Start with the tone. (Pinkish-red) – D
Up a full tone. (Orange) – E
Down a major third. (Purple) – C
Down an octave. (Yellow) – C (an octave lower)
Up a perfect fifth. (White) – G
These are the tones and their corresponding colors that were bequeathed upon humanity by the extra-terrestrials in Close Encounters of the Third Kind and then relayed back to those aliens via a synthesizer and colored light patterns (and also a xylophone by a little kid).
These tones establish contact with the aliens in the closing scenes, and also create the basis for the score of the entire film. They are, as best as can be surmised, the basis of a tonal language/alphabet that the aliens use to interact with the humans. In short, they are very important to the movie.
They also are, in my experience and of many others, what the viewer takes with them the most after seeing the film. Those tones replayed in my head, like a man trying to communicate with the mothership. I recalled the people in India, sitting at the spot of a UFO sighting, and as one, chanting the five tones over and over again, faces turned towards the ever-present heavens, alight with joy and expectation. The sounds made their way into pop culture, signifying that there may be aliens among us even to those who have not seen the movie.
There is a foreignness to them, especially in that fourth note, that dips an octave and feels slightly off key, and in the way they end, with expectation and a lack of finality. But there is clear design, and comprehension- a composition to them as well. There is intelligence behind the design. They were not randomly thrown together, a feeling or a thought is being communicated through the tones, as music is wont to do.
But the strangeness of the tones, and Close Encounters in general, is the lack of any clarity to the meaning of that collection of sounds. The scientists conclude, during the exchange with the mothership, that they are being taught a quasi-tonal alphabet. As one man put it, “It’s the first day of school fellas.” But even though the tones result in a reaction from the aliens, we don’t know what was communicated.
