Deconstruction of a title sequence Aliens (1986)

Camera work

The opening begins with absolute darkness but gradually fades into a blue metallic grating not unlike a vent cover. This fades out in certain areas and becomes less and less grate-like until it turns into the word Aliens. The I in Aliens glows brightly and the screen rapidly fades in to bright white. The white fades out to an extreme long shot of a deep space setting. There are no planets but you can see stars and a dull blue nebula in the background. There is a spaceship in the background that gets closer. As the ship gets closer, the camera pans over it ending in an almost aerial shot. The shot of the exterior of the ship then transitions to the interior and the camera pans across to show the environment of the ship

Editing

The opening credits fade in and out slowly as the shots progress, during the black background they are directly in the middle of the screen. As the metallic blue grate begins to appear, the titles are positioned either underneath or above it. The grate slowly changes and becomes clearer until it turns into the word Aliens. The credits continue appearing directly in the middle of the screen as the shot becomes a computer generated image of deep space and a spaceship.

Mis-en-Scene

The only lighting in the space shot comes from the stars and the dull nebula. The appearance of the exterior of the space ship is a dull metallic grey, not shiny but a mat colour. The interior of the spaceship is dimly lit but with notable yellow, red and green lights on various pieces of technology and the control board. There is wire and tubing hanging from the walls and ceiling.

Sound

The first sound you hear is akin to wind blowing down a tunnel or how you would imagine a snowstorm from an interior. The music gradually becomes a loud, low and deep creaking sound that is very ominous as though something was approaching. A military marching drum appears quietly and the windy sound can still be heard in the background. The creaking and the drums become louder and an inhuman, unnerving screech begins and gets louder and louder until it climaxes when the fades to white. This sound really made me feel quite unsettled. When the shot goes to space, a violin starts ominously and as the ship comes closer to the camera, the violin becomes rather desperate and sad. It goes back to the ominous sounds when the shot transitions to the ship interior.

Representation

The setting of deep space represents the loneliness of Ellen Ripley because she is all alone aboard this space pod which she killed the last alien in. The beginning is rather mysterious because you dont know if shes going to be entirely safe or not in this first scene. The suspense is tangible and even if you hadnt have watched the first film, this opening would begin to give you an idea of the events that took place.