Last week Matt Sloan, the visual effects supervisor for The Predator, sat down to talk to Art of VFX about all the visual effects work that took place on The Predator! Sloan talks about a lot of the details of the film’s visual effects.
Art of VFX also asked him about the controversial Predator Killer suit from the film’s end. As most of us have already predicted, it was a very last minute addition that was designed by Aaron Sims company and brought to life by Hydraulx (of AvP Requiem).
The final scene was another reshoot, very, very late in the schedule. We had two weeks to get the suit designed. We enlisted the Aaron Sims company and also the Hydraulx Art Dept. The final design was elements from both companies approved by Shane and the studio, then Hydraulx took over the design and began the build. By the time we had the re-shoots, we were less than two weeks out from delivery, so getting the design finale and the build underway was critical.
As the other vendors were going so hard on the other sequences we approached Hydraulx to complete the final sequence. Under the supervision of Colin Strause they managed to pull out the 17 shots needed for that sequence in under 2 weeks. I think it was 9 days from plate turnover to final delivery. It was pretty amazing work. We knew we would have 1 if any, iterations, so it was bit of a hail mary. But Hydraulx managed to pull it off and both the director and studio were very happy with the work.
Predator Killer
In addition to talking about the approach taken when filming the Upgrade Predator, Sloan also discussed the cloaking effects used in the film. Sloan described the difference between the Fugitive’s and the Upgrade’s as the latter’s being more “intimate“:
We actually kept this pretty simple. For Pred 1 and McKenna’s invisibility, we more or less just updated the original effect. We just made it a little sexier. Like in the last 30 yours their tech has got better. From Motorola flip phone to iPhone sort of feel. The Upgrade has a more intimate effect, with some very designed geometric shapes that spread over his body. MPC and supervisor Richard Little were responsible for all things involving the Upgrade, so they took point on the design and implementation of the cloaking effect.
Sloan also revealed that they didn’t shoot the infa-red sequences using a IR camera, instead it was adjustments made during post-production.
We cheated! We were going to get a Flir Camera, but it needed too much support. In the end we roto’d and color treated the plates to create the iconic “Heat Vision” look. If you look at them strictly from a heat point of view you’ll see they are not consistent. But they look good! Also, at one point the Upgrade uses echo location to pin-point someone behind a tree. This was an entire CG shot where we see what looks like a combination of heat vision and lidar, basically. There were another couple of these shots in the film, but they got cut for pacing reasons. But we kept one!
When the effects supervisor was asked about his favourite memories of working on The Predator, he revealed it was reviewing the footage with Shane Black and in finding out just how much gore was too much gore!
When you throw reality out the window and just go for it. The vendors were being reserved, and we were always crying “More blood!”. I ended up using the term “Just take it to 11” a LOT. The over the top gore was something Shane loved. Eventually MPC submitted a shot with an unstoppable geyser of blood pouring from a victim, and Shane said “OK… maybe that’s too much….”. I actually sent an email to all vendors saying that we have finally figured out how much is too much (It was a lot).
Be sure to head on over to Art of VFX to check out the entire interview! Thanks to John Chambers for the tip!
Keep checking in with Alien vs. Predator Galaxy for the latest on The Predator! You can follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube to get the latest on your social media walls. You can also join in with fellow Alien and Predator fans on our forums!
But the rest of that armour is just so generic. I know the guy was on a time limit but it looks straight out of every sci-fi soldier game in the last 20 years.
https://cdna.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/014/010/572/large/constantine-sekeris-predator-1-space-suit-01a.jpg?1542068693
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/VdgXDN
This interview with one of the editors provides some insight into the studio using an utterly flawed test screening process to dictate the creative direction of the movie.
Cool pic!
https://scontent-dfw5-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/45687809_908903999301359_1258789064019017728_o.jpg?_nc_cat=1&_nc_ht=scontent-dfw5-1.xx&oh=0573a51431d84fb43735f208585ca4cc&oe=5C78D502
Yeah,make sense
I think Hicks is talking about the deleted scenes of the Emmissaries on the APC
Thanks,not doubting though I'm not a military expert,but it doesn't look like M249?
https://www.avpgalaxy.net/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.toyark.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F4%2F2018%2F10%2FPrime-1-Fugitive-Predator-Statue-019.jpg&hash=4b514f7eaa3f2e0081f8ed4175ea149c2d122b0e
I haven't read it yet.
Predators hunting in Vietnam
Predators hunting ancient warriors in Egypt
Predators hunting pirates (P2 flintlock)
Even with Stargazer i think there are really cool ways to tell a new story without the Predator killer, more focused on an actual team capturing a Predator by surprise during a hunt... with them getting to the Predator spaceship, which then flies back home, there they have to face and fight different Alien species with the last survivor and biggest warrior being worthy enough to fight against an elder Predator.
The core story is always a hunt, and with that there are endless possibilities for really good movies, even on a smaller scale action/horror.
That's a fair assessment. "The Predator" seems to contain a culmination of parallels with both "Alien 3" and "Alien Resurrection". Plus, the Upgrade Predator can certainly be compared to the Newborn Alien on a species blending angle, as well as its mutual reception i.e. the ruffling feathers of fans.
It's a paradox I tell you. It just covered 2 movies in one. What on earth could come next?
Straight to a Prometheus Predator perhaps? An exploration of a long dead Predator Homeworld?
lol Thanks for proving my point.
Grow a sense of humor
Thomas Jane doing the ultimate Javier Bardem impression.
I know, I know.
Then again, the Fugitive was here to give us a weapon that we could use to fight back with, so maybe there was in fact a key!
Then again again, I think we're really not meant to think that hard about it.
Is there any type of key shown? I don't remember. Alien Language in one night. Not bad.
I thought the boy said "it says Predator Killer" , he doesn't , he says "it roughly translates as".
Yes , I have a dodgy version also.
You are. I'm really, really not sure how you're not getting this? It's not difficult.
The humans have decided to call them Predators, so when Rory reads whatever word Predators use to refer to themselves in their language, he translates it into "Predator" in English because that's what humans have decided to call them. That doesn't mean the word is actually "Predator" in their language.
I'm sure dolphins wouldn't refer to themselves as "dolphins", but if we could translate their language, we'd translate the series of clicks and chirps they'd use to refer to themselves as "dolphins" because that's what we call them in English.
EDIT
And yes, he does translate it. He reads it off the screen.
No traeger says "we had a vote , and Predator sounds cooler" That means they made that name up.
So Traeger managed to nickname the Predator what the Predator also called itself in its own language and that's also Predator?! Maybe I'm missing something here.
Edit: Actually he doesn't translate it does he, he just makes his own version of what he thinks it says. Gawd damn that ending. The Predator Killer
The kid is smart enough when he sees ~/\|} ^○ to translate that to 'Predators' when he's around the military, translate that to 'demons' if he's around King Willie, and translate that to 'ugly mofos' when he's around you.
Yeah but we named them the Predator. There would be no word translation. Unless the Predator knew we named them the Predator and put Predator Killer on the side..... In his own language.
The designs where better in most cases (there are quite the few variants) than what ended up in the film. And no one thought that it was a bad idea, much like Lucas had only yes men around for the prequels.
We need this scene designed you've got 2 weeks.
4 minutes later...designs predator suit that looks the same as a predator with 15 guns on its shoulders.
Studio - Perfect. Glad we have guys like you around to save our bacon.
Edit: Also does the boy read "predator killer" from the pod? If so that means that the predators also now refer to themselves as Predators.
Outstanding.
Strause might have worked on the effect, but I'll sleep comfortably knowing they didn't come up with the idea.
In some alternate universe, this happened and maybe the movie was good.
Shane Black ruined the franchising. As simple as that.