QuoteWritten and Directed by Noah Miller
Hope, an abandoned crew member aboard the derelict chemical hauler Otranto, has spent a year trying to keep her ship and herself alive as both slowly fall apart. After discovering hidden cargo, she risks it all to power up the broken ship in search of human life.
Now this one definitely looks interesting.
HmmmMMMMmmmm
I really hope they saved at least one good short for the end, we got four mediocre shorts in a row now.
Strongly disagree with that assessment but Alone was my favourite.
Quote from: The Old One on Apr 23, 2019, 08:58:26 PM
D88M's always incorrect, pay no heed.
I'd say night shift was indeed mediocre.
Specimen and Ore were both fantastic.
Containment has grown on me slightly, merely as a character piece.
I have big hopes for this one.
Ore was certainly better acted and shot than Night shift, but I still find Ore not as good as Specimen. Ore does have a leg up on Containment with more for the characters to do, but I find Containment the better film with those characters being more developed (even if they are really simple).
I just hope the next short is better because Specimen is still the only short that really grabbed me.
For me it goes from best to worst;
Specimen
Containment
Ore
Night Shift
Getting a definite David vibe from the woman in the Alone trailer.....
Alone's the best one.
Awesome, I trust you.
Really enjoying that trailer
Quote from: The Old One on Apr 24, 2019, 12:43:58 AM
Awesome, I trust you.
As Hicks said in another thread, it'll likely be the most divisive too.
Because of the "twist" in the trailer?
This one was really good. Sits up among Ore and Specimen for me. I really enjoyed all three of those.
I don't want to say much about this one but... it is going to be controversial. I'm so glad this one was made. Maybe not as technically well made as Ore and Specimen, but some seriously intriguing ideas, the best music of the bunch, and some really fun miniature work, too!
;)
David's wife?
Liking the look of this from the trailer!
Every single person I've heard that's seen all of the shorts says Alone is easily the best of the batch, so I'm looking forward to it.
Quote from: Nrmiller on Apr 24, 2019, 02:59:46 AM
Quote from: Nightmare Asylum on Apr 24, 2019, 02:42:54 AMI'm so glad this one was made.
Agreed.
:D
Great work man! I look forward to those without the 4K release seeing this when it drops for everyone on Friday.
I really liked this one. Reminded me of Covenant. Great story idea.
9/10
Interesting.
Just by seeing the trailer she gives a weird David 8 creeper vibe. Dig that. Knowing that Hicks mentioned this was his favorite short, I'm looking forward to seeing this.
Quote from: SiL on Apr 24, 2019, 11:12:07 AM
Every single person I've heard that's seen all of the shorts says Alone is easily the best of the batch, so I'm looking forward to it.
I saw all of them a while ago and think Specimen is best
Quote from: Whos_Nick on Apr 25, 2019, 03:54:33 AM
Quote from: SiL on Apr 24, 2019, 11:12:07 AM
Every single person I've heard that's seen all of the shorts says Alone is easily the best of the batch, so I'm looking forward to it.
I saw all of them a while ago and think Specimen is best
Respectfully disagree. I do like Specimen though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGWEihrIBvk
What was this mess?! It had a good premise but sadly didn't turn out all that good! WTF was that all about with the facehugger befriending the droid?! 😂😂😂
....and wasn't a fan of the camera work....it was all over the place!
Nice, probably the best of the lot.
Is that Bill Paxton's son? Ironic that he plays both the facehugger victim and the Alien.
I also approve of the dippy birds and Weylan Yutani Aspen beer.
Best of the best.
My top:
1. Alone.
2. Specimen.
3. Ore.
4. Night Shift.
5. Harvest.
6. Containment.
Quote from: The Eighth Passenger on Apr 26, 2019, 04:58:09 PM
Is that Bill Paxton's son? Ironic that he plays both the facehugger victim and the Alien.
It was!
Totally dug this short.
My order is
Specimen
Alone
Ore
Containment
Night Shift
Harvest
Well that certainly is the most unique of all the shorts... can't say that it makes my top 3 list, but it certainly leaves the viewer a lot to think about. Having seen all the shorts, my list is as follows:
Ore
Harvest
Specimen
Alone
Night Shift
Containment
I enjoyed that very much up to a point, but can't help but feel it would have been more affecting to
Spoiler
just have had the synthetic and the facehugger gradually break down together. I felt the inclusion of the human swung it back toward Alien cliche territory just as it was promising to be something wholly unique and potentially quite profound.
Still, it was enjoyable as it was, so I can't complain too much.
Meh, this one was my least favourite out of the lot. Very much a slow burn film and didn't really amount to much. It was too much like David and Alien Covenant for me. I don't think any of the short films have been bad - they're all different and much better quality than what we'd get from a fan film.
My fav out of all of them!
That might be the best one of them all. FWIW my rankings would go
Alone
Ore
Specimen
Containment
Night Shift
Harvest
Quote from: robbritton on Apr 26, 2019, 05:29:05 PM
I enjoyed that very much up to a point, but can't help but feel it would have been more affecting to Spoiler
just have had the synthetic and the facehugger gradually break down together. I felt the inclusion of the human swung it back toward Alien cliche territory just as it was promising to be something wholly unique and potentially quite profound.
Still, it was enjoyable as it was, so I can't complain too much.
I can agree on that, the third part was just too "classic" for that course that the1st and 2nd part went for...
I kind of liked the Harvest, so it's really just about the personal view.
Maybe not the best but the weirdest one for sure.
Podcast with Noah is now up! https://www.avpgalaxy.net/forum/index.php?topic=62145.0
And another Q&A with him: http://sknr.net/2019/04/26/talking-alien-alone-with-noah-miller/
Quote from: 0321recon on Apr 26, 2019, 05:18:11 PM
Totally dug this short.
My order is
Specimen
Alone
Ore
Containment
Harvest
Night Shift
Swap the first two around and that's my take.
Quote from: Ingwar on Apr 26, 2019, 07:57:59 PM
Maybe not the best but the weirdest one for sure.
I'll take it ;)
I wish more of the films had taken such a unique approach to the material.
Same
It's a unique approach, but it's not very good and kind of ridiculous. I enjoyed the music but the cinematography and acting is bad.
1. Ore
2. Specimen
3. Night Shift
4. Alone
5. Containment
Weird is good, for a franchise designated Alien.
Quote from: The Old One on Apr 26, 2019, 11:34:45 PM
Weird is good, for a franchise designated Alien.
Weird only or too much weird is often not that good though.
Alien embeds the weird in a technical/realistic approach. Ron Cobb meeting Giger.
Thats what makes it so good, in my eyes.
Agreed, a excessive amount is nonsensical.
No familiarity, no empathy, generally.
You're right, it's the contrast between the two worlds, the world of the real, regular and causality (Ron Cobb) and the world of the surreal, the perverted. (H.R Giger)
Unconventional for sure. I liked it. Would have been great with a bigger budget no doubt. :)
I don't feel Alone is excessively weird, or outside what we've seen in the series from the EU. It's a welcome retooling of familiar elements rather than resorting to just picking scenes from existing movies.
It did drag on a bit and the actual impregnation scene could've been cut to just one or two shots, but I didn't think it was quite as bizarre as some are making it out to be.
That was brilliant! By far my favourite of the 5. Great paving, solid atmosphere and very clever use of the story!
My review...
Just wanted to say, before I forget, could the production not afford a dolly/slider for those establishing shots at the start of the different rooms?! The handheld/jittery movements in the first 45 seconds or so were just weird.
This was a film of two halves. The first, great, the second, the polar opposite. I enjoyed the old-school vibes initially, the soundtrack more reminiscent of the first Alien film, and the overall idea for the story for this short was the most interesting to me when reading all of the summaries beforehand.
Also enjoyed the more original ideas in this one compared to the others – the facehugger companion (was hoping for something like this when I first heard the shorts being announced) and the android main character.
However with the final 4-5 minutes (after the ship docks with the bigger ship) this one fell apart into strange territory – the weird, amateur editing and B-movie feel came out of nowhere – none of it in a good or fun way. From such a promising first half, this one descended into an amateur fan film farce. Great ideas and again the most originality of the lot, but poor execution.
6/10 (points for originality and the best story)
My final scores for all of the shorts...
Specimen - 8.5/10
Alone - 6/10
Harvest - 6/10
Ore - 5.5/10
Night Shift - 4.5/10
Containment - 3/10
A synth and her alien. Very creative dynamic here.
I only wish we got to see more of the adult's interactions with it's guardian angel instead of leaving it ambiguous, even if it meant we see her get torn apart.
Quote from: [cancerblack] on Apr 26, 2019, 09:16:29 PM
Quote from: 0321recon on Apr 26, 2019, 05:18:11 PM
Totally dug this short.
My order is
Specimen
Alone
Ore
Containment
Harvest
Night Shift
Swap the first two around and that's my take.
Harvest is worse then Night Shift in my opinion, but otherwise I agree.
I don't think Alone is the best made, mind you (that's definitely either Specimen or Ore), but it is the most narratively interesting, has a great score, and some really nifty miniature work.
For fun.
Spoiler
Specimen = Egg/Facehugger
Containment = Chestburster
Ore = Adult Alien
Alone = Android
;D
This one was better, it was a little more original (the story was obviosly "inspired" by Covenant, but they at least tried to do something different this time, unlike the other shorts) but still was not good enough.
All around a pretty mediocre collection of shorts, if anything they made me appreciate the movies even more, so there is that.
Quote from: D88M on Apr 27, 2019, 01:59:09 AM
This one was better, it was a little more original (the story was obviosly "inspired" by Covenant, but they at least tried to do something different this time, unlike the other shorts) but still was not good enough.
All around a pretty mediocre collection of shorts, if anything they made me appreciate the movies even more, so there is that.
All it's made me realise is that Fox has very little, if any quality control for 'officially endorsed' Alien films.
This would have made a lot more sense with a human character driven semi-insane by loneliness with some sort of protective equipment.
Neither Ash nor Bishop cared about longevity. Why would this synthetic? Especially as it/she could just need to plug herself into the ship's reactor for power, go temporarily dormant or simply copied/transmitted its memory and code, in order to effectively 'survive'.
Why did the character care about the facehugger? We're not given any reasons. The character's motivation (psychologically relating to something in a similar predicment) is something a human would do, not an AI, which wouldn't have any reason to care. But, sure, let's assume the opposite - so, the droid decides to do the one thing which would guarantee it dies? Why not just coerce it back into frozen stasis?
A human character could have gone down that path. They'd make up the typical David 8-like logic, where the adult Alien would be seen as a 'continuation'/reincarnation of the facehugger. They'd be fearful about self-preservation, but not about sacrificing someone else to that fate. Doing so could even have made a nice call-back to Golic. Or even have the story feature a Newt-alike, who the audience is initially led to believe is a similar distrusting survivor of a massacre, only to be revealed as convincing herself to sacrifice the newcomer for some allegorical 'greater good', before commandeering their ship and leaving the impregnated victim behind, like she's talked herself into believing was a bargain struck with the facehugger (like Golic similarly did).
"I could be reworked, but I'll never be top of the line again, I'd rather be nothing."
Spoiler
The computer voice recalled the computer voice modulation of the Alien Resurrection videogame, and the astronaut recalled the Hot Toys "Kane" figure. lol
(https://manofactionfigures.com/sites/default/files/images/6385_press03-001.preview.jpg)
And Night Shift used the Monolith's AVP terminal sound effect. Neat.
The concept's good, anyway.
A.I rationalisation:
It doesn't die it changes form.
Editing and camera work was rough.
Dialogue needs reworked.
Acting was so-so.
Premise is terrible.
I rank it just above night shift.
I enjoyed the premise, the dialogue is adequate, the acting is so-so but the premise, music and retro environment enhanced it.
Way, way, way above Night Shift.
It's charming.
My final personal score
Harvest
Ore
Specimen
Containment
Alone
Night Shift
For such restrictive budgets, some of them did pretty good. Funny thing is, with the first letters of each short you can spell "NO CASH". :laugh:
Yeah, half are more creative though,
I won't remember Harvest or Night Shift
in a few years.
Quote from: Nightmare Asylum on Apr 27, 2019, 01:40:57 AM
Quote from: [cancerblack] on Apr 26, 2019, 09:16:29 PM
Quote from: 0321recon on Apr 26, 2019, 05:18:11 PM
Totally dug this short.
My order is
Specimen
Alone
Ore
Containment
Harvest
Night Shift
Swap the first two around and that's my take.
Harvest is worse then Night Shift in my opinion, but otherwise I agree.
I don't think Alone is the best made, mind you (that's definitely either Specimen or Ore), but it is the most narratively interesting, has a great score, and some really nifty miniature work.
I agree with Alone being not being the best made, though the ideas were interesting.
Harvest...in my book is trash. Looking back, I'll swap Night Shift for second worse since the first half was well executed, and had the slice of life aspect going for it while Harvest...bad editing, meh cinematography, wooden characters, and sudden twist, and the magical egg on the lifeboat.
Containment was the better executed trap in the ship concept. Pity that one didn't have the Xeno on it.
I mostly agree, mostly.
Night Shift's always last myself, it's "quality" special effect caused laughter.
Quote from: The Old One on Apr 27, 2019, 05:04:00 AM
I agree, mostly.
Night Shift's always last myself, it's "quality" special effect caused laughter.
Where was the quality special effect?
Exactly.
Spoiler
The birthed Alien.
Well, it's good to have a solid example of what not to do.
It will come in handy if a show is ever pursued, which thanks to these shorts seems quite viable afterall.
The bloody techdeck commandeering Alien.
Really liked the idea behind this one! It was fascinating to see how a synthetic and alien can bond together. I felt that a few more script changes to make it more creepy would have been interesting, to show how corrupted the perception of the synthetic got at the end:
- Hey Mr Spider, come here
- Hello there, would you like to meet my friend, Mr Spider?
- Don't hurt Mr Spider!
- Let Mr Spider give you a kiss.
- Mr Spider became an angel.
Not bad, not as unique or as interesting as people are making out thought. It's a 10 minute covenant copy almost by the numbers.
Unsure about face huggers acting like dogs.
Specimen still miles above any of them. I'd sit this one in the middle.
Any stage of the organism being anything less than outright hostile is a big no-no in my book.
These things ain't pets. Even David had his hands full with them in the novelization.
I do absolutely love the range of reactions. Couldn't ask for anything better.
Well it goes beyond the sacrilegious nature of the plot. Although it did go avp.
It has real issues in many departments. Acting, editing, cinematography, dialogue, etc.
Quote from: Huggs on Apr 27, 2019, 05:31:19 AM
Any stage of the organism being anything less than outright hostile is a big no-no in my book.
These things ain't pets. Even David had his hands full with them in the novelization.
It's possible that you could have shot it differently to imply the same thing, but the hugger slowly drumming it's fingers while you fill in your paint by numbers book was a smidge too far.
The first thing the hugger did was attack her. Then realised it couldn't do anything with her. What else was it going to do? It's clearly not her pet, but it's explained why it stays close to her.
No threat to the character and they were indeed going for the pet angle.
This is pure covenant celebration.
Aside from the music, there's nothing in this one even remotely related to the original film.
They definitely got their movies confused.
Nice link between the original trilogy and this last short.
Quote from: Huggs on Apr 27, 2019, 05:59:37 AM
they were indeed going for the pet angle.
I'll let Nrmiller speak for himself on that one.
QuoteAside from the music, there's nothing in this one even remotely related to the original film.
Except the ship designs (same EEV model as the Narcissus), the sets, the set decoration -- drinky birds, Aspen beer, computer interface -- costumes -- both the android's and the guy who comes on the ship -- and repeated character actions -- such as the android's "Ash run" in the corridor. Other than that, totally, not a thing related to the original movie :-\
Quote from: SiL on Apr 27, 2019, 06:08:15 AM
Quote from: Huggs on Apr 27, 2019, 05:59:37 AM
they were indeed going for the pet angle.
I'll let Nrmiller speak for himself on that one.
Oh, I'm certain nobody would be nuts enough to admit it out loud, but the short speaks for itself. The grown Alien doesn't even kill her at the end. Last time I checked, Bishop and Call weren't immune.
Quote from: Highland on Apr 27, 2019, 05:41:23 AM
Quote from: Huggs on Apr 27, 2019, 05:31:19 AM
Any stage of the organism being anything less than outright hostile is a big no-no in my book.
These things ain't pets. Even David had his hands full with them in the novelization.
It's possible that you could have shot it differently to imply the same thing, but the hugger slowly drumming it's fingers while you fill in your paint by numbers book was a smidge too far.
I think this says it rather well.
Quote from: Huggs on Apr 27, 2019, 06:36:04 AM
Oh, I'm certain nobody would be nuts enough to admit it out loud, but the short speaks for itself.
Again, I'll let the person who actually knows what the intent was speak for himself.
QuoteThe grown Alien doesn't even kill her at the end. Last time I checked, Bishop and Call weren't immune.
They look at each other for a couple of seconds. We have no idea what it does next. Call wasn't killed instantly, she was played with.
There's nothing to defend or speak for if anyone doesn't care for it, they don't care for it. And they're not wrong about how they feel.
Personally I love the documentary Grizzly Man. A mind, even a synthetic one, can convince itself something is something it isn't.
Interesting.
QuoteAnd they're not wrong about how they feel.
Totally, but there's a line between saying how they feel and insisting on what was actually intended based on that.
This was really the one that made me want to see what happened next.
Even if it was just another 30 seconds :P
This was definitely the most arty of the shorts. I liked it. Moments of it were excellent, but overall it didn't top Specimen or Ore for me.
Quote from: Huggs on Apr 27, 2019, 04:48:25 AM
My final personal score
Harvest
Ore
Specimen
Containment
Alone
Night Shift
For such restrictive budgets, some of them did pretty good. Funny thing is, with the first letters of each short you can spell "NO CASH". :laugh:
:laugh:
Quote from: SiL on Apr 27, 2019, 08:51:11 AM
Even if it was just another 30 seconds :P
Why is that? If the alien surmised that the android wasn't a threat, why attack her?
To see if it surmised if she's a threat or not.
Quote from: Xenomorphine on Apr 27, 2019, 03:41:22 AM
This would have made a lot more sense with a human character driven semi-insane by loneliness with some sort of protective equipment.
Neither Ash nor Bishop cared about longevity. Why would this synthetic? Especially as it/she could just need to plug herself into the ship's reactor for power, go temporarily dormant or simply copied/transmitted its memory and code, in order to effectively 'survive'.
Why did the character care about the facehugger? We're not given any reasons. The character's motivation (psychologically relating to something in a similar predicment) is something a human would do, not an AI, which wouldn't have any reason to care. But, sure, let's assume the opposite - so, the droid decides to do the one thing which would guarantee it dies? Why not just coerce it back into frozen stasis?
A human character could have gone down that path. They'd make up the typical David 8-like logic, where the adult Alien would be seen as a 'continuation'/reincarnation of the facehugger. They'd be fearful about self-preservation, but not about sacrificing someone else to that fate. Doing so could even have made a nice call-back to Golic. Or even have the story feature a Newt-alike, who the audience is initially led to believe is a similar distrusting survivor of a massacre, only to be revealed as convincing herself to sacrifice the newcomer for some allegorical 'greater good', before commandeering their ship and leaving the impregnated victim behind, like she's talked herself into believing was a bargain struck with the facehugger (like Golic similarly did).
Agree with this.
Rewatched this, just to make sure I know how I feel about it.
This one was weird. And least of all because of the friendly hugger. It was such a unique combination of the good and the bad. I liked the story idea, mostly. I like Xenomorphine's idea better. But the core concept is alright. Nothing revolutionary. But at least not so much by the book formula. But the execution was all over the place.
The bad:
Some of the editing and camera work. Playing an android that's an actual character and not just a bad guy plot device is very hard, I get that. Still, wasn't a fan of the acting... Not bad, it was okay, but not convincing to me. Didn't like her even close to as much as I liked all the other androids in the movies. I even liked the performance of the android in Ore better. Again, not bad, but it needed more work, more takes. The actress was trying to be more robotic than any other android in the series. This is after Ash, so she should've felt more human, but maybe kept the childlike aspect of Bishop. And it did feel a bit cheap when they literally took and mashed up the Ash run and David's drawing habit into one droid.
The spacesuit looks meh. Looks like a cheap cosplay.
The facehugger. Even though I can get behind the idea, it was explained solidly enough, it still feels wrong. They didn't sell the idea hard enough, I had to be apologetic to give it a pass in my mind. They should've shown less of it, especially around the droid. It looks silly and certainly feels like the hugger was a pet. Not unforgivably bad, but the idea could've been executed better. My biggest problem was that the hugger looked bad. Very bad. Unconvincing. Thus, they shouldn't have shown it that much or in that light. Still not as bad as Harvest... I'm so grateful that Specimen used a CGI hugger, if something like this was the alternative. Looked very rubbery, like a toy. The hugger's look was my biggest problem.
The aesthetics here weren't the best and really made the whole thing look cheap in this short.
The good:
Again, the story idea gets points for being more original than some of the others were, the core isn't a bad premise at all. The space scenes. The music was just great! Nice one there. The atmosphere was enhanced by the music and somewhat countered the cheap feel of the spacesuit, hugger, acting... The final shots were very nice.
Overall, not bad. Nice core idea, great story potential, always appreciate the perspective of an android, but this needed more work. Too many things felt cheap IMO. Somewhere in the middle for me, not the best one at all, but by far not the worst one.
Originality for originality's sake means nothing if the execution is not up to par. So much potential there, but not quite fully realized, by a long shot.
Quote from: Huggs on Apr 27, 2019, 04:48:25 AM
My final personal score
Harvest
Ore
Specimen
Containment
Alone
Night Shift
For such restrictive budgets, some of them did pretty good. Funny thing is, with the first letters of each short you can spell "NO CASH". :laugh:
I liked Harvest the best too.
Alone was a bit weird, but the companion was a welcome difference.
And your ranking spells
HO SCAN. Lol
Quote from: The Old One on Apr 27, 2019, 03:46:54 AM
"I could be reworked, but I'll never be top of the line again, I'd rather be nothing."
Precisely. Bishop was a machine. Follows directives. Didn't go off on philosophical meanderings.
It's like the dialogue in '
Terminator 2', where John's confused about concepts like pain and how the Terminator would perceive its mission meeting victory or fail missions. The T-800 just emotionlessly says it would become obsolete. Isn't sad about it. Just pointing out a factual reality. That's how an AI
does think. Have parameters been abided by? Have certain conditions been met? Their entire existence is one big flowchart.
If it's about to expire, an AI has no reason to feel resentful and growl about things not being fair. It's just there to fulfil whatever tasks it's been allocated. It
might consider premature expiry as a lamentable waste of resources, when it could still be of use, but even that's sort of stretching it.
QuoteThe concept's good, anyway.
A.I rationalisation:
It doesn't die it changes form.
Well, it/she's literally been medically studying their anatomy. The character would know that's not the case. The creature's a delivery system and they'd know that. Once it's achieved its purpose, then it dies. This story has the AI relating to the facehugger, specifically stating they want it to
survive and even having a
method by which they can do this: Placing it back in stasis. They even state it's supposedly getting slower and weaker, which would make that easier.
Instead, they go about doing the one thing guaranteed to
kill it.
While I'm not a fan of the emotional way David 8 has been written, at least that character doesn't try to hide they're fascinated by the process of evolution and see casualties along the way as acceptable collateral damage, to that end. David 8 acknowledges the spores are delivery vehicles and wants to shape the resulting evolution, regardless of the outcome.
This character isn't doing that. It/she specifically wants the facehugger organism, itself, to survive for survival's sake.
Quote from: Vermillion on Apr 27, 2019, 06:05:30 PM
And your ranking spells
HO SCAN. Lol
Well of course.
Don't wanna catch nothin'. :laugh:
Quote from: Local Trouble on Apr 27, 2019, 08:50:08 AM
This was really the one that made me want to see what happened next.
[/quote
Judging by the rest of it, they get married and have six kids.
https://open.spotify.com/album/0lFfaSlN7a4qQ1iUi7BHWG
Quote from: Xenomorphine on Apr 27, 2019, 06:24:17 PM
Quote from: The Old One on Apr 27, 2019, 03:46:54 AM
"I could be reworked, but I'll never be top of the line again, I'd rather be nothing."
Precisely. Bishop was a machine. Follows directives. Didn't go off on philosophical meanderings.
It's like the dialogue in 'Terminator 2', where John's confused about concepts like pain and how the Terminator would perceive its mission meeting victory or fail missions. The T-800 just emotionlessly says it would become obsolete. Isn't sad about it. Just pointing out a factual reality. That's how an AI does think. Have parameters been abided by? Have certain conditions been met? Their entire existence is one big flowchart.
If it's about to expire, an AI has no reason to feel resentful and growl about things not being fair. It's just there to fulfil whatever tasks it's been allocated. It might consider premature expiry as a lamentable waste of resources, when it could still be of use, but even that's sort of stretching it.
QuoteThe concept's good, anyway.
A.I rationalisation:
It doesn't die it changes form.
Well, it/she's literally been medically studying their anatomy. The character would know that's not the case. The creature's a delivery system and they'd know that. Once it's achieved its purpose, then it dies. This story has the AI relating to the facehugger, specifically stating they want it to survive and even having a method by which they can do this: Placing it back in stasis. They even state it's supposedly getting slower and weaker, which would make that easier.
Instead, they go about doing the one thing guaranteed to kill it.
While I'm not a fan of the emotional way David 8 has been written, at least that character doesn't try to hide they're fascinated by the process of evolution and see casualties along the way as acceptable collateral damage, to that end. David 8 acknowledges the spores are delivery vehicles and wants to shape the resulting evolution, regardless of the outcome.
This character isn't doing that. It/she specifically wants the facehugger organism, itself, to survive for survival's sake.
This.
It's not the same as David, and David 8, or his series was unique in how close he/they were to the emotional irrationality of humans. Davids actions have motivation behind them. Plus he's probably a unique Weyland model and has been going crazy for ten years. The other models, Walter, Ash, Bishop, were all more human like and felt more natural, yet were less and less emotional, a very logical AI. Kinda opposite to what we got here.
And I don't get to why people are comparing this so much to Covenant? It's maybe a less elegant take on the themes, but it's taken a step too far IMO. I really enjoy that movie and David especially, but this no where near as close. Whatever David does is unique to him and his situation, not all androids have to be a copy of him now. Those traits are gone now in the later series of AI, so this does feel jarring.
I appreciate the effort and all the other virtues in the short, but this is my least favorite android depiction to date.
Y'all are forgetting Call, the most emotional and compassionate syntheti... Artifical person.
Quote from: Nrmiller on Apr 27, 2019, 07:04:07 AM
Personally I love the documentary Grizzly Man. A mind, even a synthetic one, can convince itself something is something it isn't.
Thanks for this answer. It's actually pretty definitive for seeming so vague on first blush.
Quote from: Xenomorphine on Apr 27, 2019, 06:24:17 PM
Quote from: The Old One on Apr 27, 2019, 03:46:54 AM
"I could be reworked, but I'll never be top of the line again, I'd rather be nothing."
Precisely. Bishop was a machine. Follows directives. Didn't go off on philosophical meanderings.
Stating he'd rather die than not be top of the line kind of
is a philosophical meandering though. If he truly didn't care he'd have no preference between being patched or being let go.
And anyone who thinks Ash or Call weren't philosophical or idealistic weren't watching the films.
Androids with philosophical and ideological bents are a staple of the series, not the other way around.
^
I like that it was a unique type of story. Good idea for a short.
Perfect experimentation avenue.
Honestly I'm happy there's a discussion to be had about this. To me it's 100x better than just "it was good" or "it was trash."
Being interesting is an accomplishment
in of itself.
I like the weirdness of this one. I like this one best of the lot because it's quirky and the actress did a good job with the material. But it's still the tale of another droid with serious mental issues. It adds to the enormous volume of subtext in the series that human-like AI has a lot of unsolved problems.
Quote from: The Old One on Apr 28, 2019, 02:52:40 AM
Perfect experimentation avenue.
Yeah, I agree.
I hope no one takes this as an insult, but I simply don't take these shorts with the same kind of seriousness that I would a major Fox feature release. So the "face-hugger as pet" idea, I'm willing to go with. It's outlandish but also fun.
(Noah, I read your interview where you said that wasn't your intention, but that's definitely the finished effect.)
TC
Quote from: Xenomorphine on Apr 27, 2019, 03:41:22 AM
This would have made a lot more sense with a human character driven semi-insane by loneliness...
This is an interesting thought.
If I combine it with a short story I wrote a long time ago, the result is a version of
Alone that goes like this:
A lab worker, left behind when her fellow crew members abandon ship, is prescribed medication by Mother to combat depression. The drugs flatten her emotions and she begins to lose her sense of self. One of her jobs is the care of a face-hugger trapped inside a specimen jar. For companionship, she starts to carry the jar around with her as she goes about her daily duties. Her mental state worsens to the point that she concludes her lack of feeling can only be explained if she were a robot. That being the case, and since robots are immune from face-hugger attack, she starts to consider the possibility of releasing the face-hugger from its prison...
;)
TC
Quote from: TC on Apr 28, 2019, 04:55:03 AM
Yeah, I agree.
I hope no one takes this as an insult, but I simply don't take these shorts with the same kind of seriousness that I would a major Fox feature release. So the "face-hugger as pet" idea, I'm willing to go with. It's outlandish but also fun.
That's what surprised me the most -- that only one of the ideas really tried to experiment with the story elements. This would've been perfect to throw out some whacky ideas.
Bravo on Alone for sparking some interesting conversation/debate about its narrative and what it is saying.
Like I said a few days ago, Alone definitely ins't the best made of the bunch, but it is the most narratively and thematically interesting (and polarizing). And people falling on either side of the spectrum and continuing to discuss is a testament to that.
Like it or not, Alone really did push the barriers on the "rules" of the competition, and in my opinion it is all the better for it.
Yuppers.
Quote from: SiL on Apr 27, 2019, 10:19:31 PM
Quote from: Xenomorphine on Apr 27, 2019, 06:24:17 PM
Quote from: The Old One on Apr 27, 2019, 03:46:54 AM
"I could be reworked, but I'll never be top of the line again, I'd rather be nothing."
Precisely. Bishop was a machine. Follows directives. Didn't go off on philosophical meanderings.
Stating he'd rather die than not be top of the line kind of is a philosophical meandering though. If he truly didn't care he'd have no preference between being patched or being let go.
And anyone who thinks Ash or Call weren't philosophical or idealistic weren't watching the films.
Androids with philosophical and ideological bents are a staple of the series, not the other way around.
It's Bishop stating a preference: Knowing it/he is no longer going to be optimised, essentially being to the detriment of any further potential missions and that others would take their place. From an AI's perspective, it
would be better to let a better model take its physical place (with the option to simply just upload its code/memories to a new system, at a later time, easily being a possibility).
Bishop isn't the least bit resentful about that. Just being pragmatic.
Call was... Odd. Not written like an AI should be, a lot like David 8, in that regard. I reconciled it by assuming some programming-related weirdness happened during the ambiguous event which caused Call and others to rebel (still for reasons unknown). I still don't understand what Whedon was getting at with that. :/
But then, considering his portrayal of AI within, say, '
Buffy The Vampire Slayer' and '
Avengers', it eventually became clear the guy can't write AI or plausible depictions of the military and characters relating to it.
Hands down the most original of the shorts. The opening shot into the interior of the ship really nailed the atmosphere! Great score as well.
The score is up!
Quote from: Xenomorphine on Apr 28, 2019, 04:09:46 PM
Call was... Odd. Not written like an AI should be, a lot like David 8, in that regard.
I think the real issue here is you keep trying to argue based on how you think AI
should be portrayed and largely ignore how they
are portrayed
Whether it's how it "should" be is utterly irrelevant. Philosophical, idealistic AI - with some kind of affinity for the Alien - have been there since Ash's head waxed poetic about admiring the Alien in the first film.
This is now tied with Specimen for the number one spot, as far as I'm concerned. Spectacular! :o
QuoteCall was... Odd. Not written like an AI should be, a lot like David 8, in that regard.
Do you not see the irony of a human saying -
of a sci-fi robot - "STOP THAT, YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO ACT LIKE I EXPECT YOU TO!"
Dude... That's, like... the whole point. They
don't necessarily act 'like they should' or in the way their creators intend or expect. You turn on an AI with intelligence comparable to (yet distinct from) a human being, you better be ready for some unexpected results. Call was
sentient. She acts however the hell she wants, because she has human-level intelligence and free will. The idea that androids
have to be written a certain way isn't just dogmatic; it's antithetical to most of science fiction as a genre. I mean, 'androids not behaving the way we think they should' is basically the entire plot of Blade Runner! It's a feature, not a bug.
Quote from: XenoHunter99 on Apr 28, 2019, 04:22:43 AM
I like the weirdness of this one. I like this one best of the lot because it's quirky and the actress did a good job with the material. But it's still the tale of another droid with serious mental issues. It adds to the enormous volume of subtext in the series that human-like AI has a lot of unsolved problems.
If I ever get around to polishing up the 20min cut, there's a lot more going on with her. There's a tiny tiny tiny left over clue in the crew photo.
QuoteBishop isn't the least bit resentful about that. Just being pragmatic.
Perhaps. He also has an ego.
QuoteCall was... Odd. Not written like an AI should be, a lot like David 8, in that regard. I reconciled it by assuming some programming-related weirdness happened during the ambiguous event which caused Call and others to rebel (still for reasons unknown). I still don't understand what Whedon was getting at with that. :/
Not for reasons unknown - they didn't like being told what to do.
Also Call was masquerading as a human.
How should she act?
Anyway - this was pretty good. Looked the part, but also a little niggling that left me a teensy bit unsatisfied that I can't put my finger on.
Soundtrack was a cracker.
Quote from: Nrmiller on Apr 29, 2019, 12:23:46 AM
Quote from: XenoHunter99 on Apr 28, 2019, 04:22:43 AM
I like the weirdness of this one. I like this one best of the lot because it's quirky and the actress did a good job with the material. But it's still the tale of another droid with serious mental issues. It adds to the enormous volume of subtext in the series that human-like AI has a lot of unsolved problems.
If I ever get around to polishing up the 20min cut, there's a lot more going on with her. There's a tiny tiny tiny left over clue in the crew photo.
Well this certainly has me intrigued.
Quote from: SM on Apr 29, 2019, 01:19:02 AMSoundtrack was a cracker.
The soundtrack
was really good. Neat that it's got a stand-alone release.
Quote from: Nrmiller on Apr 29, 2019, 12:23:46 AM
Quote from: XenoHunter99 on Apr 28, 2019, 04:22:43 AM
I like the weirdness of this one. I like this one best of the lot because it's quirky and the actress did a good job with the material. But it's still the tale of another droid with serious mental issues. It adds to the enormous volume of subtext in the series that human-like AI has a lot of unsolved problems.
If I ever get around to polishing up the 20min cut, there's a lot more going on with her. There's a tiny tiny tiny left over clue in the crew photo.
When that happens, I look forward to seeing it.
Quote from: Nrmiller on Apr 29, 2019, 12:23:46 AMIf I ever get around to polishing up the 20min cut, there's a lot more going on with her. There's a tiny tiny tiny left over clue in the crew photo.
Is this a serious possibility? I'd definitely be interested in seeing something like that.
Same. I'd love to see the longer take on Alone.
Count me in.
Finally got around to giving this a second viewing.
Only real complaint I can muster is that the music at the very end struck me as really out-of-place, which is disappointing because otherwise the score is by far the best from any of these shorts.
Other than that, this was really very good. Excellent performance from the lead. Without question the most thought-provoking of the six.
Oh yeah, forgot to mention the model shots. Sure, they may have looked kinda hokey, but man did I get a kick out of them. Reminded me of oldschool Red Dwarf ;D
Really liked this one because it's different from your typical how do we kill this creature in a room scenario, like some of the last shorts. Defo would love to see something original like this rather then ur rehash of Alien/Aliens.
However
Spoiler
I would of had the Alien knock her head off like she was just some foreign object in its way at the very end when she enters the room. Not because the Alien see's her as some human or a threat, but because the Alien does not know what to think off her since she's a machine. Similar to how the xeno in the first Alien movie slapped jonesy's cage on the floor.
Would be thrilled to see a longer cut, hopefully there's no niggling legal issues preventing that.
I really enjoyed this one. It was the first that actually tried something new. Regarding the facehugger being a "pet"; if I'm not mistaken, it's implied that it has the urge to attack the synthetic because it's a humanoid shape and that's what it's designed to go for, so it stays close, yet obviously she's not biological so it doesn't really know what to do. It's demonstrating a confused impulse.
I'd love to have seen Alone with a bigger budget and a bit longer.
Quote from: irn on Apr 30, 2019, 12:52:14 AM
I really enjoyed this one. It was the first that actually tried something new. Regarding the facehugger being a "pet"; if I'm not mistaken, it's implied that it has the urge to attack the synthetic because it's a humanoid shape and that's what it's designed to go for, so it stays close, yet obviously she's not biological so it doesn't really know what to do. It's demonstrating a confused impulse.
I'd love to have seen Alone with a bigger budget and a bit longer.
^this
Quote from: irn on Apr 30, 2019, 12:52:14 AM
I really enjoyed this one. It was the first that actually tried something new. Regarding the facehugger being a "pet"; if I'm not mistaken, it's implied that it has the urge to attack the synthetic because it's a humanoid shape and that's what it's designed to go for, so it stays close, yet obviously she's not biological so it doesn't really know what to do. It's demonstrating a confused impulse.
...
Yes, Hope has a line that says this. But being the sophisticated movie viewers that we are, a character's explanation for what's going on is always prime suspect in unreliable narrators. What we observe is cutesy cooing and chirping from the face-hugger - designed to evoke what, i wonder?
TC
Designed to evoke that facehuggers make chirping noises. They always have.
It's clear from the director's comments that it wasn't intended to show it was a "pet". If that's how it comes across its an issue of execution, not intent.
Quote from: SiL on Apr 30, 2019, 05:40:53 AMIt's clear from the director's comments that it wasn't intended to show it was a "pet". If that's how it comes across its an issue of execution, not intent.
It didn't come across like that to me. I didn't really see the problem with the depiction of the Facehugger's behaviour.
Neither do I. It attacks Hope, realises she's not a host, buggers off, then comes back when it realises there's nothing else around to grab. It stays nearby on the offchance a host does show up near her.
And the dialogue specifically called out why its keeping around her.
Humans have a tendency to anthropomorphize. Hope is a human-like AI. She knows exactly what the facehugger is, what it's doing, It doesn't matter, In the situation, she likes its company. She talks to it. She even cares for its survival as one might care for a rather exotic pet, ultimately sacrificing a human so the facehugger can spawn. The ethics and morality of all that is quite interesting. The more curious part of that is what the adult Alien would have done next. It raises a lot of questions about what the creature knows, how it knows it, what it thinks, and how it acts on that information. Knock Hope's head off is a possibility, but not the only possibility.
The biggest problem with the droids in the Alien series, at least from a human perspective, is that they mostly lack Asimov's 3 Rules of Robotics in their programming. Only Bishop and maybe Walter seem to possess them. I think Bishop's decision-making is most obviously influenced by them. Call is compassionate, but I think she arrived there more or less on her own.
Pretty certain the idea with Call - as with all Autons like her - is that they were self-aware and therefore not governed by programming. Hence their rebellion and the subsequent outlawing of synthetics.
Quote from: HuDaFuK on Apr 29, 2019, 06:46:32 PM
Finally got around to giving this a second viewing.
Only real complaint I can muster is that the music at the very end struck me as really out-of-place, which is disappointing because otherwise the score is by far the best from any of these shorts.
Other than that, this was really very good. Excellent performance from the lead. Without question the most thought-provoking of the six.
Oh yeah, forgot to mention the model shots. Sure, they may have looked kinda hokey, but man did I get a kick out of them. Reminded me of oldschool Red Dwarf ;D
I used the exact same description in another thread. I really didn't like the hugger shots. Say what you like about it, but the facehugger just sitting there is off. Maybe if it was scurrying around, or sitting dormant I could buy it. The short was ok, I just though that aspect of it wasn't really well executed.
Noah Miller on the Making of Alien: Alone (https://tongal.com/blog/articles/noah-miller-on-the-making-of-alien-alone)
QuoteRounding out the release of the Alien short films on Alien Day, the sixth and final installment is Noah Miller's Alien: Alone. A fan among fans, Noah brings his deep knowledge of the canon and obsessive attention to detail to his film, which follows Hope and her solo journey aboard the Otranto. This foreboding tale is a reverent nod to the gothic horror genre with an interesting twist that fans are going crazy for.
Heh, a portion, yes.
Two kinds of crazy.
Odd Studio puppet?
They mention who made the facehugger somewhere, wasn't Odd studio.
Noah mentioned it in our interview. I believe it was a company called Raptor House.
Watched this recently, not bad at all, interesting premise, glad they used a practical effects for the hugger as the cgi versions, especially in the last short don't really look too good. I agree with what have said about the A:I but the movies have shown A:I as being somewhat emotive, Call and David being the worst offenders.
I think one part that lets it down a little is the impregnation scene, they could have just from cut from when he got knocked out to just showing him wiith a hugger on him. Instead the scene shows issue with the practical effect of the creature walking and the android having to hold it on him. Other than that, I enjoyed this one.
I can't recall if it was stated in the short but I wonder how long was the ship drifting for, the android needed maintence and power yet David was "fine" after being alone for over ten years.
Quote from: The Cruentus on May 03, 2019, 10:01:53 AMInstead the scene shows issue with the practical effect of the creature walking and the android having to hold it on him.
I assumed that had something to do with the fact the Facehugger was dying, so she had to help it through the process.
Quote from: The Cruentus on May 03, 2019, 10:01:53 AMI can't recall if it was stated in the short but I wonder how long was the ship drifting for, the android needed maintence and power yet David was "fine" after being alone for over ten years.
David was Weyland's personal prototype, it's not entirely unreasonable to assume he was constructed to a higher standard than the presumably mass-produced Hope.
Quote from: HuDaFuK on May 03, 2019, 10:12:19 AM
Quote from: The Cruentus on May 03, 2019, 10:01:53 AMInstead the scene shows issue with the practical effect of the creature walking and the android having to hold it on him.
I assumed that had something to do with the fact the Facehugger was dying, so she had to help it through the process.
Quote from: The Cruentus on May 03, 2019, 10:01:53 AMI can't recall if it was stated in the short but I wonder how long was the ship drifting for, the android needed maintence and power yet David was "fine" after being alone for over ten years.
David was Weyland's personal prototype, it's not entirely unreasonable to assume he was constructed to a higher standard than the presumably mass-produced Hope.
Oh I understand it was dying, it just looked funny when she was holding it to the guy's face.
Yeah that is a good point as well
A bit of leg tightening would have helped that scene a lot I think.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bw2NGZyAl4T/
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bwue6hiASbV/
Nice to see the mechanics of the facehugger! From some of the BTS shots I thought it was a hand puppet :P
I prefer the original design/colours, but good effort still.
The practical effects was a welcome change since quite a few of the alien effects in previous shorts seemed to be mostly cgi.
Love all the documentation coming out of the social media,
about the Tongal Project.
Alone is my second favourite (Harvest is above). I agree with Hicks that in terms of the storytelling it was the bravest one. It also continues some of themes from Covenant (lone android, fascination with xeno, drawings) that i highly appreciate. Actress did a great job acting taht very emotionly restricted synth. Especially i loved Ash homage.
It's the interesting one, certainly.
It's my personal fave, although Specimen and Ore are more complete.
Yeah, I''d say something similar. But it's not my favorite, it's just the most interesting.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bxi4SIaAGkO/?igshid=1sl89y4lfp9a2
https://www.instagram.com/p/BxnFe9VBzUt/?igshid=vah0g1ph1mcu
Superb model.
Very loosely based off an early Cobb hammerhead nostromo design.
I mentioned it before, but I really enjoyed seeing the old-fashioned model shots in this. Brought a smile to my face.
Quote from: Nrmiller on May 19, 2019, 04:38:22 PM
Very loosely based off an early Cobb hammerhead nostromo design.
I'm being a bad fan and can't recall which particular concept you're thinking of. Do you have a copy?
Maybe he is talking about this one here.
(https://www.avpgalaxy.net/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi67.tinypic.com%2Ffz2ky9.jpg&hash=9ae8acc71c755cf9702f6a5375502082b7003452)
Yep thats it, I was even briefly talking to the prop store to let us shoot on the original Nostromo model. But that never materialized.
I loved the model work, I know it doesn't stand up as well when compared to the other shorts with ship shots but we were always a slightly different production.
The model was about 4 feet, absolutely gorgeous too, it probably needed to be about 15 to 20 feet, but I knew we didn't have the cash/resources to make something massive-- we could've gone cgi but I really wanted the process to feel like making a movie in that era, that was important and just plain fun for me. So it wasn't just the final product that was an homage, but the production itself.
Beautiful work. Mr. Noah Miller.
Love me those practical effects!
https://www.instagram.com/p/B7z5zxjp_z1/?igshid=1epmlhublue0n
Black Holes :laugh:
I geddit.
Seriously though, don't remember seeing that in the short. A neat little touch.
I believe this film ultimately represents: The Android/Prequel Influenced
I loved this one so much, glad for all the BTS information and I'd happily see an Alien film Directed by the Noah Miller, for me it's third place.
Not to necro my own dead thread but quarantine let us make a video for a song we recorded for the extended cut of the film.
We did a cover of Benson Arizona as a little O'Bannon / Dark Star homage. Sort of a tangential connection to Alone but hopefully enough to be enjoyable.
https://youtu.be/l5HkQRMrBYc (https://youtu.be/l5HkQRMrBYc)
Not endorsed by Fox, and not any sort of official thing. Just some fun we had while trapped in the house.
That was beautiful!
Aye, this was really nice. Thank you for sharing!
Also, Alone was my favorite of the shorts; you and your team did an excellent job on that one.
That's awesome :) Neat little in-joke.
Thanks guys. Think this might be the last of our Alien Alone content. If you feel the need you can see a few of our other works on our website theopposition.party (http://theopposition.party) There's some stuff in the same realm there and our cut of Alone is hanging out on there.
I'd recommend looking at a lot of the directors personal sites. I believe most have different cuts up.
Quote from: Nrmiller on Jul 25, 2020, 11:04:28 PMThanks guys. Think this might be the last of our Alien Alone content.
That's a shame. I was really hoping more of us would get to see the extended cut at some point.
Quote from: HuDaFuK on Jul 26, 2020, 10:24:13 AM
Quote from: Nrmiller on Jul 25, 2020, 11:04:28 PMThanks guys. Think this might be the last of our Alien Alone content.
That's a shame. I was really hoping more of us would get to see the extended cut at some point.
theopposition.party (http://theopposition.party)
shhhh.
:o
Thank you! I really enjoyed that!
Just watched the extended cut of this. Very cool work. This is my favorite of the shorts and it was very cool seeing what was missing from the official Fox release.
The use of Dark Star's "Benson, Arizona" really got me. :D
Thanks! Yeah that was one of those minor deep cuts I really wanted in there. I also just love Emma's cover of it, we recorded it was just gorgeous. I think I played it on repeat for a week when we were done.