Here's an analysis of the opening scenes from the movie Alien (1979).
Characters in the script:
CHAZ STANDARD, Captain
MARTIN ROBY, Executive Officer
DELL BROUSSARD, Navigator
SANDY MELKONIS, Communications
CLEAVE HUNTER, Mining Engineer
JAY FAUST, Engine Tech
The Cat (seems pretty important)
Computer (Voice only)
Not much importance is attributed to each other’s role inside the spaceship as it only determines where they sit but not their chances of survival. Their personality and cunningness here is more important.
In Green Means Camera Movement
In Red Means Presentation of Place and Time
FADE IN
EXTREME CLOSEUPS OF FLICKERING INSTRUMENT PANELS. Readouts and digital displays pulse eerily with the technology of the distant future. Wherever we are, it seems to be chill, dark, and sterile. Electronic machinery chuckles softly to itself. Abruptly we hear a BEEPING SIGNAL, and the machinery begins to awaken. Circuits close, lights blink on.
CAMERA ANGLES GRADUALLY WIDEN, revealing more and more of the machinery, banks of panels, fluttering gauges, until we reveal:
INTERIOR - HYPERSLEEP VAULT
A stainless steel room with no windows, the walls packed with instrumentation. The lights are dim and the air is frigid. Occupying most of the floor space are rows of horizontal FREEZER COMPARTMENTS, looking for all the world like meat lockers.
FOOM! FOOM! FOOM! With explosions of escaping gas, the lids on the freezers pop open.
Slowly, groggily, six nude men sit up.
ROBY
Oh... God... am I cold...
BROUSSARD
Is that you, Roby?
ROBY
I feel like shit...
BROUSSARD
Yeah, it's you all right.
Is that you, Roby?
ROBY
I feel like shit...
BROUSSARD
Yeah, it's you all right.
Now they are yawning, stretching, and shivering.
FAUST
(groans)
Ohh... I must be alive, I feel dead.
BROUSSARD
You look dead.
MELKONIS
The vampires rise from their graves.
This draws a few woozy chuckles.
BROUSSARD
(shakes his fist in the air triumphantly)
We made it!
HUNTER
(not fully awake)
Is it over?
STANDARD
It's over, Hunter.
HUNTER
(yawning)
Boy, that's terrific.
STANDARD
(looking around with a grin)
Well, how does it feel to be rich men?
FAUST
Cold!
This draws a LAUGH.
STANDARD
Okay! Everybody topside! Let's get
our pants on and get to our posts!
our pants on and get to our posts!
The men begin to swing out of the freezers.
MELKONIS
Somebody get the cat.
Roby picks a limp cat out of a freezer.
INTERIOR - CONTROL ROOM
This is a fantastic circular room, jammed with instrumentation. There are no windows, but above head level the room is ringed by viewscreens, all blank for the moment.
There are seats for four men. Each chair faces a console and is surrounded by a dazzling array of technology.
STANDARD, ROBY, BROUSSARD, and MELKONIS are entering and finding their seats.
BROUSSARD
I'm going to buy a cattle ranch.
ROBY
(putting down the cat)
Cattle ranch!
BROUSSARD
I'm not kidding. You can get one if
you have the credit. Look just like
real cows, too.
you have the credit. Look just like
real cows, too.
STANDARD
All right, tycoons, let's stop
spending our credit and start
worrying about the job at hand.
spending our credit and start
worrying about the job at hand.
ROBY
Right. Fire up all systems.
STANDARD
Sandy, you want to give us
some vision?
some vision?
MELKONIS
Feast your eyes.
Melkonis reaches to his console and presses a bank of switches. The strip of viewscreens flickers into life. On each screen, we see BLACKNESS SPECKLED WITH STARS.
BROUSSARD
(after a pause)
Where's Irth?
STANDARD
Sandy, scan the whole sky.
CAMERA MOVES IN ON ONE OF THE SCREENS, with its moving image of a starfield.
EXTERIOR - OUTER SPACE
CLOSE SHOT OF A PANNING TV CAMERA. This camera is remote controlled, turning silently on its base.
CAMERA BEGINS TO PULL BACK, revealing that the TV camera is mounted on the HULL OF SOME KIND OF CRAFT.
When the pullback is finished, WE SEE THE FULL LENGTH OF THE STARSHIP "SNARK," hanging in the depths of interstellar space, against a background of glimmering stars.
INTERIOR - BRIDGE
ROBY
Where are we?
STANDARD
Sandy, contact traffic control.
MELKONIS
This is deep space commercial vessel
SNARK, registration number E180246,
calling Antarctica air traffic control.
Do you read me? Over.
SNARK, registration number E180246,
calling Antarctica air traffic control.
Do you read me? Over.
There is only the HISS OF STATIC.
BROUSSARD
(staring at a screen)
I don't recognize that constellation.
STANDARD
Dell, plot our location.
(staring at a screen)
I don't recognize that constellation.
STANDARD
Dell, plot our location.
Broussard goes into action, punching buttons, lighting up all his instruments.
BROUSSARD
I got it. Oh boy.
STANDARD
Where the hell are we?
BROUSSARD
Just short of Zeta II Reticuli. We
haven't even reached the outer rim yet.
ROBY
What the hell?
STANDARD
This is Chaz speaking. Sorry, but we
are not home. Our present location
seems to be only halfway to Irth.
Remain at your posts and stand by.
That is all.
ROBY
Chaz, I've got something here on my
security alert. A high priority from
the computer...
STANDARD
Let's hear it.
ROBY
(punches buttons)
Computer, you have signalled a
priority three message. What is the
message?
COMPUTER
(a mechanical voice)
I have interrupted the course of the
voyage.
ROBY
What? Why?
COMPUTER
I am programmed to do so if certain
conditions arise.
STANDARD
Computer, this is Captain Standard.
What conditions are you talking
about?
COMPUTER
I have intercepted a transmission of
unknown origin.
STANDARD
A transmission?
COMPUTER
A voice transmission.
MELKONIS
Out here?
COMPUTER
I have recorded the transmission.
STANDARD
Play it for us, please.
Over the speakers, we hear a hum, a crackle, static... THEN A STRANGE, UNEARTHLY VOICE FILLS THE ROOM, SPEAKING AN ALIEN LANGUAGE. The bizarre voice speaks a long sentence, then falls silent.
The men all stare at each other in amazement.
STANDARD
Computer, what language was that?
COMPUTER
Unknown.
ROBY
Unknown! What do you mean?
COMPUTER
It is none of the 678 dialects
spoken by technological man.
There is a pause, then EVERYBODY STARTS TALKING AT THE SAME TIME.
STANDARD
(silencing them)
Just hold it, hold it!
(glares around the room)
Computer: have you attempted to
analyze the transmission?
COMPUTER
Yes. There are two points of salient
interest. Number one: it is highly
systematized, indicating intelligent
origin. Number two: certain sounds
are inconsistent with the human
palate.
ROBY
Oh my God.
STANDARD
Well, it's finally happened.
MELKONIS
First contact...
STANDARD
Sandy, can you home in on that beam?
MELKONIS
What's the frequency?
STANDARD
Computer, what's the frequency of
the transmission?
COMPUTER
65330 dash 99.
MELKONIS
I've got it. It's coming from
ascension 6 minutes 32 seconds,
declination -39 degrees 2 seconds.
STANDARD
Dell -- show me that on a screen.
BROUSSARD
I'll give it to you on number four.
Broussard punches buttons. One of the viewscreens flickers, and a small dot of light becomes visible in the corner of the screen.
BROUSSARD (CONT'D)
That's it. Let me straighten it out.
STANDARD
Can you get it a little closer?
BROUSSARD
That's what I'm going to do.
BROUSSARD (CONT'D)
Planetoid. Diameter, 120 kilometers.
MELKONIS
It's tiny!
STANDARD
Any rotation?
BROUSSARD
Yeah. Two hours.
STANDARD
Gravity?
BROUSSARD
Point eight six. We can walk on it.
Standard rises.
STANDARD
Martin, get the others up to the lounge.
Presentation of the Space and Time
The scriptwriter’s description of the space and time is very detailed and visual. Since the beginning of the script, there is indication that the location is in some sort of technological facility because of the equipment. There is also indication that the time of the event is in the future because the instruments around are futuristic with steel walls, lights, etc… Besides the place and time, the script also contains enough information to deduce what kind of atmosphere the whole scene is taking place in. Later on, the script will reveal that the characters are actually inside a spaceship and their coordinates are located far from any human colonies.
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