If I had the money (and talent) to actually shoot a few extra scenes, here is how I figured the cocoon scene could have fit in:
(1) after she sees Lambert and Parker dead (and does the disgusted grimace), she collapses/sits on the floor outside the Parker/Lambert death room in the hallway, muttering under her breath "what am I going to do now?" (or something to that effect).
(2) To the left foreground of the screen image (with her going out of focus) you see an intercom and start to hear moaning, which starts muffled and low but starts to pick up.
(3) insert close up of Ripley looking up (on her eyes). This shot could be borrowed and manipulated when Ripley comes up the ladderwell later on.
(4) close up of the intercom (from the side) with Ripley entering the right, pressing some buttons. On the intercom is a screen, which she toggles a display of the ship. Using similar FX to the photo machine Deckard uses when scanning the photo in BLADE RUNNER, she sees the location of the sound coming from the landing leg on the other side of the ship (in the starboard engine).
(5) camera moves/swings slowly from left to right, starting from the left side of a corridor. When it reaches the mid point (looking straight down the corridor), you can already see Ripley more than halfway down running (so when the shot starts, you can hear her running down the corridor away from us, with the camera swinging around just to glimpse her running away).
(6) insert edit of the scene from the dvd (with Ripley being a bit more emotional), where you then edit her heading to the engine room to set the self destruct after this scene. Movie progresses as normal.
While it is not necessary, I always felt that Ripley and Dallas (per a previous version of the script) were lovers, and not long at that. With her having to kill Dallas (and knowing that there are definitely no other survivors), it would cement her determination to survive (which is what I assume is the point of the different acting in the cocoon scene on the blu-ray - it ends with Weaver/Ripley with a look of determination on her face) and her figuring there is no other decision left to be made.
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Okay, now as far as the edit is concerned... I cannot say it is dead (as in I will never do it), but it won't be any time soon.
I am just having a really bad time wrapping my head around Adobe and Vegas and I just don't know if I have the ability to do this. I am still working on it, and recently acquired a 3D model of the Nostromo from this guy:
There is also this, and this.
And this:
Cinematics of Nostromo landing gear - Improved
I have no idea what to do with it, but I have it. Like I mentioned in a previous post, I will be focusing on a KILL BILL edit (titled KILL BILL AGAIN) and a WIZARD OF OZ edit using the DARK SIDE OF THE MOON / WISH YOU WERE HERE / and the PIGS song from ANIMALS to create a proper Pink Floyd alternate sound track using the blu-ray rips on the web for the video. This will at least get me feet wet, as the WIZARD edit will be primarily audio editing, and the KILL BILL edit will be much the same (mostly new music, some color timing alteration [specifically when the Bride attacks Bud at night - the scene will have a more 80's blue-grey hue] and an FX scene at the very end).