Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
out commands left and right, we notice one of the marines operating a
Power Loader—a humanoid-shaped forklift he's using to hoist missiles and
load them onto the drop ship. The camera lingers on this operation just a
bit longer than you'd expect (twenty five seconds, in fact), introducing the
mechanical power suit and its basic capabilities.
Moments later, Ripley shows up and asks the Sarge if there's anything
she can do to help. Skeptical, he in turn asks if there's anything useful she
can do. She replies, “Well, I can drive that loader.”
“Be my guest,” the mildly surprised Sarge answers.
We now enter into an extended sequence showing Ripley climbing into
the Loader, buckling herself in, powering it up, testing the hydraulic arms,
clamps, and legs. An inordinately long period of time is spent on this se-
quence (forty three seconds), which has little if anything to do with what's
happening in the story at the moment. We want to see the good guys fight
the aliens—who cares about carrying cargo around the hangar deck?
Ripley finally walks the giant metal suit over to a large, heavy-looking
container and effortlessly lifts it off the ground, then with a smirk asks the
Sarge, “Where do you want it?”
The Sarge and Hicks share a laugh at Ripley's surprising spunkiness.
These two Power Loader sequences account for a combined one
minute and eight seconds of screen time. Think about that: over a
full
minute
of watching nothing but these high-tech forklifts walking around,
lifting and carrying large objects, and placing them where they belong. It
might not sound like a lot of time, but stare at the clock on the wall for
sixty eight seconds, remembering how precious each second of film is in
the editing booth.
Anyone who's ever seen the “extras” on a DVD or Blu-ray knows that
scenes far more engaging than this one are often left on the cutting room
floor, ruled to be extraneous. But this one stayed in.
Why? Because the investment of time and storytelling in this scene is in-
tentional. In it, several highly important and interrelated story points are
planted
:
▪
Power Loaders exist.
▪
They're present on the hangar bay of the
Sulaco
.
▪
They make a human capable of great feats of strength.
▪
Ripley knows how to use one.
