What makes’ great cinema’? A quick search on the Internet. You will find tonnes of resources on the art of filmmaking, each explaining the tools, and their contribution to different aspects of filmmaking, a great resource for future wannabe filmmakers. These articles, however, are isolated in their field. While they are great and explain different aspects of how cinematic tools and processes apply in isolation. None of them Focuses; on how they work in combination.
In reality, none of these tools works on their own. We do not use the tools of filmmaking in isolation.
These tools are used in stages, and layered on top of each other; to obtain the desired results. It requires a lot of experience, a certain mindset, visualization, and lots of practice. To realize the ultimate vision. Articles about such subjects are rare, as there is a lot of effort and experience involved in doing so. One of the first things I have implemented since my master’s degree in filmmaking. Is doing a case study of sorts during my student years.
The idea of doing reverse engineering on a subject is quite a helpful exercise. Dissecting great works is a great way to learn about filmmaking.
So in this blog, we will just do that. Take a film and try to understand the journey from a three-lined logline to a blockbuster. Understand the thinking and the idea behind it. While I would not claim it to be accurate, it’s a fun way to understand and learn some of the filmmaking tools. Breaking down the whole idea and implementing them in our works. Becoming better filmmakers; there is certainly a lot to learn; one never stops in this field, so here goes.
We will do a sort of reverse engineering of a classic movie, one of my favorites, and probably a perfect example of filmmaking.
Also, it is one of the easiest ones to break down because of the perfect use of cinematic tools involved in making it, and the simplicity of the idea.
Well, the movie we are talking about is Alien, directed by Director Sir Ridley Scott.
So let’s try to understand various cinematic tools used to create this marvel of cinema, which triggered the imagination of millions.
We will cover every aspect; concept, character development, creation of the world, storyboarding, the idea behind the casting, camera movements, lighting, sound, and the final editing; from the director’s point of view.
Just a movement assumes you are a filmmaker. Having the same light bulb movement as the writer and director had.
What would be the question you would be asking? And what would be your answers to each? Filmmaking is a very organic process, and each question you ask and each decision is going to affect the film and its ultimate result. The end goal of every director and screenwriter is the lines of reality and illusion should be non-existence, and they clearly, passed the message. So, without wasting another movement, let’s jump right into it. Again, let me state this is my view, and I am not implying this is what the Writer/ director was thinking. It’s just a fun exercise to try to learn something.
" Big things have small beginnings," by the android David in Prometheus, spoken as an homage to Lawrence of Arabia. A perfect way how one can describe the first and the most essential tool of the film-making process.
It is what we refer to as Logline in film lingo. Imagine if you had to pitch your genius idea. You had under 1 minute to present your idea. The first stage is the most complicated and time-consuming process. After all, this is the seed of your creative vision.
Let’s look at the concept of Alien word to word.
“After a space merchant vessel perceives an unknown transmission as distress call, their landing on the source moon finds one of the crew attacked by a mysterious life-form, and soon realizes that its life cycle has merely begun”
That is approximately 40 words. If we have to simplify the whole idea even further, “A bunch of space transporter comes across an Alien life form,” that’s 11 words, but as a writer, that would be the place I would be starting. Now begins the most crucial phase. The decision-making process. Decisions that will make the script great or that will find themselves in the dustbin of a big production house.
The best way to start is with just a pen and paper or a notepad on your computer. Scribble down ideas. Trust me: you want to write things down and not form a story in your head.
The best friends of any writer are these four questions. Who, what, where, and why. These four questions are the best tool to deal with any subject and create something cinematic. The question one should ask themselves is, who are these space merchants? What are they doing in space? Where are they heading to, and why?
I have made a chart below of sorts. There can be so many answers.
So many decisions the writer can make. They can be soldiers, pirates, civilians, researchers, miners, and so on so forth. There is no perfect answer. Every answer can create a concept for a new movie in itself. So from the point of view of the writer of Alien. The idea of space merchants was an option he went with, traveling back home. Carrying their minerals or fuel. The next question is how big this ship is. Is it tiny or massive? The choice taken by the writer is that it is a gigantic vessel, like an oil freighter.
Remember the word oil freighter. This will play a key role in our future decision-making process. Any idea, even some fantasy, has to be based on some reality of the real world.
Who are these guys working for? They can’t be owning this gigantic freighter. It’s massive and expensive machinery. So defiantly, it’s owned by a company or a government. In this case, the writer went with the former option. So in no time, we have a few things in our hand that some space merchants traveling in an oil freighter of company X are heading toward Earth. Now let’s move forward to the other end of the concept, which is encountering an Alien life form. Again, we ask the questions: who, where, what, and why. And in a matter of no time, we come across an important conclusion that the Alien life form is an animal-like predator on a planet. Waiting for potential prey.
We can go on and on, and we could write just a book on this. Which I certainly don’t intend to do. Using the proper methodology and probing questions. We can create a quick story draft in no time. These questions and answers guide you to build a story, an environment, and characters from your screenplay. Also, it will help you create a back story for your characters. Help in deciding the key traits of the individual characters. And their motivation. This will be the key to writing a successful full screenplay and dialogue when you dive into the writing process. We can build a believable world where these individuals reside. The agenda of the organization, which in turn affects the characters. In all action-reaction relationships, everything has an impact on the other.
The concept stage is itself a layered process, as you can see from the flowchart. Great ideas have layers and layers of conflict and drama. It may be simple, yet in that simplicity lies the complex human contradiction, which in turn creates drama.
Drama is the key to grabbing the audience’s attention, but it does not mean one has to be overdramatic. Drama can also be as suggestive. Consider the ‘Weyland yutani’ corporation’s dubious role in the movie. It’s suggested they may have already known about the ship on the planet and its danger. I am of the firm opinion that one spends the maximum time in this stage, but don’t be under the false impression that it’s a straightforward process. Like we see in the flowcharts, remember we are just reverse engineering, something which exists, or we have seen, but to create something unique, it’s another thing in itself. Every decision you make, and every question you answer, will have lasting consequences in the movies.
So, as a word of caution, keep things grounded in reality even if you write fantasy. Take inspiration from the real world, be logical, and keep it simple. If someone asks you what your movie is about, you should be able to explain the crux of the movie, in not more than a few lines, preferably one or two. Moving further, building the characters in our film, remember all of these people are working for the ‘Yutani’ cooperation, and like any corporation, the Weyland industries are looking at their best interest in mind.
They select people with this in mind. They need people with varied skill sets and experience. Not to forget their nature and psychological profile, as in real life your leaders are not the people who are the best in terms of ability, but generally, those are diplomatic. Not questioning the company line; they know how the system works. The more skilled person may or may not have this characteristic When we choose our characters, we will have to put ourselves in the shoes of the human resource personnel, At the Weyland yutani corporation selecting crew.
So while we never see the Human resource personnel in the film, his decision affects the crew’s chemistry and film.
We would need a crew that has all the necessary skill sets. At the same time, we need to maintain absolute control. We will decide their position on these criteria. Not to forget, this is an out-of-way mission, and the SOS, and the company’s nefarious motives, are factors we need to factor in. One thing is clear, the higher-up knew of the ship, and probably of Alien, and needed a bunch of Guiney pigs. Getting the alien life form may be their sole agenda.