Alien: Commentary of the opening
'Alien' is a 1979 Sci-Fi thriller film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Sigourney Weaver. It is about a spaceship that is invaded by an alien that stalks and kills the crew.
This image is one of the first shots of the film. Conventionally of the thriller genre, this is an establishing shot of the place that the film is set- outer space. It shows the obvious vastness of it; how no-one will know if and when something is going wrong for crew of a spaceship. As the tag line of the film says 'In space no-one can hear you scream', and this shot demonstrates. It is a very slow and gradual panning shot, which builds tension by making the audience think about what may come into view. This part is also silent which makes it very eerie; when there is a long moment of silence, people start to think that something will soon jump out, so they will feel uncomfortable while watching it.
This is the first time we see the spaceship in which the story is set. Again, the pace of this shot is very slow, as we watch until the ship gets closer to the camera. It is also the only spaceship we see, so we understand that there are not any other teams of astronauts near them to help if they have problems.
We are closer to the bottom of the ship in this shot. It has maintained the slow pace in order to build suspense for what might be coming. In the next shot we are inside of the ship. This has allowed us to see the whole environment that it is in and now what it looks like on the inside. It is almost as if we are seeing things from the perspective of the alien that will invade the ship, as they get closer and closer, and then finally enter it. Another convention that is featured in this opening is that the lighting is incredibly dark. It is obvious that it would be like this in space, but it also adds to the suspense because of not being able to see what is coming.
By seeing the extensive amount of corridors and rooms, and how large each of them are, we learn how many places there are for the alien to be hidden when it does enter. We can imagine how much hiding and running away will be done by members of the space ship crew and the alien as the film builds in tension.
The next thing we see is a computer in the spaceship. We see the screen changing and different things coming up while there are ticking and beeping sound effects. No members of the crew are in the room at this point so they don't know what is happening. The audience do not know what the computer is doing, but it could suggest some hint of problems outside the ship, perhaps the computer is picking up that the alien that will eventually invade the ship is nearby.
We see that the film is set in the future by this part of the opening when the astronauts come out of these high-tech kind of beds. The fact that this thriller is set in an environment and a time that the audience will not be familiar with makes it more uncomfortable for them, because they do not know what to expect as anything could happen.
Here, we are introduced to the main characters of the film. As we are seeing them having a regular conversation with each other, we get to know more about them. This will make us sympathise with them more when they are faced with danger later on.
One of the members of the team leaves the room to go somewhere. The audience will automatically fear for them because they are going away from the rest of the group on their own, and in a dark place.
This image is one of the first shots of the film. Conventionally of the thriller genre, this is an establishing shot of the place that the film is set- outer space. It shows the obvious vastness of it; how no-one will know if and when something is going wrong for crew of a spaceship. As the tag line of the film says 'In space no-one can hear you scream', and this shot demonstrates. It is a very slow and gradual panning shot, which builds tension by making the audience think about what may come into view. This part is also silent which makes it very eerie; when there is a long moment of silence, people start to think that something will soon jump out, so they will feel uncomfortable while watching it. 
We are closer to the bottom of the ship in this shot. It has maintained the slow pace in order to build suspense for what might be coming. In the next shot we are inside of the ship. This has allowed us to see the whole environment that it is in and now what it looks like on the inside. It is almost as if we are seeing things from the perspective of the alien that will invade the ship, as they get closer and closer, and then finally enter it. Another convention that is featured in this opening is that the lighting is incredibly dark. It is obvious that it would be like this in space, but it also adds to the suspense because of not being able to see what is coming.
By seeing the extensive amount of corridors and rooms, and how large each of them are, we learn how many places there are for the alien to be hidden when it does enter. We can imagine how much hiding and running away will be done by members of the space ship crew and the alien as the film builds in tension. 
The next thing we see is a computer in the spaceship. We see the screen changing and different things coming up while there are ticking and beeping sound effects. No members of the crew are in the room at this point so they don't know what is happening. The audience do not know what the computer is doing, but it could suggest some hint of problems outside the ship, perhaps the computer is picking up that the alien that will eventually invade the ship is nearby.
One of the members of the team leaves the room to go somewhere. The audience will automatically fear for them because they are going away from the rest of the group on their own, and in a dark place.
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