Probably the blu-ray release of last year was the Alien Anthology set, featuring two version of each of the four films in the series as well as a wealth of documentaries, photos, notes and other material covering the first 2 classic films, the missed opportunity that was Alien 3 and the immense letdown that was Alien Resurrection, in more detail that any series fan or film buff could hope for. The release of this film gives fans and film aficionados the chance to view the the various trailers, promotional materials and clips for the films themselves, the standout effort of all of those for me is the trailer for Alien which still has for me one of the best trailers released.
Having completed principal photography and with editing and other tasks to undergo to complete the film the question arose over the style to use for the titles and marketing of the film, one which not only sparked a new interest in the sci-fi horror genre with a distinctive future world but also introduced a alien creature with a genuine menace coupled with undertones of sexual suggestion in it’s design and elements of it’s lifecycle thanks to the designs and artistry of HR Giger. Initially director Ridley Scott invited graphic designers Steve Frankfurt (who was appointed president at Young & Rubicam at the age of 37, the youngest to be given such an appointment, and went on to be associated with the productions of Arthur, Superman, All That Jazz, Kramer vs. Kramer, Sophie’s Choice, and That’s Entertainment) and Richard Greenberg (who would go on to setup R/Greenberg Associates – who would go onto design the penning titles for the 1987 sci-fi horror film Predator, which would later go on to crossover with the Alien creatures in the forgettable Alien v Predator series – which further developed into R/GA Media Group Inc) to help with the poster and press work when he saw their proposal he asked them to get involved with the title sequence as he felt that the title sequences never really echoed the poster or artwork the film. The brief he gave to them was that Scott wanted a hieroglyphic to come up at the beginning to infer that the Alien could have been from a sophisticated society, albeit not comprehendible as the more sophisticated the Alien seems the more frightening they are. They produced one of what Ridley Scott still regards as “one of the best he’s seen in years”. This featured the film title appearing in a series of blocks which gradually built-up to reveal the title, tracked across the full frame of the film in a stark, uppercase san serif design which gave off viewer a feeling of unease and discomfort right from the start of the film with each individual letter almost unconnected and distant from each other, aided in creating atmosphere by Jerry Goldsmith’s score which gently but threateningly ebbs and flows with the developing film title (a piece of the score which Goldsmith did not particularly like and as detailed on the Anthology set spent years getting kudos for scoring “the obvious thing: weird and strange, and which everybody loved”).
Linking in beautifully with this visual style and sense of terror and dread a trailer was released which echoed these themes and atmosphere of the film and took them a step further in terms of creating an atmosphere of dread and anticipation for the viewer. As the title slowly appears the camera slowly and over an egg (albeit more of a dinosaur style egg than the egg featured in the film itself, from which the facehugger would violently lunge at John Hurt’s character Kane), which then sits on a piece of rough terrain before cracking open. This is then followed by a series of unconnected images from throughout the film, with no score and minimal sound save for a shrill beacon forming a shrill scream and an electronic beat mimicking that of a human heartbeat, growing ever faster as the trailer continues, which then climaxes with the Nostromo’s cat Jones hissed cry before lapsing into silence and a beautiful wide shot of the spaceship Nostromo heading towards the source of the alien signal, and the simple yet so memorable tagline “In space no one can hear you scream” appearing in the centre of the screen.
This style of trailer was repeated for the Aliens teaser trailer several years later, which again featured a series of disconnected clips from various points of the film, this time employing a nerve tingling use of a string based music after the initial scream of an Alien opened the trailer, before re-using the original Alien trailer of a screaming beacon and stylised heartbeat, albeit in a faster pace than the original. The slight difference here is that there are several split second glimpses of the aliens in the trailer before several shots of the Queen interspersed with scenes involving the marines and Ripley appear as the trailer concludes.
The teaser trailer for Alien 3 also used the approach seen with the Alien trailer, albeit in a much shorter version than either Alien or Aliens, utilising a thinner typeface albeit keeping the same wide spacing between the lettering used so eye-catchingly on the Alien trailer, marketing campaign and film titles, and featured an egg more in keeping with those in the film than the one which featured prominently in the Alien teaser, as well as a voiceover artiste, as the egg cracks and the atmosphere of the Earth passes underneath. This teaser would of course prove to be one of the bigger red herrings in trailer history as the script was rewritten several times before Vincent Ward’s script was green lit, then re-written and sets redesigned as David Fincher was brought on board to direct the film which ultimately disappointed in comparison to it’s predecessors due in the main to the extensive and rushed approach to the film both in pre and post production – as Jon Landau expresses on the Alien Quadrilogy and Anthology sets they “set out to make a release date and not a movie” to the detriment of the finished product.
Years later the fourth film in the series Alien Resurrection would first announce it’s arrival with a trailer that, as one of the actors accurately states, starts slowly before flying out the traps. Whilst there’s nothing wrong with this approach the trailer for Alien Resurrection does fall much more into the middle “action” ground than many of it’s predecessors did and it is a shame that given the history of the series that the 4th installment, as would happen with the film itself, couldn’t conjure up an approach that would echo the mystery, thrills or terror of other films in the series and communicate that to the audience in the trailer, or produce anything as visually striking as the original Alien trailer and marketing produced nearly 20 years before it.
Over 30 years on from Alien, Ridley Scott is now hard at work filming Prometheus, a film that started out as a straight sequel to Alien but has now in the words of the studio, scriptwriter Damien Lindelof and firstly Scott himself “evolved a new, grand mythology and universe in which this original story takes place. The keen fan will recognize strands of ‘Alien’s‘ DNA, so to speak, but the ideas tackled in this film are unique, large and provocative. I couldn’t be more pleased to have found the singular tale I’d been searching for, and finally return to this genre that’s so close to my heart.” Lindelof added “In a world flooded with prequels, sequels and reboots, I was incredibly struck by just how original Ridley’s vision was for this movie. It’s daring, visceral and hopefully, the last thing anyone expects. When I sat in a movie theater as a kid, feet raised off the floor for fear that something might grab my ankles, I never dreamed in my wildest imagination I would one day get to collaborate with the man responsible for it. Working alongside him has been nothing short of a dream come true.” Given this return to the sic fi genre and the placing of Alien as a jumping off point for the script it will be interesting to see if Scott or indeed the marketing department at Fox or whoever is assigned to the project can come up with something as visceral and memorable as the original Alien’s advertising and marketing that so superbly echoed the film’s feeling or unease and terror so well. With so many trailers these days intent on delivering most of the plot in 90 seconds and big “money shot” moments it will be a nice change and a standout effort if something much more atmospheric hits our screens to build the anticipation for Prometheus which may in the future to come make everyone scream again.
1 Response to “In space a title sequence could make you squirm”