The behind-the-scenes production of aliens

When I was studying film at USC, Dan wrote the film? O'bannon once worked with director John? Carpenter and conceptual artist Lang? Cobb filmed the sci-fi comedy Dark Star. 1974 shows an alien creature made of painted beach balls. Although the film was not successful, it laid the foundation for o'bannon's future aliens, because he wanted to create an alien creature that looked real.

Years later, o'bannon began to write horror stories. Meanwhile, Ronald? Schusett is also writing the first draft of Complete Memory. Dusk Star left a deep impression on Schusett, so he got in touch with o'bannon, and they quickly reached a consensus and decided to make a film together. O'bannon later completed a play called Memory, including the opening scene of Alien, which was only 29 pages in total.

Soon after, o'bannon lived in Paris for half a year and met the painter Chris? Buddha, monk H.R. Geiger? Haji, among which the cover of science fiction drawn by Fowles left a deep impression on o'bannon, and Geiger's paintings made him even more enlightened. O'bannon returned to L.A. and rearranged the script memory with Schusett. Schusett proposed to let a little devil sneak into a B- 17 bomber. Later, the bomber turned into a spaceship and renamed the script Star Beast, but o'bannon didn't like the name and changed it to Alien.

After much consideration, Schusett decided to let alien embryos parasitize the crew of the spacecraft, and when they are mature, they will come out of generate. In the process of writing the script, o'bannon was inspired by many science fiction films and horror films. When the script was half finished, o'bannon and Schusett began to look for a producer. On the recommendation of friends, they and producer Walter? Hill, David? Jill and Gordon? Carol's Brandywine film company signed a contract, but Hill and Gilles were not satisfied with the script, so the script was changed several times, which made the two screenwriters complain.

1977 The unexpected outbreak of Star Wars prompted Fox to pay full attention to the commercial potential of science fiction films. In the end, Fox decided to invest $4.2 million to shoot the film. O'bannon originally intended to direct Alien himself, but several producers finally chose ridley? Scott. Scott not only readily agreed, but also immediately drew a detailed storyboard in London. Inspired by 200 1 A Space Odyssey and Star Wars, Scott carefully designed the spaceship and spacesuit in the film. He also believes that Alien should focus on horror. Fox was surprised to see the storyboard and immediately decided to increase the shooting budget to $8.4 million.

O'bannon introduced Scott to H.R. Geiger, who thought Geiger's painting Necronom IV was exactly the same as Alien, and hoped that the producer could hire Geiger as a designer. Fox initially thought Geiger's style was too scary for the audience to watch, but with the repeated insistence of several producers, Geiger was finally able to join the film. Geiger is responsible for designing everything about aliens, including the surface of the planet, the wreckage of the spacecraft and the four forms of aliens from eggs to adulthood. O'bannon also invited Lang? Cobb and Chris? Fox designed spaceships and spacesuits for the film, as well as everything related to human beings, including hundreds of sketches of spaceships completed by Cobb.

The casting of this film was held in new york and London at the same time. Although there are only seven human characters in the story, Scott hopes to recruit powerful actors so that he can devote most of his energy to the visual style of the film. Bolaji Badjo, who plays an alien, is a Nigerian college student. A crew member found him in the bar. He is 2 meters 18, with a slender figure and obviously longer arms and legs than ordinary people. Scott thinks that no one is better suited to play aliens than him. Signy plays Ripley? Weaver is an actor finalized by the producer. By the time Weaver auditioned, the set in the studio had already been set up. The film started shooting on 1 July 5th, 978 and ended on1October 20th1in the same year. Due to the limited shooting funds and Fox's repeated urging, the shooting had to be completed in a hurry.

In Sheburton's studio in London, more than 200 workers and technicians built three main scenes, including the surface of the planet, the interior of Nostoromo and the interior of the wreckage of an alien spacecraft. Scene designer Les? Dilly first made a miniature model of 1: 24 planet surface and spacecraft wreckage according to Geiger's drawings, then unfolded it in proportion with the mold, and finally made it out of wood and fiberglass. The three decks of Nostromo are located in three studios, and different rooms are connected by corridors. In order to change the scenery, the actors had to cross a long corridor, which further enhanced the horror and realism of the film. The crew installed a large transistor low-resolution computer display screen on the set, thus creating a visual effect with outdated technology.

In the film, only the shot of the shuttle flying over the spaceship was shot with a blue screen, and the rest of the exterior scenes were shot with a black background. Although the motion control photography technology had come out at that time, because the crew could not bear the high cost, they could only put a camera with a wide-angle lens on the driving device and shoot slowly through or around the model at an ultra-low speed of 2.5 frames per second, thus creating a dynamic effect of the spacecraft.

When shooting the scene of rushing out of the secret room, although the crew knew in advance that the little alien would rush out of John? Hurt's chest, but unprepared for the scattered plasma, coupled with the bloody scene at the scene is very frightening, so many people were shocked by the sudden scene, especially Veronica who played Lambert? Catelet, the plasma splashed directly on her, and she immediately fell to the ground and became hysterical. The real panic of the actors undoubtedly adds a lot of color to the film, and this scene has therefore become the most memorable moment in the film.