All language subtitles for MasterClass - James Cameron Teaches Filmmaking 06.Aliens Newt Introduction Scene Breakdown Eng

NARRATOR: So here's a
scene from "Aliens."

And they've gone into
the colony base that's

on the planet where we
know from the first film

that the aliens have existed.

And they've already seen
face huggers in jars.

So Ripley is already
very nervous.

And they've gone in, the whole
base seems to be deserted.

There's evidence of violence,
evidence of weapons being used,

but there are no people.

We've been in a kind of
anxious, suspenseful state.

We've come in, we've
been very subjective,

we've searched the place.

We keep expecting
something to jump out,

keep expecting something
to jump out but it doesn't.

And now we're going to win
things a little tighter.

And this is a long game.

We've been building and building
and building for a long time

here.

So how do we signal
to the audience

that there is an escalation
or there's a swerve,

something new is happening?

Our character gets a signal.

They've got these trackers.

They've been walking around
the base with these trackers.

Nothing's shown up.

All of a sudden
there's movement.

We got something here.

He says we got something,
something moving.

Where is it?

Behind us.

One of us?

MAN: Hey [INAUDIBLE].

Where are your people?

You're 20 minutes
into a long game

kind of suspenseful
sequence at this point.

And now it's going
to come to a head.

MAN (ON RADIO): Uh,
that's a negative.

We're rolling operations.

It's all up to me, Frosty.

Just keep moving, baby.

NARRATOR: He moves forward with
his gun, which is basically

just a steadicam on.

But I made the
assumption at the time,

and this was in 1985, that the
steadicam was a tool that we

used behind the scenes.

But it wasn't well known.

So we just basically
took a steadicam

and dressed it up with a big
machine gun sitting on it.

And it was Hell to operate
because it was really heavy.

But the two actors that had
carry it did a great job.

Okay, so we're in
a tracking shot.

The lighting is very low key.

We've got some sense of
source lighting here.

And we've got source lighting
coming from their lights.

So it feels very, very dim
and dark and suspenseful.

These are just basic
ways of selling

that you're in sort of a haunted
house, the spooky environment,

as opposed to the brightly
lit kind of sterile lab

that it could have been.

I mean, it's a lab.

It's a medical space, could
have been brightly lit.

But it isn't.

So the power is failing.

There is the suggestion that
violence has happened and could

happen again in a split second.

Now we don't know
how jumpy Ripley is,

so I did a little thing here
where he brushes the microscope

arm, or whatever
it is, and there

was this carefully balanced
flask sitting here.

And Sigourney jumps.

And it puts you subjectively
in her character for a moment.

It's not meant to make
the audience jump,

because they see it in progress.

It's different
than a jump scare.

In a jump scare the
audience doesn't know

what's going to happen next.

And something
moves very quickly.

And there might
be a music sting.

And we jump.

This case is not us jumping,
this is her jumping.

And it's to externalize
her mental state, which

is hair trigger.

She's trying to
process rationally,

she's trying to be the
rational person that she

imagines herself to be,
but her heart's pounding.

Because she's the only one there
that's encountered this species

before.

So she's more keyed up
than everybody else is.

They should be more
scared than they are.

They're just treating it
as professional soldiers,

military guys
doing what they do.

So he's looking at the screen.

He says it's straight in front
of us so we're going to move,

we're going to go
in that direction.

Because of course that's what
you do in a horror movie.

You're going to go toward the
danger because of their hubris.

So thematically, that was a
theme throughout the film.

These guys thought
they were undefeatable.

They had the big guns.

They were against a non
intelligent species that

had no weaponry whatsoever.

What's to worry about?

And it was always
in my mind writing

this, kind of a metaphor
for the Vietnam War,

where the big stomping
superpower was going

to go into the little
backward developing country

where all they had was a
bunch of hand-me-down AK 47s

and they were running through
the jungle in bare feet.

And we were going to go
in with our helicopters

and our missiles and our
defoliants and our B52s.

And we were going to bomb
them into the Stone Age

and we were going to
win in six months.

Cut to 10 years later, and the
US is pulling out of Vietnam

with its tail between its legs.

And that was 10 years
before this movie was made.

The fall of Saigon was in 1975.

So it was recent
history, it was something

that I was paying attention to.

And it was resonating into
a science fiction film that

took place on another planet.

We never specifically say
that these guys are Americans.

In fact, you can
imagine that they are.

Or do we?

Wait a minute.

Does he have an- oh, sorry.

I take it back.

There are a few extra
stars in the number

of states because
presumably, America

is a colonial superpower
in this imagined future.

But we never say it
in dialogue, they're

just the colonial Marines.

And at the time, I didn't really
know any Marines personally.

I didn't know their ethos.

Later on in my life, my younger
brother would join the Marines,

serve for six years.

And I learned a whole new
appreciation and respect

for the US Marine Corps.

And I actually wouldn't
make this movie this way

now, because of what I
know about the US Marines.

But every filmmaker evolved.

They learn, they observe
life, and sometimes

their opinions on things change.

So this is all classic suspense.

So we have the moment where
you're at the door, the corner.

The pieing of the
room, as they say

in a police show or
something like that,

where you sweep the space.

Now we've just gone
into a subjective shot.

We don't quite know why
we're in a subjective shot.

But the camera's moving.

Why is the camera moving?

Is it something hiding?

This foreground object is meant
to suggest that there's a place

to conceal, and we're looking
out from behind concealment.

It's totally subconscious.

It's not meant to be
a conscious statement.

It's a subconscious statement.

The camera just came to life.

So these guys are
moving forward.

The sound design, the
chirp of the tracker,

it's getting louder.

And it's getting faster.

It's an increasing tension
through sound design.

We want to milk out that state.

We want the audience to be
on the edge of their seats.

So here in the graphic,
is it moving toward us

or are we moving toward it?

But again, the
underpinning to this scene

is the presumption going
in that this is an alien.

And that presumption
is fed at least,

I would say, 50% by our
knowledge of the prior film.

So this is a sequel
intentionally

resonating with the film
that came before it.

Intentionally and I
think successfully.

Not overly so, but
definitely that's a factor.

So now we've just
gone subjective again.

We're handheld from behind
the Marine, Hicks, moving up.

So we're with them.

We're moving with them.

We're on their journey
just for that moment,

which is the point of the shot.

To be there and to see that
there's nothing ahead of them.

They can't see
anything ahead of them.

But here is this foreground
thing, the shadowy foreground

thing.

And they're not looking at it.

The camera's moving
ever so slightly.

And then something shadowy
breaks across the frame.

Sudden lunge and a
sudden music sting.

Classic.

Classic music sting.

And Drake, this was a tough one
from an editorial standpoint.

Drake, our smart gun
operator, opens fire.

But Hicks, with lightning quick
reflexes, deflects his weapon.

A little hard to see, and if
I'd had a little more money

or maybe I'd seen the dailies,
if I was looking at a monitor,

I'd say, I don't see his gun.

I don't see Hicks hit Drake.

I probably would
have gone again.

But this was in the day of film.

So you waited the
next day and then

there was no time to go back.

But the audience still gets it.

Because two shots
later, you see Hicks

having blocked Drake's gun.

You're seeing the questions
being answered after the fact

but that's okay.

That's okay.

So there's an interim shot of
the rounds hitting the wall.

And we see the destructive
power of the smart gun.

And then we see that Hicks
has deflected his weapon.

And Drake's pissed off about it.

Because he would
have made the shot

if Hick's hadn't done that.

But Hicks has clearly
seen something

to stop him from shooting.

And then he does
something strange.

Ripley.

NARRATOR: He calls to Ripley.

So now you know
it's not an alien.

But what is it?

So now you've just toggled
out of suspense mode.

The suspense has
been alleviated.

It's now dropped to zero.

Now you're into curiosity.

It's been replaced by
curiosity different emotion.

Different
physiological response.

Now you're leaning forward.

What is it that Hicks has seen?

We're not telling you.

We saw something, but we
don't know what it is.

And we're not going to answer
the question right away.

Now she's seeing something.

And we can tell
by her expression

that it's interesting.

But we don't know what it is.

Holy shit.

Now to me this is the
right order of information.

You see the character
see something.

And it's clearly
there in her face.

Unmistakable.

I'm looking, I'm looking,
and I see something.

Sigourney was not looking at
Carrie Henn, who played Newt.

She was probably looking
at a dot on the wall

and creating that in her mind.

If she had felt that she
needed Carrie to be there,

we might have had Carrie there.

I don't remember.

But it depends on
the individual actor.

But she might have been
reacting to nothing.

And this is what she sees.

And so now we have the reveal.

We've just introduced
a character.

Now as the film was written,
we've already met her.

And there was a whole sort of
eight minute sequence with her

when she was not the unkempt
little savage animal.

My intention there
was to draw a contrast

to see her before and after.

As the film was finally
cut and released,

we took out all of reel
two and basically threw it

in the trash.

And so we didn't see Newt.

This is now her
introduction shot.

So this was an
unplanned introduction

that works very well.

But I think it's critical to
understand that every shot is

always doing something.

The audience is learning.

And once the audience
jumps hip to the fact

that the film is
teaching you things

you need to know
further on in the film,

you'll continue
to pay attention.

You start to play the game.