E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial Close-Up (Opening Sequence)
This Blog Post will show the techniques and key elements of film form used throughout the sequence
The film opens with a shot of the stars that tilts down to show a forest opening with a spaceship. The door opens and a ramp extends out. Then lots of alien creatures start to investigate the surroundings and take things back to space ship. After some time the leader commicates to the, to come back shown via glowing hearts. However E.T. carriers on exploring and finds sapling gently pulling it out the ground. It shows him travelling further away. But then a muscle car drives into the forest startling the E.T. And Intrducing the main antagonist keys who is identified by his keys at his side. E.T. Try’s to escape but gets noticed when his chest starts to glow and starts run with the humans chasing him. He doesn’t get the space ship in time and is left by the leader. It cuts to a typical suburban house where kids are playing some board game Eliott goes out to get pizza but is distracted on the way back by E.T. Who is hiding but throws a ball back. This prompts eliott to get his mum and brother and his friends who all investigate and come to the conclusion that it is coyotes
Cinematography
Don Siegel uses lots of shots of fauna and wildlife in the sequence which is used to create a familiar feeling contrasting the strange aleins and making them stand out more. It also makes them seem more friendly as the Animals in the forest are not frightened by them.
When ever we see shots of the humans it is From E.T.s height which is low so we see them in low angle shots this makes them seem bigger and more of a threat. However we see E.T. From their height which makes him look more vunrable and friendly. This used by Don Siegel to help establish who the antagonist and protagonist is.
During the scenes in the house eliott the main character is frame centrally and distanced by physical barriers like a short wall or metaphorical barriers like age. This used to make him more important and clearly different. Additionally it helps to Relate with as the omniscient viewpoint of the audience helps them to understand that he is correct. Ultimately this helps to define who the main character is in the film.
Sound
Sound design is used create a friendly atmosphere for the aliens. Despite being otherworldly Don Siegel uses the snuffling grunting sounds they make to connect them to animals on this world. This make them seem more friendly and clarifies who is Villian when the human arrive.
during the chase sequence the composed non-diegetic score gets mor dramatic however it does not get too dramatic or scary that it could scare a child. It has happy tone that reassures the audience who was mostly meant to be children that E.T. Will not get caught.
Editing
This film similarly to Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (Don Siegel , 1956) uses cross fades to indicate prolepsis however it is used much more commonly with the prolepsis only skip a few minutes a majority of the time. It is still used to breakup and show larger time skip than the us all invisible editing however.
During the chase scene the time between cuts decreases this increases the pace and dramatic essence of the scene. It also shows an opposite to the peace before the humans with long shots that panned instead of cutting. Ultimately this makes the humans seem like they are villain.
Mise-en-scène
When we see the inside of the spaceship we understand that the aleins are botanists this makes them look more friendly and no-invasive. This further adds to the clarity of who is good and who is bad. Additionaly when the humans arrive there is empathesis on how they are destroying nature around them such as the low angle shot of the car or the closeup of the puddle. Resulting in a clearer understanding of how the alien are not aggressive.
Context
The opening sequence to this film was different to most other Sci-Fi movies at the time. It focused on how friendly the aliens are in this film and worked hard to establish that early in the film. This was because most other science fiction media before setting aliens up as aggressive and invasive such as in invasion of the body snatchers. This meant this film was one of the first to have friendly aliens. This decision was made because the film is made for children so needed to have only light terror and horror unlike most Sci-fi films.
Genre features
The opening sequence contains many genre features such as flying space ships, aliens, alien fungi or plants, and telepathic communication. However it has friendly aliens which is uncommon in mos Science fiction movies of the time and is a convention made more popular By this film.
The films not made by don siegel mate its made by Steven Spielberg