Visual Effects Part 1 [The Making Of A L I E N]

[@lucaviggiani2189]

Refinery is a thing of beauty. Totally unique and unequalled by any other film model. Anyone wanting to reproduce it today would end up tearing their hair out. Respect to those who created it in a few months.

[@43nostromo]

Let's see, do I work on "Alien" or "The Empire Strikes Back"? God, if only I had to wake up in the morning and face those kinds of problems.

[@markmorgenstern]

you would if you had done great work on Space 1999, 2001 and Thunderbirds! :D gotta love him.

[@Nragemachine]

Wow that guy was so fortunate to be able to work on both Alien and The Empire Strikes Back, two great legendary films. What a great experience to have...

[@Markus_Andrew]

The amount of detail on the Nostromo and the refinery is incredible. Some very serious kit-bashing must have gone into that...

[@maciejweiss55]

Absolutely the best sci-fi horror movie of all time, the one and the only!

[@Fersomling]

Alien was the first science fiction movie that scared me, and I was 23 when I first saw it.

[@anezzzz]

i was 16 when i saw it and i was kind of bored

[@lamia1956]

A milestone in film history 🎥📼💥

[@sonnyroy497]

I was 24 when I saw it. I was traumatized and had nightmares for several nights in a row and then off and on for years afterward.

[@nationaltrevor255]

I saw both "Alien" and "The Exorcist" 40 years ago when I was 14. To this day, I haven't seen a film to scare me shitless like they did. Two incredible pieces of cinema. There was a film called "Trilogy of Terror" that had a story about a doll that comes to life. That probably comes in 3rd, though having watched it on KZbin a short while ago it seems laughable now. The other two have aged so well. Genius.

[@stevenross-watt8640]

@@anezzzz what year was it when you saw it? I watched it young and very impressionable and in the early 80s.

[@GnosticAtheist]

"There is no atmosphere is space" "There is now mate" True enough, it was a very atmospheric movie.

[@PygmalionFaciebat]

Also its not exactly true that ''there is no atmosphere in space''.. Actually nebulas are all about gases and dust. Sure, usually that gas is quiet thinned out. But in the phase of star formation when nebulas get compressed more and more, it can reach quiet big density - comparable with earth atmosphere. Sure its mostly hydrogen and helium - but still.

[@scopex2749]

Alien was by far the BEST of the movies, it had suspense and no one knew until much later WHAT it had grown into after John Hurt ‘gave birth’ to it! 😧 I was a model maker since i could first hold a tube of glue and a scalpel! I used to build ‘things’ left over from kits, bits of sprue etc and though ‘NAH that will never look like anything’. THEN i look at the awesome model of Nostromo and how many bits of sprue and plasticard did Martin Bower and his team use for THAT👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻🇬🇧👍🏻👽

[@VCYT]

'' this is no atmosphere in space '' Ridley -- '' there is now mate ''

[@TheRubberStudiosASMR]

"There is no atmosphere in space!" "There is now mate" That's what makes Ridley such a brilliant filmmaker. Goes with what he feels.

[@JustWasted3HoursHere]

Ridley Scott and James Cameron. Two geniuses made the best sci-fi and sc-fi sequels of all time. Both five star movies, but for very different reasons. The first an atmospheric slow-burn that fills you with dread and loneliness from the very first frame and the second more of a straight up action piece but done better than just about any movie has ever done it. Like I said, both five star movies, but if I had to give the edge to one of them it would be the first one. It is just so incredibly well done. An interesting bit of trivia: Apparently one ending for the first movie that was considered was to have the alien actually kill Ripley (!) then climb into the captain's chair of the escape ship, press some buttons and send out an SOS message...in Captain Dallas' voice! Sure would have changed the whole dynamic of the creature itself and what we know about its intelligence, but of course Ripley would be gone. :(

[@ADAPTATION7]

Perhaps, but it must be hell working with either of them.

[@JustWasted3HoursHere]

@@ADAPTATION7 Indeed.

[@stevencohen624]

The best film in the series. It's sad that they milked it afterwards.

[@guerito7571]

With the exception of Aliens... it's sad they couldn't make good movies. I enjoyed Aliens but that was an action film and Alien was still far superior. Ridley has lost his mind with these new ones. Horrible!!!

[@robzilla730]

@@guerito7571 ALIENS was basically fan fiction

[@AnjanaBSubba]

@@robzilla730 an awesome fan fiction

[@putevasiliauskas7035]

They milked on AVP but prometheus and covenants is not milking

[@therealborischang]

Aliens was, as Hudson put it: “a bug hunt”. Not very much from a thematic perspective.

[@SquidkidMega]

"there is no atmosphere in space".....Ridley...."there is now mate"......lol

[@RaikenXion]

I completely agree, I hate the Hollywood machine sometimes, these big execs, they have the money/funding to make such big movies, but they are not the ones who have the vision and Ideas. Ridley was the guy they asked and brought on board for the film, they saw his talent, his keen eye for the types of shots and directing style he had, in his previous work like the Duelists and even just adverts he had done. So Ridley damn well had the right to tell them to leave him to do his job.

[@lamia1956]

But not to forget H. R. Giger. (rip)

[@ChillOutKitties]

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! Yes, I yelling because these are great !!

[@alexrodriguez9441]

5:25 , just to the right of the upper center of the screen, i suspect that an imperial tie fighter has crashed into the hull of the refinery.

[@AlwaysRetro74]

TIE Fighter at 5:25

[@c0l1n_m45]

Never noticed that before?

[@haldir515]

great docs

[@Statistic100]

This is awesome

[@directorzwannabe]

chris nolan and many other made a lot of great movie in a situation where they are put under a lot of pressure, and they still cranks great movie and alot of them are either nice or humble. you get great movie by a guy who knows how to make A FREAKING movie

[@robzilla730]

Everybody successful has to crack the whip once in a while. Trick is to have a good reason for it, not just because you can.

[@69adrummer]

Not to ask a dumb question but what, exactly, do they make the models out of? Sheets of plastic? Wood like balsa? Damn interesting! Love people with REAL talent doing these things.

[@Kaldobsky]

I can't say with certainty how they exactly went about it for Alien - but it varies and one way to go about it may be a frame of wood, for example, and then maybe they start to do shapes with cardboard or thin plastic and either make fine details by hand out of thin material - or often they could take lots of random objects or buy model kits and just start trying to mash things together to bring out interesting shapes and looks. There's many methods and ways to go about it so it's always going to be a case by case basis, and sometimes they have the time and money to handcraft a lot of stuff but sometimes that's how it goes; using model kits and random objects mixed together to make things look unique. But yeah things like balsa, plywood, cardboard, types of plastics, and much more are used in a lot of miniatures. Really fascinating stuff!

[@Orlor]

Yes...

[@UltraKryptonian]

@@Orlor That’s how I would answer that question… LOL!

[@222333aaaaaa]

Ridley Scott looks so boss doing these interviews with a cigar...like MJ golfing

[@kuribayashi84]

Were they crazy? Some of these cut Effects look stunning; especially the one at 1:04

[@twelvecatsinatrenchcoat]

Ahhh shoot, I have to choose wether to work on Empire Strikes Back or Alien.... well gosh darn it.

[@robzilla730]

Thing is, ALIEN was a band new untested product at the time and Empire was seen as just a sequel before release. BOTH could've been flops (but weren't).

[@kylewarren5268]

Only issue I ever had with the size of the ship is it's waaaaay too big to have only 8-10 crew members. Lol. And they never say if more crew just didn't get woken up

[@Joshua_N-A]

Isn't A.I. supposed to be advanced in its timeline? There's even an android with autonomous A.I. program installed.

[@robtatum5277]

Its a MOVIE !!

[@LCdrDerrick]

The Giger parts (derelict, space jockey) as well as the Nostromo and the ore refinering complex are really, really good and are even by today's standards top! I've always been a fan of the many details as if in Starwars and Alien as oposed to the Star Trek genre ( well, the Borg cube, okay). With Spaceballs they kind of mocked this art work.

[@deadasadodo1016]

Yes

[@budwhite1]

Ridley Scott, Shakespeare, The Beatles, Alfred Hitchcock, James Bond, Adele, Sherlock Holmes, Radiohead, JK Rowling, JRR Tolkien, Christopher Nolan... yep, we have crap weather in the UK (generally), but we kick ass for creative talent! :D

[@robzilla730]

You forgot Queen and Pink Floyd.

[@fuzzywuzzy1565]

Adele 😂😂 why don't you throw in Ed Sheeran and One Direction 🙄

[@000FireRainHavoc000]

Ooookay? That ended abruptly? To bad alot of the fans hated what Ridley was doing with the franchise later on cause I really wouldve liked to have seen the conclusion and maybe the Nostromo again?

[@tommydarko1984]

Ignoring the fact that the scientists are dopes, I like Prometheus as a standalone movie, visually impressive as Ridley's movies always are with some great horror moments and acting performances. It was cool seeing the Space Jockey again and getting some background information on them. Ridley took it in a different direction as you can't always recycle the same idea over and over again so I give him props for creating something that sparks further intrigue and mystique.

[@demolisher7778]

Ridley scott's weakness is writing. But special effects is his strength. (In my opinion)

[@freejrs]

Good job he's the director then!

[@leah-marie5031]

Taylord76 three years later Alien Covenant came along

[@robzilla730]

His strongest suit is cinematography.

[@RoaryUK]

@@leah-marie5031 Scott didn't write Alien Covenant that was Jack Paglen. Incidentally, Covenant wasn't even the film Scott wanted to make, his sequel to Prometheus was originally Paradise Lost, also written by Paglen based on treatments from Scott, with a story that would have followed David and Shaw to the Engineers home world where we would have discovered their creators (rumoured be the Space Jockey) and a very different precursor to the alien. But Fox intervened after a number of fans expressed their disappointment with Prometheus and wanted to see "more aliens". Fox got cold feet and eventually instructed Scott to course correct his story to include the alien and it's life cycle and that's how we ended up with Covenant.

[@stephenkissane4268]

I love the shots they didn't use

[@dougplace895]

ALIEN 1979 RULES!!!!!

[@OpenMawProductions]

You can't separate being a nice person in interviews, and in your personal life, and having to have a strong presence and attitude on set? It's not that hard to get. If you're a PUSH OVER on set, you get a muddled mess. You have to have a vision, you have to be FOCUSED, and you sometimes have to be an asshole to people and say "No. This is how it's going to be done!" Period.

[@Skyman2901]

Worked with Ridley about 15yrs ago.Amazing Director by far and A pleasure to work for.Lovely bloke

[@robzilla730]

That approach also works remarkably well in day to day life.

[@felixlaboy1453]

Best sifi movie in my book

[@flipnap2112]

wait, so Brian got moved over from Empire to work on alien, but then he left alien to go back to work on Empire?

[@RaikenXion]

I know this reply is old now but you'll find only Prometheus haters will talk like that about Ridley Scott.

[@MrNatestreet]

Exactly like Steve Jobs.

[@DisapprovingPigeon]

Alien, aliens, both fantastic films, just a shame about the prequels...

[@OpenMawProductions]

You don't get a great movie by being a really nice person. Sometimes you bruise some ego's to get things done. Especially when you have a lot of complex elements you're juggling.

[@robzilla730]

In order to make an Omelet you have to crack a few eggs.

[@budwhite1]

Yep and Coldplay lol. Forgot that Sherlock Holmes and James Bond dont actually exist.... but Harry Potter does ; )

[@budwhite1]

Rofl, forgot about that, same with James Bond : P

[@nightgazer101]

Xenomorph i think

[@SHINY_STAR73]

Great movie they can't make it any more

[@P0V3RTY09]

Yeah...one big scary fucker !! :)

[@windycitytoast]

Seriously! Pretty sure he mentions the reason why he was so non-confrontational with his actors was to keep them in character. not to mention you got "egotistical all they give a shit about is money worthless executive fucks" like David Giler and Gordon Carrol breathing down your neck like vultures. You try stepping in Ridleys shoes and see if you come out the same loving person you think you are when you first went in.

[@Malnaxe]

Alien > Star Wars + Star Trek combined....

[@robzilla730]

Definitely better than Star Trek and I'd say as beautifully made as Empire.

[@Smokeisprogress]

The sound is dreadful.

[@nightgazer101]

u think it hard but it's really not lol instead of an X it's pronounced with a Z

[@AlwaysRetro74]

People who don't think Prometheus was a masterpiece are very close minded.

[@robzilla730]

Loved Prometheus. Warts and all. Might have worked better as an ALIEN story set in the ALIEN universe instead of as a direct prequel but just buy your ticket and take the ride.

[@zsigmondkara]

They got the mind mumbing slasher they wanted with Covenant...

[@lostfiresanimations6541]

Can I just ask, Aaron Spears to you what made the film 'Prometheus' a "masterpiece"? Genuinely curious. Was it the soundtrack? Acting? Cinematography? Set design? The writing? Or was it all of those aspects? Also is it not close minded to label people who have a different opinion from yours close minded? There is a bit of irony in that. Now I am not saying Prometheus is a 'masterpiece' completely as you could have guessed. To me there are qualities of the film I praise while others I do not. A big one to me I would have to say is the writing and sadly it pulls the whole film down.

[@geosword6]

Completely agree. It was a beautifully shot movie with a real sense of wonder and mystery. I was amazed when I saw it as I thought they wouldn't allow slow-paced sci-fi ever again. Unfortunately, the masses turned on it and with Covenant, Scott basically said 'Ok, I'll give you the crap shlock you wanted. Lap it up you unappreciative philistines.'

[@lostfiresanimations6541]

@@geosword6 Being honest I never looked at the audience reception of the movie. Was it that bad? What did people in your sphere say about it? Do you know what the complaints specifically were with aspects of the film?