Freeze frame : The day the earth stood still

In 1951, aliens from outer space landed on Earth ? The action in The Day the Earth stood still takes place in our planet : the narrative and "message" of this film are "terrestrial".

Indeed, the long trip made by Klaatu and Gort is shown only in a few shots during the credit titles.

Let's get a closer look.

The editing of these shots suggests a trip from a faraway galaxy to Earth.

The title stands out in relief in order to give an illusion of depth of field; the field of stars doesn't differ from the visual flatness of the early movies.

The dissolves between shots suggest the motion of the flying saucer.

Robert Wise, most probably aware of the material's shortcomings, intensifies the idea of an outer space journey using 2 "tricks" : smoke floating in the foreground and canvas with stars in the background. The second "trick" is a slow and sligth zoom on the fixed image.

Depth of field is also created by the frame : the audience discorvers the moon in the first place and then makes out the American continent.

From the spaceship, the high angle shot of the earth and its atmosphere give an illusion ot depth.

But, with a final transition, the director finds a way to suggest depth of space. He inserts, in the beginning of the movie, a shot of an ocean taken from a plane.


From that moment on, with this illusion of motion, the film is able to find the missing depth of field in order to tell its story.

There is another tale in the blackbox about these film credits. We will get back to it.