Review
Review
The newest film, ALIEN RESURRECTION, contains some innovative new ideas in visual effects--inspired by director Jean-Pierre Jeunet's fantastic imagination--along with the standard level of excellence for miniatures and compositing that the series has maintained. New to the series are the computer generated aliens, used for sequences where Amalgamated Dynamics' full scale creatures could not perform the complicated actions.
The basic breakdown of vendors and sequences is as follows: Duboi composited 154 shots, including many of their own matte paintings, Blue Sky|VIFX (New York) created the CG aliens, Blue Sky|VIFX (LA) handled CG grenade and knife sequences, Digiscope composited some of the film's closing shots, Vertex International handled numerous, completely invisible wire and rig removals, while Digital Magic provided elements for the film's final sequence.
Opening Grossness
With the first two films of the ALIEN series earning Academy Awards for Best Visual Effects, and the third film being nominated for the same award, the visual effects creators of ALIEN RESURRECTION had a lot of expectations riding on their shoulders. For each film, the director was a young visionary who understood how to use visual effects as a storytelling device. Ridley Scott, the original's director, used the effects to broaden the sense of isolation and horror, and went on to direct other visual effects extravaganzas, like the classic BLADE RUNNER. James Cameron, the director of ALIENS, used just about every visual effect in the book to bring Ripley back to LV-426. First time director David Fincher, along with Boss Film Studios brought yet another new vision to the series for ALIEN 3, utilizing various rod puppet, optical and digital techniques to create the film's effects.
The film opens with a montage of stark, horrific imagery--extreme closeups of shots various failed clones attempts. The 2D distortions of the shots are amazing and mesmerizing. They are almost invisible, since the camera is so close to the clones, and instead of recognizable images undulating and morphing from one shot to another, the whole sequence is a dizzying mosaic of really gross images. One of the finest 2D houses in the world, Duboi, handled the morphing of the opening title sequence.
. . VFX HQ Produced by Todd Vaziri . . http://www.vfxhq.com . . e-mail: tvaziri@gmail.com . .
All text Copyright © 1998 Todd Vaziri, unless otherwise noted
