Introduction

Extra-Terrestrial (E.T) is a film that was produced and directed by Steven Spielberg while its writing was done by Melissa Mathison. It constitutes the story of a young named Elliot who became friends with alien who came from space but was left stranded here on earth. Elliot and his friends collaborate and manages to get the alien back to his earth while keeping the government away from capturing the extra-terrestrial alien. There are several scenes that the filmmakers used to bring the movie to completion. Scene analysis is the format which analyzes a film in terms of cinematography, semiotics, mise-en-scene, among other aspects (Kolker 2015). The entire E.T film is composed of all the aspects of scene analysis where the filmmakers of the movie utilized them in all the scenes.

Scene analysis of Extra-Terrestrial (E.T)

The scene analysis of the movie E.T will be that of scene 1 which is the scene that introduces the viewer to the whole movie and how the events will unfold. The turn of events for this scene is very strategic, and the cinematographic qualities used in this scene plays a significant role in the establishment of the movies overall meaning. According to Kolker, (2015), cinematography refers to the process moving images are captured on film and the way the images can transition from one point to the other. The cinematography is mostly viewed as the beautiful images are shown in a movie, but it is a critical aspect that communicates a different language towards the meaning of a movie (Li et al. 2015). This, therefore, means that the lights, frames and the camera angles that are used during filming play a significant role in demonstrating the significant themes of the film.

In scene 1 one aspect of cinematography is that of the camera movements. The scene begins whereby the camera takes a view of an open dark sky which is full of stars, and the movement of the camera is slow and precise. This communicates very much towards the content of the film because it communicates that there is something that will be born out of the starts. This is what happens with the appearing of the alien that Elliot gets to become friends with as the film continues (Shmoop Editorial Team 2008). The composition of this particular shot was a long one that made sure the viewer gets to concentrate totally on the sky. The other aspect of cinematography of the first scene is that of the lighting. Most of the shooting of this scene are done at night whereby the lights are only directed to specific items or people that the filmmakers want the viewers to see. In other instances, the lights do not give a clear visual of specific places. At the beginning of the scene the lights are only concentrated in showing the fingers of the alien E.T and does not give a clear shot of its full body for most parts of the scene. This is a vital part of the cinematography of the film because it helps in the creation of suspense to the viewer who is left with the urge of wanting to see the face of the alien.

Another aspect that is used in this scene is that of the use of sound effects. With the presence of the extra-terrestrial alien, the only way it uses to communicate throughout the movie is that of the clicking sounds. The alien is from another world it does not understand the earth languages and to illustrate its presence there is the production of some clicking sounds in the entire scene (Alexis 2016). Additionally, for the opening three to five minutes, the whole does not have any conversations and this period only involves some background music. As the background music plays, some unknown individuals are involved in a race towards an alien spaceship which they do not get hold off before it escapes.

Another aspect that is evident in the first scene is that of the composition. As the scene comes to an end, the alien spaceship is given a total capture position, and the frame is elevated with dynamic composition. The reason as to why it is a dynamic composition is due to the fact that there is movement within the fixed frame. The spaceship is spotted by some oncoming men who run towards it with no success. By the time the chasers reach the exact location where the ship was located, it takes off to the sky leaving the young terrestrial organism on its own (Alexis 2016). The spaceship is given a clear shot by the cameras as it takes off to the sky. The relevance of this dynamic composition is that it shows that the ship took off without one of its member who turns out to be the alien in the egg. The composition also helps the young alien to hide in the bushes not to be captured by the chasers. Another of its relevance is that it sets the tone and whole picture of the entire movie. This is because during the entire movie the government officials spend most of the time chasing the extra-terrestrial alien (Shmoop Editorial Team. 2008). On the other hand, the alien spends most of its time on foreign land while hiding with the help of Elliot who became his friend.

Conclusions

Scene analysis is more than just the summary of a particular scene in a movie. This is because it checks how the film is shot and set to make sure that the crucial aspects of the movie are evident in the best way possible. In the movie E.T the aspects and approaches of scene analysis are utilized to assist the viewer in understanding the main themes of the movie from one scene to another. As the discussion above portrays, the first scene of the movie helps in creating a background picture in the mind of what the entire movie will be comprised of. Scene analysis of a movie is also important in delivering and showing off the quality that was involved and used in the entire movie.

References

Shmoop Editorial Team. 2008, November 11. E.T. Scene 1 Summary. Retrieved March 26,       2019, from https://www.shmoop.com/et-the-exra-terrestrial/scene-1-summary.htm

Kolker, R.P., 2015. Film, form, and culture. Routledge.

Alexis E., 29 Jul 2016. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982). Retrieved from             https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWXMM311DCo

Li, T., Chang, H., Wang, M., Ni, B., Hong, R. and Yan, S., 2015. Crowded scene analysis: A      survey. IEEE transactions on circuits and systems for video technology, 25(3), pp.367-     386.