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ALIENS miniature effects part 1
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- čas přidán 16. 09. 2022
- ALIENS miniature effects. Patrick McClung talks about the miniature work by the British and American crew for the James Cameron film. Upgraded Sense of Scale segment. Photos: Robert and Dennis Skotak, Stuart Land, Doug Beswick, James Belohovek, Patrick McClung, Dennis Lowe, Steve Begg, Brian Smithies, Nigel Blake, Van Ling, John Lee, Syd Mead, William Malone
Really amazing how much Cameron managed to get on screen in Aliens without it ever looking cheap, despite the low budget. The film is a masterpiece on every single level of cinematic craftsmanship.
I only have ONE problem with the CAMERA effects in Aliens, and that's the scene where Ripley has just torched the Alien queen's eggs and there's fire everywhere - I assume it's a rear screen projection (no idea really) but the whole scene doesn't look right; it reminds me of many car driving scenes in old movies where it's obvious that the scenery moving past the windows is just projected or similar.
@@SlartiMarvinbartfast Yep I know that shot but to be fair it’s less than 3 seconds long so you can forgive them.
I think I'll watch this in the home theater today.
Camerons matte painting work is amongst the best, probably because he actually did this work himself on productions like Escape From New York. He's a proper artist, very demanding but it pays off. I can see why Sigourney Weaver loves him, his professionalism and drive is incredible.
You said it: "craftsmanship".
I think this was Cameron's greatest movie. I never get tired of it.
me to dude I didn't even know it was a low budget movie
@@Andy-li2px it wasn't low budget movie.
I've watched it at least 10x! I was working for Network Appliance, we were building a streaming proxy cache, and we needed to watch MP4 videos to make sure the caching worked and didn't freeze-frame etc. So i watched it all day every day for something like a week as I worked! Then later I showed my kids! It never gets old!
It's anyone's greatest movie ever. Nothing will ever top ALIENS.
The miniature work is phenomenal. I wouldn’t have thought some of these sets were miniatures.
As much as I appreciate the advancements in CGI I'll always be a bigger fan of the artistry, workmanship, and creativity of using miniatures in movies. Even after viewing these behind the scenes videos it's still amazing how real they look in the final product.
While I share your sentiments about the craftsmanship and artistry involved in these miniatures I think CG has had a transformative effect on film and television making, without it I don't think many modern films and TV shows would be possible.
@@JetsetDruid I watched Casablanca with the silly Plane on a string ending.....and the film moves me more than any CG ...Replacing is crap...CG is weak
@@ekspatriat weak CG is weak. Good CG is not. The best CG is indistinguishable from reality.
@@miked1869 Maybe the problem is, that movie makers think "we have good CG, people will be impressed" and don't bother with strong story, dialogue and acting. Effects take the forefront. Honestly I didn't like even Cameron's "Avatar" as much as his other work. While it's still good film, it's not a masterpiece like his other films. The effects have too big role
@@shredd5705 agreed. The effects should complement good screenwriting, direction and acting, not be used to bolster a bad film - although I do think there's a place for big, dumb action movies.
I didn't particularly like Avatar either, by the way. I've only watched it once, I think, and I couldn't say that about any of Cameron's other movies. It'll be interesting to see what the sequel is like.
Incredible that _Aliens_ was a 'low budget' movie. What a triumph.
Ikr, that fact is true about quite a few older masterpieces and it blows me away.
I wouldn't say it was low budget. $19 million for a film in 1986 wasn't exactly cheap. It'd be like a $50 million budget for a movie today. That's a healthy sum. But, yes, Cameron squeezed every last cent and it's all there on screen. Quite a movie for sure.
These guys were the TRUE HEROES of Cinema!
Unsung heroes
Just loved the look of this movie, outstanding designs. Glad they didn't go away from that industrial military look that Syd Mead came up with but made it even more detailed.
There is an incredible shot in Aliens where the drop ship is just about to launch from the Sulaco for the first time. The bay doors open up and you see the planet below and it’s like seeing something from a NASA documentary.
That's a copy of a shot from Dr Strangelove. A homage, if you will...
@@robzilla730 How I Learned to Love the Xenomorph.
Bad science fiction. It's physically impossible to 'drop' a ship from orbit.
It's great
@@RideAcrossTheRiver Rule of Cool wins every time. Besides, it can be explained away by various means.
It looked real then, and it looks real today. More believable onscreen than anything I have seen done with CGI, honestly.
Thats because you don't notice good CGI, honestly.
@@dontevenlook CGI has destroyed cinema...
CGI is instantly noticeable. Take the car scene at the beginning of I am legend. Terrible.
@@novaexpss no it hasn't
@@dr.emilschaffhausen4683 can I list some bad practical effects now?
I really appreciate the fact that there is no music in the background, no shaky video camera, and no extremely fast photos ... so we can really appreciate everything. This is perfect!
Thank you! That was my goal. I did this doc like a slide show and avoided crazy fast editing.
@@piercefilm Thank you for your reply. You're welcome! Well, you did a great job! I discovered your channel a few minutes ago and watched a few of your videos. They are informative and great! It's so rare to appreciate a video documentary where everything is clearly explained without fast video editing and with loud music and sound effects, so we have time to appreciate everything, all the great and rare photos and the interviews. What a pleasure to watch videos like that! Again, thank you very much for that, and congratulations. You did a really good job! I subscribed to your channel.
When the queen and Ripley are fighting at the end, I would have sworn those were full-size practical effects, ala Stan Winston's dinosaurs. Great video segment!
Same here. I honestly believed they built a real life size power loader and alien queen on stage!
@@robd1329 Oh, they did! The miniatures were intercut with full size live action “costumes”
I swear there are scenes with Sigourney Weaver in the power loader while it's moving where it has to be her and not a dummy. Even the first scene where she is using it to help load the dropship and talks to Apone. When I saw that movie in the theater I swore it was a real machine.
Syd was an unbelievable industrial designer, so that helped!
God Im like a little kid here in AWE of this valuable production back story. All these people really are true craft artists.
I am truly in love with the miniature ship work on this film!!! Absolutely stunning work ❤
I would have thought *Aliens'* budget was *_BIGGER_* than the original! Great work! Next to *The Thing,* this is my favorite sci-fi movie.
Aliens budget was bigger, $18.5m vs $11m for Alien.
I'll never get tired of watching these!!! Thank you!
It’s incredible what was required for special effects back in the golden days of the art form!
One of my favorite films. Amazing miniature work.
Decades later this movie is still perfect the way it has been done. This is called talent at all levels👌
Still watch Aliens to this day. Super production. Nothing to be sniffed at. ❤️🤩
For the child i was, these guys built the Future for me. Thanks
The Alien 2 is a masterpiece. Set the standards high for sci_fi movies forever. From such a low budget, and without boring CGI! Don't forget the constant fear trough the movie too! Worth every second to watch!
Just finished Rinzler’s ‘Making of Aliens” book which covers every detail quite well but this interview was fantastic to see. No matter how many times I’ve seen the final Queen/loader fight sequence it always satisfies. Its that perfect combination of live action and miniatures that sells the sequence so well. Absolutely masterful execution from all departments! Cheers
Never knew until recently that parts of the Queen/loader fight were miniature, truly gobsmacked. Btw that Rinzler book...does it give info the making of videos don’t?
It does. Covers the entire production from top to bottom. From the writing of the script to the day to day shooting, (including of course all of the effects work) and finally postproduction. He also wrote an outstanding making of book about Alien as well. Highly recommend both
When I see clips of video like this and photos on set, I like to pause them and look at all of the faces of talented people that most of us will never know and I really appreciate their silent contribution to films that we have come to love over time.
I love your CZcams channel, Great stuff, Cheers from Australia 🇦🇺 😊
This movie is an absolute masterpiece!
The Sulaco is just hilarious and I loved it about the movie. It's a ship full of space machines and it looks, quite simply, like just one friggin' gun pointed in the direction it's going. PERFECT !!
Amazing! If I didn't know better, I would never have guessed that I was watching miniatures in the movie.
Amazing work. Got to admit some of the details mentioned here floored me!
Such a great video sir. I’m constantly amazed at how much of James Cameron’s early films used miniatures - most of the time you can’t even tell (eg the liquid nitrogen truck in T2). Cameron inspired me to get in to filmmaking.
I was convinced until recently they crashed a full size helicopter in T2 until recently I swear
You honestly cant tell. Im surprised today many movies had used so much miniatures. I thought they actually blew real things up. Today its all fake cgi
@@starwarsroo2448 the Die Hard building shocked me. I never guessed that they used a miniature of it!
@@robd1329 Same! If they shot Die Hard today it would be done with fake looking video gamey CGI.
@@robd1329 i didn't know that was a model either
More amazing content,shared far & wide:)
Love watching these videos! The special features on the Aliens dvd is filled with details on how the fx work was done for the movie...thanks for sharing and stay safe!
Fantastic. Loved the little details such as the "C" emblem for Caterpillar inc on the powerloader.
Great post! 🤘
Incredible artistry and free hand skills these people have. Beautiful craftsmanship.
Some of those models look look so cool. I'd love to see them in real life.
And the movie looks better than stuff made today, and that's because it's all real. Except in few cases, CGI cannot attain that last bit of reality that actual objects give us. And further, using mechanical/in-camera effects enforces a constraint, a discipline that is all but gone with CGI where fantastical things happen that destroy a sense of verisimilitude.
The Sulaco is one of my real favourite ships. It looks so very real!!
I was always surprised how massive the ship was but had such a tiny crew.
@@jimmyzhao2673 so much was automated, it was a giant transport. Once the crew of whatever size were put to sleep, it was all on whatever AI programs that ran the ship to get them to whatever hot spot they were required to deal with.
I hope Giger liked what they did with his designs too.
He really liked the Queen, he made special mention of liking the mechanization, but didn't like the ribbed cranium of the Alien warrior. He was though depressed that he hadn't been asked to work on Aliens and, other than getting his name in the credits, didn't get any payment for the movie using his ideas from Alien (all part of his contract with Fox). He also didn't like the 'Rambo' movie approach of Aliens and instead prefers suspense but he grew to enjoy it over the years.
@@SlartiMarvinbartfast Good info - thanks. I heard the contract was not the best. Kind of screwy for all that he inspired including ship design.
Amazing! Better than CGI!
Practical effects done right always look better than CGI.
This is excellent, thanks piercefilm.
Aliens one of my all-time favorite movies
The pulse rifle sound is one of the most memorable sound effect in cinema.
@@Joshua_N-A the magic of sound effects
What happens with all that in camera stuff is that it ages well. Aliens still looks gresh asidebfrom the last scene where the ship is rocketing away. The entire movie just stands up. The performances put it over the top and for me is the greatest sequel ever made. OK Empire is right up there....
Easily one of the best Sci-Fi movies ever, wish they could find that magic again in the franchise.
For almost 40 years I have been fascinated with miniatures…since star wars I guess. This was a treat
And now the budgets are huge and these new movies still can't quite match how good Aliens looks!
One of the most incredible cinematic experiences of my life . The crow d went apeshit in London where normally you barely got any reaction at all i'll never forget it .
A truly great film, which has all the hallmarks of a classic. The directors cut was a real treat!
I LOVE the practical effects in this movie! At first, I didn't realize the power loader and the queen were scaled down models. To me, I thought they were full scale props being manipulated with cables and stuff. After learning the size of these models, I'm definitely impressed more on what they did, which looks a THOUSAND times better than any CGI crap.
Britain has always had really good model makers for movies. Still do!
I remember when I was in my late teens, I was still living at home and I lived on the third floor of our old terraced house, essentially the roof. And we had a skylight put in and we had a father and son team that did the plastering once it was all fitted. They did the entire room in less than a day!
Really good guys.
Anyway the Dad. I forget his name, used to work at pinewood studio way back in the 60s and he helped build the Volcano Lair in the James bond film You Only Live Twice and even did the sets for a few of the Hammer films too!
I spent the entire day talking to him as it was fascinating!
He'd met some truly massive movie stars but he was really humble about it. They did a cracking job on my bedroom too!
This movie is a work of art, and timeless ❤
God! To me, a model comes from a box and gets put together on a table. These guys, they made art pure and simple.
"Such a low budget" is not something you hear quite often when speaking of a milestone sci-fi blockbuster.
The narrator was not only happy himself with Sulaco model, he made lots of movie fans happy as well I believe.
Funny how he says "Aliens" had a relatively small budget. I think the effects are some of the best ever done, and hold up fine today. And, most importantly, they are vastly better than the CGI cartoonish crap that is ruining so many movies today....
Thank you for all your hard work! Loved it!
Thank you to this guy for the incredible work he and his team done to contribute to this amazing movie 👌👍
He sounds like a really nice guy. He spent a lot of time complimenting other people. You put him in front of a camera and all he's thinking about is "how can I include other people in this?"
I worked with him briefly on "Charlie's Angels", and though I knew he was the fx supervisor, he never gave me the feeling that he was the boss. I felt like I was talking to a chatty night janitor - just a humble accommodating nature. Same with the Skotaks.
@@aliensoup2420 he/that sounds awesome
I love hearing about nice people.
@@aliensoup2420 Great story, thank you.
Thank You for the greatest sequel ever made !!!
Fascinating story. Thanks. Aliens is one of the greatest films of all time.
Love that film, good work fella
this is gold material, i want more :D
I have a second "Aliens" segment here on my channel.
I'm very surprised Aliens had such a low budget. With a director like Cameron, and source material from the Alien storyline, you would think the budget to be 3x more than it was. The completed film sure looked like a movie with a bigger budget.
This would be a dream job for me. Working with a team of model builders for a movie production. These guys are the best of the best at what they do!
I watched the shot and the powerloader looking banged up actually contributes to the scene because it makes it more believable that the alien queen is banged up too because of the fall with her tail spike being snapped and all. Everything in the air hatch looks tremendously believable no matter how many times I watch it and the common dissonance of CGI not being there makes it such a joy to watch. I assume software will be created eventually to spot CGI and A.I. generated videos and I would love to one day see that software to scan this movie and go: All real! 😂
I love stories about spray paint and hot glue! It gives hope to starting filmmakers that don't have money to work with.
Some of these things I never realised were models. The power loader and queen look full sized in every frame...
It’s ironic that come 2003, the pre-production for AVP, they had a higher budget than Aliens (60mil compared to 16), but the studio was against making another film in space because it would cost too much. So they went with Paul’s idea of a Pyramid under the ice because it would save money.
Aliens budget adjusted to today would be 40 to 45 million USD. Probably need to check one more time.
@@Joshua_N-A Adjusted for inflation for 2003, it's still definitely a lower budget than AVP.
wow thanks for uploading, this is fascinating!! love these miniatures!
It was brilliant anyway wether the budget was small or not it didn't show ! 👍🙂
proof that no advancement in CGI will ever beat a bunch of artists in a shed.
The art is dying. Hope someone with a 3D printer could rejuvenate scale models in filmmaking again.
just gotta love industrial light and magic
ILM didn't work on Aliens. But maybe you mean practical effects are better than CGI?
Would love a tour of his house with all those models of Galactica, Buck Roger’s etc. Cool.
That was a different person's house we did the interview in. Those models are replicas from the original molds.
Aliens is still one of my favourite movies and in retrospect I wish it would have been the last one as I think the franchise took a nosedive in terms of quality after this one.
This is still one of my go to movies. I keep it on my iPad for flights that don't have an entertainment system. Also love it on my 70" TV.
70 inch?..........that minut, my t.v is 120 inch, had it installed by the pro's.
@@Brokensoldier1973 Well aren’t you special.
@@Thepriest39 absolutely, one of a kind.
I actually had no idea Aliens had a low budget. It always looked amazing to me.
Same. It definitely didn't look low budget.
"I don't think we got that shot..." 😅
More of these insights please! Never seen this content before - excellent. 😊
This channel has many segments from my Sense of Scale documentary.
There was enthusiasm, effort, love, and love for cinema in the old movies. People were doing their jobs with love and with great respect. Now, the last stage of the increasingly synthetic industrial society; "virtualism"...
the fight between Ripley and the Queen also benefits from the great sound fx work
Wonder how these guys felt when 3D effects started to replace this incredible craftmanship... I hope their skills are still needed
Most either learned how to work with CGI or changed professions or retired...
Just found this channel...keep posting please.
Most of the doc is now uploaded. Might have some new interviews some day.
@@piercefilm These docs are done so well...better than most of the behind the scenes segments on DVD extras on those films at the time.So hard to find good films now with all the you know what going on in Hollywood.I'll stick to the classics.
Bring back models to movies.
Wow that was awesome to see, thanks for uploading 🌟
Absolutely loving these vids ❤
Epic it would be amazing to wk on a set designing props
regarding the budget Aliens was 19 million dollars, and 1 million of that went to Sigourney Weaver. In contrast your typical big studio film in the 1980s was 25-35 million, with Dune at 40 million and Star Trek the motion(less) picture at 45 million being the high end outliers (and frankly where was that money even spent on Dune?). So they really were under the gun to do things cheap.
Fantastic. Its both very interesting and kinda bad that I'm watching this, because it takes away the magic from the movie. Its like when you figure out the magic trick secret its no more magic anymore. I prefer to be lied at, when it comes to the movies, so I mostly try to avoid "the making of" videos. However, curiosity takes over me sometimes.
The Sulaco always reminded me of a Franchi SPAS-12.
Awww man! I thought that loader was real.
Never meet your heroes. 😢
It was full size with the actors walking around on set. Only the fight with the queen used quarter scale puppets.
Back when the film was released, the loader's depiction is so realistic that many thought it was real. The controls are what you expect if the loader become real one day. It just need the proper amount of time and money for the hydrogen power cell to become small enough yet powerful to fit into something the size of the powerloader.
Really cool channel. Thanks for putting these on CZcams.
Thanks for watching!
Sensational models 🤩👍💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎🥂😉
Oh that Sulaco model is so sweet.
Great movie
Aliens
You poor souls. The only thing I have to add is more, more, more! 😝
Wow. So interesting to listen to you guys. I know i am writing this every time. But your work is so inspiring and give me a smile how you did the shots and the models done so perfectly. 😊
Incredible film.
Nice joke picture of a tech helping out a near-sighted xenomorph with glasses (at 0:04)!
That's Robert Skotak. Miniature effects supervisor along with his brother, Dennis.
@@piercefilm Good. Thanks.
Cool
Be nice to come up with a technique where you blend miniatures with CGI