The Alien Anthology | Berklee Archives

Berklee College of Music – Valencia Campus

THE ALIEN ANTHOLOGY

THE SOUND OF A SAGA

by

Félix Carcone

Master of Music: Scoring for Film, Television and Video Games -‐ candidate 2014/2015

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This work is dedicated to the memory of James Horner. I was writing the end of this paper when the tragic event happened. I want to say that this great man gave me, at my earliest childhood, my first musical skill, and the most important of all: the sensibility.

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PREFACE As far as I can remember, the first time I saw the cover of the

Alien videotape, I immediately though: this thing might be dangerous.

I was around 8 or 9 years old, and a strange combination of fear and

attraction came to me. This weird egg, appearing to come from somewhere

else, scared me. But this simple jacket was extremely implicit; it raised your

curiosity without being aware of. Besides my fear, I wanted to watch this

thing; I wanted to enter and discover this strange world.

Many years later, when I could see the film, I loved it from the first

time. I was shocked by some images, but the impression that marked my

brain was extremely good. I had a strange feeling, like those when we have

lived a very special experience.

I didn’t consider the movie as a science-‐fiction work, nor as a horror

adventure, I really lived the moment from the artistic and claustrophobic

approach. It was horror, without any doubts, but it was radically different

from all the other movies of the genre I watched before. The first word that

came into my mind was “serious”.

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I really felt that nothing in this work was on the second degree, and it

was true, each minute of this visual experience was pure, direct, without

any sense of caricature, everything looked real. I watched it many times

and each pass was a confirmation of the first sensation. It was cold, dark,

stranger, tragic and mysterious.

Of course, I watched passionately all the other episodes, looking for

new sensations through the darkness of space. I liked almost all the other

ones, even if I kept a personal fascination for the original. But from the

musician point of view, I really discovered all the power and the richness of

the entire saga. Each of these soundtracks was so much elaborated, so just,

so emotional and scary at the same time, a real treat for the music lover's

ears.

Now, it is time to take a look, even closer than ever, at this huge saga,

and try to understand and emphasize both complexity and beauty of these

soundtracks, each one composed by some of the greatest musicians of the

film-‐music history.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. A new era…………………………………………………………………………...……………….6 2. Alien – The receptacle of a new sound……………………………...…………………..8 3. Aliens – Bigger, Stronger……………………………………………………………………16 4. Alien 3 – The shadow returns………………………………………….………………….30 5. Alien Resurrection – The French touch………………….……………..……………...41 6. The evolution of a saga…………………………………………….………………………..47 7. Prometheus – Back to the roots………………………………………….……………….50 8. Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………..55 9. References……………………………………………………………..…………………………58

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1. A new era

“In space, no one can hear you scream” 1

In 1979, this strange and ominous little quote prepared the whole

world to face for the first time the scariest and disturbing science-‐fiction

experience of the cinema’s history. Alien came in the silence, slowly, but

surely, from the depths of Dan O’Bannon’s Mind. After working on movies

like Dune and Dark Star, he wrote the story of Alien as a mix of all the

influences of the time, from the interest of space, horror, to fantastic.

The big evolution of the cinema in the 70’s gave the directors and

producers a way to explore new dimensions and illustrate an extreme and

unusual vision. After the revelation of 2001: A Space Odyssey in 1968, and

the more savage Planet of the Apes, the time finally came for the galactic

era, with the flamboyant arrival of Star Wars in 1977. The interplanetary

success of the movie prepared the public for a new experience never lived

before in the history. Extremely darker and totally unfamiliar, Alien

appeared as a complete intruder in the theaters. The public, shocked,

acclaimed this new path to emotion with a consuming passion.

1 Tagline of the original Alien’s cover of 1979, also shown in the official theatrical trailer.

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The film made a big success, receiving an Academy Award for best

visual effects, and launched the saga for almost three decades of terror.

Not as gore and bloody as the last most extreme creations of today, the

movie still keeps and undefined and never equaled atmosphere. Due to the

visionary work of Ridley Scott and his detailed storyboards, combined with

the weirdest creations of the Swiss artist H. R. Giger, Alien possesses a

psychological and claustrophobic approach, which tends to reveal our

scariest thoughts about the infinite of space, about the dark and the

unknown. That’s exactly what Alien did; illustrating our deepest fears in a

completely disconnected context, far away from home, from earth, from

our land, our human safe-‐zone.

Throughout the years, four different directors contributed to the

expansion of the saga, and six different composers brought their own

emotions and conceptions into the movies. Our etude focuses on the

evolution of these works, underlining the main characteristics of each of

these masterpieces.

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2. Alien -‐ The receptacle of a new sound

Naturally, such revolution in terms of image and scenario needs also

a new and powerful sound to complete the impact, to bring the emotion.

Jerry Goldsmith, who was already a star in the film scoring world

(and hired in sci-‐fi projects, because of his wonderful score for Planet of the

Apes few years earlier), and a respected professional, gave to the new born

an uncommon and authentic music, much more routed to the feelings of the

character rather than the visual events. This musical choice and

compositional behavior allowed the movie to be so immersive and

personal. Even if the production tried to force him to score “classically” the

picture with a more mainstream approach, the composer won finally the

battle – not without huge difficulties – and decided what type of sounds and

material the film would have. That’s this famous “romantic” and

“impressionist” sound we discover at the overture, bringing a touch of

universal fantasy, illustrated by an opera-‐like introduction.

The Claude Debussy’s influence here is clear, and we can hear some

orchestration fragments and remembrances of his masterpiece La Mer of

1905. Firstly, this strange idea doesn’t seem so much connected to the

terrific and dark plot, coming out of space.

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But if we go further, we can understand the impressionist process of

Goldsmith: this choice is for him the chance to extract the universal feeling

about the space and the unknown, exceeding the limits of our world,

already treated by the great composers of the 18th and 19th century, in a

more psychological way. Every artist tries to express this fantastic side of

the uncommon and foreign countries of the human brain, and that’s what

Alien is, a journey into our own phantasmagoric illusions, linked to our

fears. When we watch Alien, we accept to make a travel far away from

home, to go beyond the limits of our imagination, exactly as we do when we

dive into the depths of a Mahler Symphony, or in a Wagner Opera, like the

Tetralogy. Also, Arnold Schoenberg, in his second String Quartet of 1908,

already felt as a visionary the ambition of the 20th century to break the

boundaries of Art, for him it was somewhere between the tonality and the

atonality, later reunited as one in the serialism. He wrote in the last

movement of this piece, this sentence (from Stefan George’s poem),

predicting the future:

“I feel the air from another planet” 2

2 Stefan George, Rapture, The Seventh Ring, Arnold Schoenberg, String Quartet n.2, 1908.

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Musical or not, these poetic words expressed the idea of the human

exploration of this time, and the whole century was the result of a research

for the unknown, an ambition for the voyage. The history and the Moon’s

travel of 1969 prove this human impulse for breaking rules and frontiers.

Besides this, 2001: A Space Odyssey, doesn’t bring any answer. Just as Alien,

it brings new questions and new imaginative concepts. That’s why the idea

of making the score for Alien as an emotional music was much more

interesting. Also, Goldsmith always defended the value of film music,

pretending that a score cannot be good if it doesn’t speak by itself.

The music should give alone all the emotional palette and sophistication,

being able to complete and match the movie in a perfect way.

To illustrate the new vision of Ridley Scott’s masterpiece, the composer

opens the movie with an outstanding space-‐like motive, which reflects

perfectly this conception of the unknown, based on the two most

spaceship-‐like intervals, the tritone and the color of the augmented 5th

(letters represent the basses):

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Once again, we find this impressionistic French approach, this time

linked to Maurice Ravel and his color of “false basses of tritone”, as used in

his ballet Daphnis et Chloe of 1912. The harmony moves slowly, but surely,

and drives the auditor step by step with the melody from a common chord

color to another. During this path, the ear looses easily the landmarks of

the tonality. However, the harmony stays tonal, but the impressionist

process blurred the feeling of a pedestal. That’s exactly the goal of

Goldsmith; lose the listener into a maze of undefined shapes, made of

common figures. What Goldsmith wants to achieve, once again, is to score

this “lyrical mystery”.

After the first shots of the ship flying slowly into the space, the

camera finally enters inside the Nostromo, and we discover at a very low

tempo the main corridors and rooms which compose the claustrophobic

labyrinth of the cargo. At this point, the music makes a slight change and

we enter into the new sound of Alien. This sound is especially made of

silence, using rests and “breaths”. Maybe we can find an interesting analogy

with the acoustic characteristics of space, but moreover, we discover here

the new approach that makes the Soundtrack so authentic. Thereby, we can

hear the most recognizable and authentic sound of the saga,

the Hypersleep motive.

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Originally, these fragments of flutes in the middle register used like a

celesta represent one of the most interesting and useful orchestration

technique of these instruments. It’s a classic choice to give this role to this

group with such a soft and continuous accompaniment. But here, the

process is reviewed with the addition of one of the favorite sound

technique of this period of Goldsmith: the echo. A distinguished but subtle

little delay can be heard after each flute interaction. In example 1b, we can

see how are constructed the first four cells of this famous line, which

irrigates the whole saga. The signal is delayed and an incredible sense of

space suddenly appears. The composer keeps using this unfamiliar

treatment of the instruments of the orchestra throughout all the score,

even in more intense moments, like in the track Hive; All the string

pizzicatos are processed in this way, reflecting the idea of an infinite and

disturbing reverberation into the huge corridors of both ships, human and

alien.

To sum up, the beginning of the score is a complete stranger in the

cinema’s history, still today. These never ending shots, animated by an

extremely low tempo, bring to the picture a sort of ancestral ceremony or

discovery. When we listen only to the score, at home, during the night, a

really scary feeling comes out of the experience.

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Not scary in the sense of a thriller, or for a creepy kind of movie, but

scary for this antique and unique dimension: something extremely far,

extremely primal, old and hided for so many years. But these lines don’t act

as a direct underscoring of the images, they are not violent, they simply

relate some ancestral story. That’s what we are really afraid of, and also

what we are really curious about. This strange paradox gives to Alien this

unequaled artistic shape. Especially in the cue called Dawn, we find this

sensation in the second flute motive, which animates the scenes during the

trip into the alien ship. Here there’s only one harmony, modal, derived from

the Japanese scale and it’s own chord, the sus9b. Between these exotic

appearances, we can notice the violins textural passages, making the effects

of random glissandos in the high register. The second word that comes to

mind then, and can set the whole score is: Minimalist. It’s clearly the

esthetic chosen by Goldsmith to illustrate this terrific journey.

A slow and minimalist score, going to the opposite of the classic fantasy

music of the time.

The tempo is a one of the choice of Terry Rawlings, the editor, who

chose to keep this behavior throughout the entire movie, to express and

maintain a strong tension, as experienced before an attack.

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During the bulk of the film, nothing special happens, we watch

anxious humans and cold corridors, and the spectator has to use his

imagination to create his own fear. The last 15min of the picture are the

most intense in terms of “action”, and it only presents dark images

illustrated by scary sounds. No dialogs, no sunlight, only Ellen Ripley, the

main character, and the alien, trapped in the rescue capsule.

Jerry Goldsmith, who liked to “see it as an audience” 3, confessed to be

afraid and very distressed by the film. Nevertheless, he did not agree with

the decision of both editor and production, who wanted in Alien, another

classic and mainstream horror movie, offering a temptrack much more

intense and eventful (made with other Goldsmith scores!). In a way,

director and composer both agreed about the interpretation, and Scott

described the plot as containing “beauty, darkness” 4. Still today, producers

think that Alien needed to be a more obvious horror movie; a situation that

explains how much communication and relationship between production

and artists, can be difficult. According to Goldsmith, “music cannot replicate

the visual” 5, and he fought until the end to assert his philosophy:

3 Jerry Goldsmith, documentary interview, Making of, Alien Anthology, 20th Centuy Fox, 2010. 4 ibid. 5 ibid.

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“I can’t be visual with the music (…), let me do the emotion.” *

Aliens – more power

After the success of the first movie, production absolutely wanted to

create a sequel with another director. With his impressive film Terminator

in 1984, James Cameron confirmed the idea for the producers to let him

write and realize a contrasting episode, much more action-‐based.

After drifting into space during 57 years of stasis, Ellen Ripley wakes

up in an orbital station, close to earth, and finally leaves again for LV-‐426,

the planet where the alien signal came for the first time. Decided to take

her revenge, and depressed by the death of his daughter, the character

re-‐engages her into the fight, and finally boards the USS-‐Sulaco with a

group of Marines.

* this sign induces, each time, the reference to the documentaries.

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3. Aliens – Bigger, Stronger

In terms of aesthetics, Aliens differs a lot from its predecessor.

Even if the picture keeps the creepy atmosphere and stays in the horror

genre, this one is much more related to war. The powerful young director

Cameron wrote the script with the Vietnam War as an inspiration.

The major change is the number of aliens. No more only one specimen, but

a complete multitude of deadly creatures, coming from anywhere and at

any moment. It’s really important to note the more “popular” character that

the film possesses. If Alien was esoteric, Aliens is rather more

“mainstream”. This different approach influenced also a lot the score, who

found on James Horner the perfect soldier to face the movie and its

difficulties. As explained by the composer through some interviews about

this experience, the post-‐production seemed to be a complete

misunderstanding of both artists and producers, once again.

When Horner came to London, ready to score the movie in six weeks, he

found a stressful team, still fighting with shooting and editing, trying to

deliver a colossal project before an unrealizable commercial deadline.

His words:

“It was a nightmare” *

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Helpless about the situation, and extremely anxious about his own

job, Horner suffered from the relentless pressure of the production, and

asked – ineffectively – more time to let him wait for the final edits.

To carry on talking about the difference of this episode, we can

underline once again how the team of Cameron and Horner differs from the

first movie, Scott and Goldsmith. Horner, who was already known for his

mighty scores for Star Trek, Commando and Brainstorm, acted as the ideal

composer to add a strong touch of power to the new born. It is the same

for Cameron who proved with Terminator his ability to present a modern

entertaining scenario directed with a high artistic quality. At this moment,

the world doesn’t know yet the outstanding ability of Horner to compose

extremely unique a memorable melodies. Nevertheless, Aliens is for him the

chance to emerge as a major composer. He received for this creation his

first nomination for an Academy Award.

The score, yet entirely new and revolutionary, presents some

materials of the first Alien’s picture. Instead of being announced by the

flutes in echo, the famous Hypersleep motive is here played by the trumpets

(during the Main Title), in the opposite direction (the instruments play the

two note interval from bottom to top).

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Also, in terms of orchestration, we find some references, like the

sustained high violin notes, or the random textured passages in glissandos.

However, the main different characteristic is the significant presence of the

two most military-‐like sections of the orchestra: the Brass and the

Percussions (almost non-‐existent in the first movie). The mix between the

avant-‐garde style and the military approach of Horner created one of the

most famous action scores of all time, imitated and re-‐used over an over

again (especially for temptracks and trailers).

Likewise, the “mood” of some cues, if we talk about harmony and

color, is much more “major” and “illuminated” than the slow and dark score

of Alien. Tempo also plays a big role on this contrast. If we think about

tracks like Ripley’s Rescue, and the famous polyrhythmic passage of 3 for 2

at 2.07min, we understand how much martial is this soundtrack. The brass

melody, imitating the army calls in unisons, is relevant of this gesture, and

the anvil’s presence is significant:

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The score is full of avant-‐garde and modern techniques of

orchestration, like string and brass clusters (also in conjunction with

pianos), bass growls of tuba and trombone section, moving textures

(fast and slow string glissandos), woodwinds runs (combined with piccolo

and clarinets), extended techniques of percussion instruments

(scratch cymbals and metallic rolls) and use of synthesizers and sound

design effects on real instrument lines (once again, the echo applied to the

trumpets).

Furthermore, when the Brass are “called” for action scenes, we can

hear a sense of operatic writing, coming from the 19th and 20th centuries,

like in the introduction line of Going after Newt and its post-‐romantic chord

progression:

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Bishop’s Countdown, the absolute masterpiece of the entire

soundtrack, written in only one night (used for more than 20 years for

action trailers) also introduces some post-‐romantic passages, like the third

section of the piece (at 0.35min in the album version) that we have to

analyze here. After the first powerful pounding passage, once again marked

by the martial presence of the anvil, a Wagnerian melody suddenly arrives,

developed in unisons by the trombone section, supported by arpeggiated

ostinatos in the woodwinds and upper strings groups. The result is massive

and completely cinematic. Like the famous piece of the opera Die Walküre,

a huge line based on a single minor chord (here A flat minor) brings to the

scene a singular dramatic color. While Ripley and Newt are waiting for the

Android’s rescue, the alien queen appears suddenly and the Bishop’s

Countdown starts to ring, bringing an incredible sense of stress and fear,

like never before in the cinema’s history (Ex.4a). After this cinematic

parenthesis, and the last crescendo, we can hear the final part, the most

famous moment of the entire score (Ex.4b).

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Ex.4b Bishop’s Countdown – Final tutti

Carcone 24

The music of Aliens is mainly orchestral, and tracks like Bishop’s

Countdown are a great model of powerful and high quality writing.

James Horner, who explained in a long interview for Avatar how much film

music liberated him, described that writing for movies allowed to be no

longer treated as an avant-‐garde composer, or as a musician hided in

certain conservatism, which is not. Horner was this kind of extremely

talented musician who didn’t find any suitable place for his art (even if

before entering the world of cinema, he was actually starting to receive

some recognition from his pairs).

When a composer is advanced on the modern writing, classical

purists pigeonholed him just as a “contemporary” artist, and when he has

the rare melodic sensibility that everyone envy, he is classified by the

modern field as a popular, low-‐rank musician; which is, obviously,

completely false. Horner was this sort of creator, trapped between his love

for the traditional and unique power of the melody, and the force and

expressive textures of the modern techniques. This “trap”, in truth, is the

only way for a composer to be totally free and polyvalent, with all the tools

needed to express the entire palette he can possesses. In this way, Horner

is closed to composers like John Williams, who can write in any direction,

never limited by his own fear or the other’s prejudices.

Carcone 25

That’s why film music can be a real “rescue” for these great artists.

When a scene needs an emotional theme, the audience will accept the

melody without thinking of an incorrect philosophy conducted by the social

and cultural neurosis of his time. The public literally feels the content of a

creation without any suspicion (or only if someone or something helps him

to make the link), because images drive the human nature for so long that

he can’t reject the incoming sensation, which comes from. Even if Aliens

was the opportunity for Horner to show his outstanding melodic abilities,

people had to wait for movies like The Land before Time and Willow

(both in 1988) to discover his true melodic geniality. The contrast between

these movies and Aliens is huge, and Horner was not ever involved in a

horror film like this one. This can be understood from the sensible point of

view from directors and producers of the field. After making soundtracks

as Braveheart, Titanic and Jumanji, film creators classified him as the

“emotional melodist”.

In terms of melodic personality, Horner built years after years a

complete and unique palette of powerful emotive techniques, used for

writing evocative themes. Already in Aliens, he uses in a lot of sequences

some lines based on the Lydian mode, like some lines of Combat Drop (like

the main melody at 0.58min) or the calm section of Bishop’s Countdown,

giving inevitably to the scenes a color which differs completely from the

Carcone 26

first Alien. To compare with another classic movie he worked on

(even more “popular”), we can analyze here the main theme of Jumanji, and

it’s obvious employment of the Lydian mode, acting as a beautiful fairytale

tune, a Horner’s classic:

Such powerful and perfect assemblages of magnificent musical ideas can

bring to a film a fantastic emotional palette. I can still remember, as a child,

the introduction of this movie at the theater. It was so well done, so

melodic and perfectly routed to the story and pictures, that I assimilated

the Lydian mode and its color, forever. Only a composer like Horner

with such emotional wingspan can provoke so powerful memories.

Every child of this period can remember this feeling.

Carcone 27

Richard Wagner explained himself the importance and the

characteristic of the melodic ability as the only way to compose.

In his book A Communication to my Friends, he wrote the explicit sentence:

“The only form of Music is the melody.” 6

Furthermore, Stravinsky decided to explain in his Poetics of Music

that the melodic ability cannot be learned, and its absolute essence comes

from unknown emotional territories of the brain. A lot of musicians tend to

think that evident melodies are simple and without interest, but the truth is

the opposite. Olivier Messiaen also entrusts in The Technique of my Musical

Language of 1944, the melody as the unique way to develop the other

components of a piece. Through the words of Stravinsky himself:

“The melodic ability is a gift. This means that it is not for us to develop the

study; at least we can adjust it by changing an insightful critique [...] from all

the elements of music, melody is the most accessible to the ear and the harder

to acquire. [...] The melody is the most important of these, not because it is

immediately noticeable, but because it is the dominant voice.” 7

6 Richard Wagner, A Communication to my Friends, 1892, Mercure de France, Mayenne, 1976, p. 217. 7 Igor Stravinsky, Poetics of Music, 1939, Harmoniques, Mesnil-‐sur-‐l’Estrée, 2011, p. 91.

Carcone 28

Even if it’s the most important element, melody is not the only tool of

a composer for scoring the movie’s pictures. Like Goldsmith, Horner

sometimes prefers to use a certain minimalism to convince the audience.

A particularly compelling example stands out, even more easily than all

Goldsmith cues. Indeed, in the track called The Queen, which acts to

illustrate the mythic encounter with the monster, Horner employs only one

and single line of synthesizer, made of a simple bass note of an electronic

pad (a low C). Some textural designed elements are added to the note, but

the process here is clear: leave the scene and its images the necessary

tension, which were for the time really impressive (like Ripley, the public

slowly discovers for the first time the Queen in its nest, huge and

disgusting). An interesting paradox if we think about the bionic nature of

the terrifying creature. But the choice of Horner is justified, and this

extremely simple and minimal part of the soundtrack shows how much this

composer can be attentive to the primary role that the images are in a

movie. Because this scene is so important (it’s a surprise and the audience

don’t know yet the form can have the Queen), so slow and so intense, that it

would be destructive to add a huge orchestral sound at this moment.

Better is to leave the sequence intact, especially after almost one hour of

combat and strong martial rhythms.

Carcone 29

In the Alien saga, melodies, among all the textures, rhythm and sound

design effects, create one of the most important parts of the emotional

content. We saw how Goldsmith created an ancestral and mystery kind of

feeling with minimalist and exotic materials. We looked at the

Horner’s Score and discovered how martial and percussive it was.

We will now study how Elliot Goldenthal managed to blend both attitudes

and instrumentation in attention to create his astonishing work and gave to

the saga his darkest soundtrack.

Carcone 30

4. Alien 3 – The shadow returns

Into the saga, Alien 3 is an exception, a kind of “alien” to itself.

For David Fincher, the director, who realized here is first feature film, it

was also a strange and difficult moment. The movie had one of the most

complicated productions of the 20th Century Fox’s history, and all the staff

thought that this sequel would never see the day. Apparently, the job was

difficult to everyone, and the post-‐production team also suffered from this

experience. From insufficient budgets for special effects, to never-‐ending

changes in the script, complex re-‐editing of sequences, to alternate endings,

the movie still carries that weight and these complications today.

Alien 3 is an extremely dark film, profound, dramatic, maybe more

than all the others reunited. It also normally acts as the real end for the

saga, with the final and famous death of Ripley, who suicides her in the

molten metal of the casting.

Tragic and heroic at the same time, this denouement signs the end of

the most famous heroine of the cinema. However, this sad and tragic story

is the mark of the movie, and it shows with an interesting and different

approach the final act of this legendary character.

Carcone 31

For Fincher, who was before a director of video clips, this job was for

him the opportunity to enter definitely the world of cinema. That’s also

why he tried to add a new and distinctive tone to the Alien series. Thus, he

put a lot of efforts to create without thinking about the other two movies.

However, he really respected the original atmosphere and ideas of the first

Alien. For instance, in reaction to the action based plot of the second one, he

decided to focus on the dark and claustrophobic photography of Ridley

Scott. Also, the production agreed about the idea of having only one

creature, in the manner of the original movie. Fincher explained to

Goldenthal all of these principles, and asked him to lead the soundtrack in

this direction. The main idea was to develop the dramatic side of the story.

From this point of view, he said to the composer, literally:

“Everything is fucked, completely, there is no hope” *

In terms of Soundtrack, it represents one of the best dramatic and

creepiest score of all time. Praised by both critics and professionals, Elliot

Goldenthal signed here the music that gave him the recognition he still

bears today. As a subtle mix between dramatic classical style and radical

modern esthetic, this score added a new and complementary dimension to

the Alien trilogy.

Carcone 32

As a metaphor to the Fincher’s thoughts, the composer tried to follow

the main concept of the tragic script. According to the director’s words, he

answered to the dark requests with textural approaches. As the film was

composed of 70% of chase scenes (an extreme difficult job, because the

music can easily become very boring and repetitive), he decided to

“constantly change the texture”*, as a constant way to bring suspense and

variation. Also, the idea of introducing electronic elements into the score,

sometimes as important as the orchestral parts are, was once again a

choice that reflected this desired connotation.

“You can’t say if it’s orchestral or electronic, and the way they work together.

I had a whole electronic score, with then a whole 90-‐piece orchestra to play

over that. And they interacted together with absolute precision.

And listening back to it, I was really proud of it.” *

It is interesting to mention the links that connect Goldenthal to the

cinema. Student of John Corigliano, Goldenthal explored with his mentor

the powerful capabilities of the contemporary music, combined with a fine

study of the traditional repertoire.

Carcone 33

Corigliano, one of the most recognized American composers of today,

brought Goldenthal to the field of the cinema. We have to notice that he was

himself the close assistant of Leonard Bernstein. At the concert of the

premiere of his Clarinet Concerto (which has entered now the standard

repertoire), the director Ken Russell, present in the concert hall, really

impressed by the powerful and expressive composition, asked the musician

to score his first feature film, Altered States, in 1980.

The music for this psychedelic and esoteric movie, nominated for an

Academy Award (besides The Empire Strikes Back and Fame), stands for one

of the best contemporary soundtrack ever written. The composition, which

makes use of unusual of new writing techniques, explores all the aspects of

the scenario, from tender, scientific madness to horror and ancestral fears.

Influenced by such a musician, composer Elliot Goldenthal learned with his

master the way to sound “modern” and “avant-‐garde”.

Moreover, the student learnt also how to built expressive motives

and intense structures. Corigliano, in opposition to the other classic

contemporary composers, also knows when it is the time to declare a

“simple” and beautiful melody. In Altered States, he shows one of his best

lyrical pieces, the slow and charming Love Theme:

Carcone 34

According to our etude, it is important to notice this fact, because

Goldenthal gives in Alien 3, besides all the atonal and textural colors, the

most melodic and lyrical score of all. Here we touch an interesting paradox:

a score both avant-‐garde and melodic. Here, it doesn’t act as the

expressionist melody, which exits, in pieces like Erwartung (1909) by

Arnold Schoenberg, but really as operatic and dramatic singing lines; the

same we can find in Wagner and Richard Strauss works, or a bit later with

Puccini.

The goal of Fincher is to create the final episode, the last adventure

that Ripley has to live. She has to die to destroy the last alien alive, in her

own body, the ultimate sacrifice.

Carcone 35

This abrupt ending cannot be tragic and sad without the help of the

music. The production needed a grandiose music, a huge Adagio that can

close the saga in a sad but heroic and dramatic Finale. And that’s exactly

what Goldenthal did, he wrote pieces like Lento, Adagio, Agnus Dei (in

reference to the mercy asked to God) and Finale.

The cues of Alien 3 are separated in two categories: the lyrical

material (such as these ones) and the contemporary compositions (all the

other tracks). If we divide the tracks from the album, we could obtain two

columns of two groups, but it is not so simple. Goldenthal dared realize in

this work a perfect mix between both styles, in order to edit a complete

hybrid esthetic, trapped between the harmonies of the 19th Century and the

orchestral textures of the 20th and 21th centuries.

This equation is the brilliant recipe of the Alien 3’s score, and its

musical dimension tends to give to the movie an astonishing and unique

color. In tracks like Explosion and Aftermath or The Entrapment, this

balance finds the perfect receptacle. The first one shows this outstanding

mix between expressive music and contextual orchestral design. On top of

the string motions and percussive orchestral engines, we can hear some

extremely interesting simulations of alarms made by the Horn section.

Carcone 36

Indeed, the players have to imitate the rising sounds of the sirens,

while the final outcome approaches. At bar 45, the “siren motive” comes

back, in a large and intense orchestral clash (Ex.7). The horns illustrate the

concept with some fast upward runs, which enter little by little in an

interesting and expressive phase shifting.

In the scene illustrated by the track The Entrapment (at 2.38 in the

album version), instead of scoring the action with common hits and strikes

used by other composers, Goldenthal employs a singular method, which

brings to front only the violin section and the woodwinds. No percussions

at all, no Brass, no Basses, only the thin and recognizable texture of the

upper register of the string orchestra. The piece presents another

interesting rhythmic shifting, where two main descending lines are

repeated one by one at different places. The effect creates an outstanding

sensation of visual displacement. The procedure doesn’t stop for almost 70

seconds until it starts to be stabilized in a E minor9 chord, followed by a

A minor6, then G minor9(6b), to finally finishes it course on a regressive

chromatic fragment. What Goldenthal wants to achieve, is to transfer this

feeling of being in the air, like flying, falling gradually with no more than

the atmosphere under the feet.

Carcone 37

This is an extremely smart approach to illustrate differently the

sensation of flight in the cinema. It proves that the concept, in a film score,

is much more important than the mass.

For all of these reasons, the score of Alien 3 presents with a new and

refreshing way, how to add correctly music into a film. Going from original

textures, mixing the orchestra with modern recording techniques, to the

useful approach of creating concepts and connoted musical material, this

work makes the difference in the film-‐music production.

Far from this contemporary esthetic, the French director of Alien

Resurrection and his American composer John Frizzell both show a final

interpretation of the darkness of space.

Carcone 38

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Carcone 39

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Carcone 41

5. Alien Resurrection – The French touch

In 1997, Jean-‐Pierre Jeunet presented is own vision of the Alien

world. In cooperation with the 20th Century Fox they deliver the last chapter

of the saga, which acts 200 years after the events of Alien 3. It is true that

this sequel is maybe the less dramatic of all, putting once again in the scene

Ellen Ripley, who comes back from the death through a genetic experience.

In fact, the Ripley we see in the movie is a clone of the real heroine

who terminated herself in the precedent episode. It is important to

understand the difference of the French conception of Jeunet in comparison

to all the previous American directors. This change is applied to the

photography, but also to the storytelling, and to all the allegories implied

by the scenario.

For a lot people, the Jeunet’s approach is much more “comic”, in the

sense of an exaggeration of the plot and characters. The tragic side of the

precedent episode is now abandoned to allow a new form of romanticism.

Besides the aliens, the gunfights, the scary scenes, the scenario (written by

Joss Whedon) showcases a strange genetic association between creatures

and humans.

Carcone 42

In fact, the scientists create a new life form based on the combination

of both entities. The “Queen”, reformed with the genetic reconstruction,

finally gives birth to a mixed creature, half male, half female, who thinks

Ripley as her mother. Boundaries between those worlds are now broken,

and science allows all kind of weird creations.

This is the direction where Jeunet focuses his vision. This genetic

horror is for him the chance to explore a new form of eroticism.

John Frizzell, who got the gig after sending four demo tapes to the director,

and producer Robert Kraft, directly felt this authentic and sensual

approach given by the French filmmaker. In his own words:

“There’s a unique sense of perhaps Jean-‐Pierre’s Frenchness, and a

romanticism, and this eroticism! (…) To me, it’s a really erotic movie.

There’s a really strange and untypical sexuality.” *

Frizzell, who worked almost seven months on the movie, confesses

that this is what it inspired him the most to find a theme and write the

score. Going after 3 of the greatest scores of the soundtrack’s history is not

an easy task, but the young composer did his best.

Carcone 43

He re-‐used some fragments of the first one, tried to achieve a balance

between the dark side of the third one and the bigger approach of the

second one. In the beginning of the movie, the link with the mythic

approach of Alien is huge, acting as a kind of tribute to the masterpiece of

Scott and Goldsmith. The motive and texture of the famous Hypersleep is

used in the same way of the original, the camera slowly shooting the

corridors and rooms of the spaceship.

Besides these reminiscences, Frizzell composed a new an interesting

main theme, mainly played by the Horn section, allowing a round and

warm sound, almost sensual. A strange and compact harmony, metaphor of

the genetic experience, which takes place in the movie, presents a moving

cell of a G minor6b chord. The main line, simple, quietly rolls the arpeggio

in a slow and ominous tempo:

Carcone 44

On top of that comes a second really interesting main line, played in

counterpoint by the violin section, which offers a suite of chromatic

mutations with the role of perturbing the bottom harmony, anchored in

G minor. In fact, in contradiction with the other line, the first note implies a

E natural, reflecting the 6th major of the scale, which suddenly goes down

naturally to the right E flat. The same procedure is used at the next bar

with the third of the chord, from B natural to B flat.

These tensions have the role to blur harmony and tonality, and so

immerse the listener in an unstable world, exactly like the context of the

saga. If we look further, we can isolate the fragments, which are borrowed

from the Goldsmith’s Main Theme. Indeed, the same movements of

chromatic descents based on an altered harmony are used to express this

feeling of the unknown. Aware of these similarities, and according to the

entire soundtrack, we can say that John Frizzell made a work much more

related to the first two Alien movies, between the mystical and the martial

approaches.

Carcone 45

In tracks like The Alien Escape and They Swim, we can find these

kinds of March rhythms, which tend to recall the James Horner’s martial

passages. In the last one, the wink with Bishop’s Countdown from 4.50 to

5.15min is obvious. From the gradual crescendo, with the homorhythmic

tutti, to the presence of the anvil, every aspects of this music seems to have

been composed under the strong influence of the Aliens Soundtrack.

Also, it is comprehensible from the producing point of view, because this

episode comes back to a certain mainstream approach, which had been

tried with great success in the James Cameron’s movie.

Moreover, the tragic and dramatic side of Alien 3 has completely

disappeared in this sequel. No more Adagio, no more Agnus Dei, Ripley and

the aliens are back and everything could restart once again.

Even the humoristic side of the scenario is developed here; some lines of

jokes are used throughout the film.

The characters also, are presented with a subtle touch of caricature.

It is harder for the public to identify himself to these entities, from the

futuristic dwarf to the innocent and charming android; but he can watch

the film more like an entertainment rather than a strange human

experience.

Carcone 46

All of these characteristics make this episode unique and different,

but the music brings with brio an interesting coming back in the world of

the saga, putting life again in old and related materials, re-‐connecting again

the public to the first two soundtracks of the most famous sci-‐fi movies of

the history.

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6. The evolution of a saga

Through the years, the different directors and composers who

worked on each movie brought interesting and unique approaches to the

revolutionary concept of Alien, started in 1979. It is really interesting, and

important for our etude, to notice and understand the evolution of the

aesthetic through the four distinctive productions we have the chance to

visualize and listen today. From the mystical approach, to fear, battle and

sensuality, every aspects of the scenario have been explored in the darkest

franchise of all time. Now, we can have an objective and general look to all

the episodes, and finally see the links and differences, which connect a

movie to another.

Of course, all of these changes and particularities are present in the

music. We saw the main lines of each of these soundtracks during these

chapters, now we can sum up and get an overlook to all the structure of the

entire music of Alien. In Example 11, we can see what are the connections

between the movies, and the major characteristics of the four different

soundtracks. According to this analyze, we can notice that the evolution of

the atmosphere and dynamism throughout the films evolves per group of 2.

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One movie stands for an experimental and dark atmosphere, while

the next is much more based on action. This chain works from the first to

the last one. Indeed, Alien and Alien 3 are the most obscure and scary,

whereas Aliens and Alien Resurrection, at the opposite, present both the

mainstream approach. Each time, the next director wanted to achieve a

new version of his own conception of the plot, trying to be radically

different from his predecessor, but also with a re-‐actualization of the

precedent work, on which it based its values. For instance, we can see how

Fincher tried to emphasize the major characteristics of the first movie, so

to return to the source of the saga, with a really dark, gloomy and scary

film. Differently, James Cameron and Jean-‐Pierre Jeunet productions both

put the works in another sphere, rather mainstream and animated by a

singular action.

Eventually, we can consider the prequel of Ridley Scott, Prometheus

(2012), as a return to the first concept of Alien, acting as the final chapter to

close the loop. For the director, maybe there is a kind a feeling of paternity,

pushing him again to tell the last words of the story. Nevertheless, this last

film clearly connects its scenario and filmmaking procedure to the first

born of the Alien’s family.

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Alien Aliens Alien 3

-‐slow dark scary mystical effetcs

minimalist

slower textures

sound effects scary

experimental darker tragic

Faster

Orchestral Sensual Martial Action

mainstreamm

Alien Resurrection

Ex.11 The aesthetic evolution

energic faster martial powerful action

mainstream

Jerry Goldsmith James Horner Elliot Goldenthal

John Frizzell

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7. Prometheus – Back to the roots

With this movie, which was expected to firm up by fans worldwide,

the director Ridley Scott signed his coming back to the science-‐fiction field,

since Blade Runner in 1982. The same artist who began the famous story in

1979 came back to close the saga with the same original taste.

To achieve this return to the mystical and the uncommon, Scott

chose to release a prequel, acting before the events of the first Alien.

Somehow, the bet is successful because in a lot of points Prometheus joins

the conceptual approach and the atmosphere of the first born.

More focused on the screenplay and photography, rather than the action,

this chapter proposes a new contribution to the saga, strange and obscure.

The soundtrack, composed mainly by Mark Streitenfeld (important

additional music had been created in urgency by the great Harry Gregson-‐

Williams), follows this antithetic vision of the modern cinema.

Minimalist and extremely dark, the music of this episode seems linked

more than ever to the first score. More than half of the music is completely

experimental, going from low and slow textures to active and strange

primitive rhythms.

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The other part of the score is composed of beautiful landscape lines

and romantic orchestral melodies, bringing to the film this kind of ancestral

beauty, which animated so well the first movie. This is due by the use of the

same fascination that Scott had in the original work, for mythology and

esoteric questions about universe and humanity.

There are two main themes in this one, one major and one minor.

They are both slow and use large and smooth lines, almost romantic, from

the contour and the harmonic point of view. In example 12a and 12b, we

can compare these ones to the old motives of the precedent movies.

In fact, the minor theme of Streitenfeld has a lot of similarities with

the Frizzell motive of Alien Resurrection: the same back and forth between

the fifth and the minor sixth in the first part of the line (here C# and D).

The “pivot note” of the second part recalls also strongly the bassline

movement of the previous theme.

In all cases, almost all the Alien themes of the episodes are illustrated

by melodies with large contours and “mini-‐ostinatos” on chromatic

mutation or tensed note of the scale (we also remember the Horner’s

conceptual ostinato of the opening of Aliens).

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This moving line is used throughout the entire movie, and the final

cell, the chromatic one, serves as a signification of danger, or for an

unknown territory exploration. Its goal is to cause a clear sensation of

discomfort, trapped by the strange oscillation between the F# and

F natural.

In the main theme (Ex. 12b), Streitenfeld deploys a large melancholic

melody in B minor, illustrating the utopic procedure of this human voyage.

The crew travels beyond the limit of the human system, looking for

answers about humanity existence.

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To sum up, the first Goldsmith motive gave to the entire saga the

main color and shape. In truth, the major harmony used by Gregson-‐

Williams in the second theme, firstly exposed in Life, uses the same exotic

color that Goldsmith showed in his Main Theme, reflecting a certain

impressionism; especially the two notes where both violins and sopranos

voices insist in on the E and F#, then A, during the second

part of the motive, in reinforcement of the pentatonic harmony

(at 1.40min in the album).

With this beautiful thematic, the second composer succeed to achieve

this mystical approach that employed Goldsmith many years before.

This ancestral color gives to the public the feeling of coming back at the

beginning of the universe.

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Later in the movie, and close to the end, during the track We Were

Right, a minor variation of this intense motive can be heard. This simple but

effective modification transforms the ancestral feeling in an extremely

nostalgic sensation, alerting the public to a tragic end for the trip.

Also, in Friend from the Past, a tribute to the score of Goldsmith is made,

and the main theme from Alien sounds slowly in the background.

The loop between the first episode and the last one is now closed; the

belt is buckled. We want to stay, to find more answers, but it’s almost the

end of the course, and we are far from home, far from our land.

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8. Conclusion

More than a simple science-‐fiction movie, the entire Alien anthology

is a pure experience of reflection about the universe and our origins.

Never the cinema, in addition to 2001, has been so closed to the esoteric

discovery of the unknown of space, the fear of the infinite, the dark and the

uncommon. Watching an Alien movie is the acceptance to a voyage where

dreams and nightmares are one. The public of the entire world has praised

this extraordinary cinematic adventure that offers this unique franchise.

Throughout the years, four directors were able to give their own

conception of the scenario and the concept of the Xenomorph.

But much more than a simple movie based on the existence of a dangerous

creature, Alien allowed filmmakers to create and share an amazing human

adventure, at the edge of space.

The strange mixture between the beauty and the ugliness of the alien,

artistic result of the Ginger’s mind, always induces an uncommon feeling of

attraction and simultaneous rejection. No creature had been so disgusting

than the facehugger in the cinema’s history, and yet, thousand and

thousand of people still want to watch the films over and over again.

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All these emotional contents form the base of the Alien movies.

The action, the horror, the special effects, are just a plus which derives

naturally from the astonishing story. And this unique feeling can only be

achieved with the help of a correct and emotive soundtrack.

That’s why all the composers of the Alien saga are one of the most

important persons of the creative process of every film. They bring to the

pictures a complete and radical musical point of view, producing all the

feelings that the images cannot. This balance between a movie and its

sound, even if sometimes is hard to achieve, is the key of a successful and

outstanding artistic piece of art.

A film is not just a collection of pictures, but also a mix of visual and

auditory senses; both elements work together to express an extremely rich

and subtle artistic creation of different points of view. Despite the

respective difficulties that may have happened for each production teams,

all of these works showed how much the alliance of directors and

composers could be a huge and creative force, serving with the right ethic

the interests of a film. Alien would have never been so deep and universal

without the contribution of Jerry Goldsmith. Aliens would have never got

this powerful side and this dimension without the help of James Horner.

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Alien 3 would have never been so dark, tragic and beautiful at once

without the Elliot Goldenthal’s writing. Alien Resurrection would never

manage to achieve that balance between horror and eroticism without the

music of John Frizzell. Prometheus would have never been so mystical and

unique without the depth and melancholy caused by its soundtrack.

The art of making a movie is the art of finding the perfect equation

between images and music, in the sole purpose of serving the emotional

content of a project. The Alien movies are wonderful examples of such

achievement and creative exchange.

To conclude, we can say that both Alien movies and soundtracks, and

we consider them as one and unique set, are authentic creations and major

pieces of both cinema and music fields. They bring respectively in each of

their category a huge and original contribution to the repertoire.

They offer to the public the occasion to live an extraordinary and intense

experience, at the gates of the human mind.

"The more we travel the distance, the less we know." 8

8 Lao-‐Tseu, Tao Tö King.

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9. References

-‐ Alien Anthology, Blu-‐Ray pack, 2Oth Century Fox, 2010 -‐ documentaries:

Alien -‐ To the Future Aliens – The Final Countdown Alien 3 – Requiem for a Scream

Alien Resurrection – Genetic Composition -‐ Goldenthal, Elliot, Alien 3. Score, Hollywood, courtesy of: Judy Green Music, 1992. -‐ Horner, James, Avatar Composer James Horner. Youtube video, 47:20min, accessed July 1, 2015. https://youtu.be/Qrcuw9D92_s -‐ Messiaen, Olivier, The Technique of my Musical Language, Alphonse Leduc, 1956. -‐ Schoenberg, Arnold, String Quartet n.2. Vienna, Universal Editions, 1921. -‐ Stravinsky, Igor, Poetics of Music. Mesnil-‐sur-‐l’Estrée, Harmoniques, 2011.

-‐ Wagner, Richard, A Communication to my Friends. Mayenne, Mercure de France, 1976.

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