and Writers
1:18-1:22 - "produced by Gordon Carroll/David Giler/and/Walter Hill" - Producers
1:25-1:29 - "directed by Ridley Scott" - Director

 

Typography

The titles are slightly unusual in the way that only the names of people feature capital letters, and the starts of the titles have no capital letters. The colour of text is white which allows the text to stand out against the dark background, which is reinforcing the title 'Alien' as a planet is shown.

The titles appear in the centre of the frame, which implies a sense of isolation and loneliness.

The white font against the dark background adds to the idea of the supernatural, and enforces the science-fiction genre that is established within the film.

Every title fades in, is then shown for 3-4seconds, then fades out. The simple transition and the plain font add verisimilitude to the sequence as the audience are not bombarded with over-the-top effects or colour.

The actual film title differs from the opening credits in terms of size, as it stretches from one side of the screen to the other, but, similarly to the credits, enforces the theme set within the background, which is isolation, but, due to the size, does so in a way that makes the 'Alien' appear to dominate the frame and therefore the film.

Text Relationship

It's clear from the sequence that the font should enforce the film's genre, as well as enforce the ideas that are presented in the background behind it. So if the background is quite plain, the font is also quite simple looking, and, in the case of  'Alien', the theme of loneliness and isolation is implied by both the background and the font.. Also, the titles should be clear, but not totally overpower the background; i.e. in the 'Alien' sequence the titles are in the middle of the frame, but the writing is not overly large and looks quite plain.

How Does This Help The Group?

Whilst the genre of our opening scene is not one that coincides with the them of sci-fi, it has become apparent throughout the analysis that the typography should support and enforce any ideas set within the background, which will certainly be something we think about when adding the titles and composing each frame.