Alien + Casablanca Auteur Question Flashcards
(14 cards)
Who were the ‘Big 5’?
MGM, Paramount, 20th Century Fox, Warner Brothers, RKO
What was the process of ‘pre-production’ in relation to Casablanca?
- Story written/adapted by Howard Koch, Epstein brothers, and Casey Robinson based on ‘Everybody Comes to Rick’s’ (a play)
- Studio (Hal B Wallis for Warner) casts actors and crew, with most involved working under contract (leading to type casting etc.)
How long was the director involved in the process (shooting)? (In Golden Era)
8 weeks out of an 8 month process
The efficiency of studios made their release of films be compared to Ford’s car manufacturing.
To demonstrate this efficiency, how many films did:
- Warner release in 1942?
- Curtiz release as director?
Warner: 33 films in 1942
Curtiz: over 50 in Europe, then over 100 in his Hollywood career
What were the two main roles of Curtiz in Casablanca?
- Casting extras as real immigrants (and being a real immigrant himself) made the emotion in the Marseillaise scene more powerful.
- Innovative camera movements (analyse how camera moves in towards Rick before flashback when he is drinking, and how there is a slight reflective pause in the movement)
- also directors in Hollywood had an important functional role of overseeing the crew and filming.
How did Spielberg describe Curtiz’s use of camera movement?
‘A masterclass’
Give two examples of Curtiz’s camera movement
- Pause in slow dolly shot moving towards Rick before flashback to Paris
- Fluid camera movement when first taken into Rick’s Diner, at eye level, helping set the exotic, lively tone.
Give 4 examples of Scott’s role in pre-production.
- Drew intricate storyboards of every shot
- Wrote pages of backstory for characters
- Set design choices: low ceiling creates claustrophobia, insistence on Space Jockey despite 20th Century Fox’s financial concerns
- Role in casting, such as choice of Weaver as Ripley despite her being less well known, and changing of Cartwright’s role from Ripley to Lambert
Give an example of a specific shot/sequence which demonstrates how Scott’s choice of a low ceiling creates claustrophobia.
Slow tracking shots around the Nostromo in the opening of the film in which we can see the ceiling, along with movement towards the end of corridors which seem to narrow (due to the walls on all sides) creates trapped feeling. (Both a set choice and cinematography choice of Scott)
Give 2 examples of how Scott had a role during the filming of Alien.
- Attention to detail eg. Placing of oysters/seafood on facehugger
- Operated first camera (with D.O.P Derek Vanlint on second camera)
Give 2 examples of Scott’s role in post production.
- Told Goldsmith to rewrite his main title theme, in an entirely different mood. Also used Goldsmith’s previously written score for the film Freud, instead of what he’d written specifically for Alien (Goldsmith was already an experienced film composer eg. Winning an Oscar for his 1977 score Omen, with the disagreement highlighting Scott’s clear vision)
- He edited with Terry Rawlins (whereas Curtiz would have moved on during post production)
Describe the role of the studio/s in Alien. Describe how Hill and Giler made important decisions as producers.
- Important as they (the producers for the studio) funded the film.
- Hill and Giler did 8 script rewrites, and had creative input such as by creating the concept of Ash being a robot, which is an innovative feature of the film.
- Scott still had a say in producers decisions eg. Insisting on expensive Space Jockey set.
Who were the producers of Alien? (Companies, and executive people)
- Brandywine
- 20th Century Fox
- Walter Hill
- David Giler
