Poll
Question:
What practical effects studio would you like to see handle the Xenomorphs or other design elements in Alien 5?
Option 1: Weta Workshop
votes: 20
Option 2: Amalgamated Dynamics, Inc.
votes: 7
Option 3: KNB EFX
votes: 0
Option 4: Legacy Effects (Formerly Stan Winston Studio)
votes: 12
Option 5: Spectral Motion
votes: 0
I personally think Weta would be a good choice, considering Neil has worked with them on all three of his Sci-Fi films. Weta has done some really impressive stuff and they handle both practical and digital effects. I've always admired the heart and work of the ADI guys, but I know many fans here didn't really like their effects for the Xenomorphs.
The Alien 3 rod puppet was pretty awesome though. Pity about the compositing issues.
I liked ADI's work too. Some dodgy design directions aside (which may well have been dictated to them) I thought their practical effects were technically great.
That said... I'd love to see Weta take a crack at it. Their stuff for Blomkamp's films thus far has been top-notch, and visually magnificent.
Wouldn't mind seeing what WETA could do. Failing that, Aardman? :)
Weta all the way 8)
They're all excellent choices, really. It all depends on the direction.
Tatopoulos Studios closed their activity in 2009, unfortunately. Tatopoulos now works as a freelance designer.
Odds are it'll be Weta. ADI are nice guys and passionate about the series but they do everything on the cheap.
Come to think of it, Andy Serkis could be a superb motion-captured alien.
Quote from: Local Trouble on Feb 24, 2015, 08:34:57 PM
Come to think of it, Andy Serkis could be a superb motion-captured alien.
No thank you. Keep that damn dirty ape away from my damn dirty alien. I'd rather see dudes in rubber suits.
Considering how gorgeous both District 9 and Elysium were...I'd be quite happy with WETA. I want to see that Alien do some unearthly things.
That said, I also wouldn't mind ADI. Seems like Neill isn't just going to recycle whatever is on hand so I'd like to see ADI go back to a pre-Resurrection Alien.
Stan Winston Studios.
Quote from: Omegazilla on Feb 24, 2015, 07:10:21 PM
They're all excellent choices, really. It all depends on the direction.
Tatopoulos Studios closed their activity in 2009, unfortunately. Tatopoulos now works as a freelance designer.
Ah, didn't hear about that. That's a shame, I loved his studio's work on The Cave and the Underworld films.
Yeah, Tatopoulos Studios knew how to deliver in both design and practical effects -- StarGate, ID4, Godzilla, Underworld...
A real shame indeed. :-/
weta works and stand winstons team working together.
I see ADI are throwing a spanner in ...
(https://www.avpgalaxy.net/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs16.postimg.org%2Fskq375f51%2Fadi.jpg&hash=3310b038d63a656f5227ece9f71cc8adbf5f68d3)
(https://www.avpgalaxy.net/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs15.postimg.org%2Flj1ujmu3f%2Fadi2.jpg&hash=fd6db3fc54d2577741405f6b639cf68543a974ac)
Hmm, they're not doing themselves any favours bringing that alien out of storage.
That statue looks better than what they produced :laugh: .
Collaboration between Weta Workshop and Weta Digital.
Quote from: shakermakerman on Mar 05, 2015, 07:07:35 PM
That statue looks better than what they produced :laugh: .
Even though it's a painted cast of the Resurrection Aliens?
Quote from: Gash on Mar 05, 2015, 07:01:19 PM
Hmm, they're not doing themselves any favours bringing that alien out of storage.
Too many fools don't notice the difference.
Anyone but ADI. Please f**king god say they're not involved. The fact that tom woodruff posted a photo of himself in aliens armour next to a alien resurrection mould says everything. He'll wear the suit in alien 5 and look like a chubby actor in a plastic costume. Anyone but them, please
Quote from: OpenMaw on Feb 25, 2015, 08:41:30 AM
Stan Winston Studios.
This
Quote from: Omegazilla on Mar 05, 2015, 08:16:21 PM
Quote from: shakermakerman link=topic=524 83.msg2047746#msg2047746 date=1425582455
That statue looks better than what they produced :laugh: .
Even though it's a painted cast of the Resurrection Aliens?
it looks better than the rubber crap we got.
Quote from: SuicideDoors on Mar 05, 2015, 09:34:11 PM
Anyone but ADI. Please f**king god say they're not involved. The fact that tom woodruff posted a photo of himself in aliens armour next to a alien resurrection mould says everything. He'll wear the suit in alien 5 and look like a chubby actor in a plastic costume. Anyone but them, please
You do realize that ADI are not the problem right? its the directors and studio that makes the design choices and cuts corners.
They are just doing their jobs to a T, the choices are not theirs.
Any of the poll choices above could be forced to make a fleshy crap looking alien if it is requested by the director or studio. So people really need to lay off ADI.
Yeah, I don't get the hate for ADI. Sure there Aliens looked crap, but how much of that was down to the design they were told to produce?
From a technical standpoint, their work is great.
People just think, "I don't like the Alien design. Who did the special effects?!" they go over at IMDb and ADI are listed as the creators of the effects... so "ADI sucks pls don't bring them back!!!1" An incredibly piss poor thing to say.
Aye, ADI have done some incredible work (including, but not limited to, their work on the various incarnations of the Alien).
I myself am much more fond of the Alien aesthetic than the Resurrection aesthetic, but unfortunately that's not the direction that the latter directors went in. Can't fault ADI for doing what they were hired to do.
Quote from: Omegazilla on Mar 06, 2015, 09:09:44 PM
People just think, "I don't like the Alien design. Who did the special effects?!" they go over at IMDb and ADI are listed as the creators of the effects... so "ADI sucks pls don't bring them back!!!1" An incredibly piss poor thing to say.
Tom has portrayed the Alien since Alien 3 too pal. Every shot he's in I can tell it's a man in a suit whereas in the 1979 film the illusion is much better, despite it STILL being a man in a suit. I'd be willing to bet money Tom will insist on being in the suit again and I just don't think he's tall or slight enough
Quote from: Nightmare Asylum on Mar 06, 2015, 09:16:42 PM
Aye, ADI have done some incredible work (including, but not limited to, their work on the various incarnations of the Alien).
I myself am much more fond of the Alien aesthetic than the Resurrection aesthetic, but unfortunately that's not the direction that the latter directors went in. Can't fault ADI for doing what they were hired to do.
They were so hands on with the creature designs in the AvP films too and fluffed all them up. They've had their chance. Remember the mandibles on Scar in AvP? Or the Predalien in general. Woeful
Tom didn't direct the moves, though. Also, the Predalien is what the filmmakers and Fox requested. ADI just worked with the orders given to them.
Quote from: SuicideDoors on Mar 07, 2015, 04:45:18 PM
Tom has portrayed the Alien since Alien 3 too pal. Every shot he's in I can tell it's a man in a suit whereas in the 1979 film the illusion is much better, despite it STILL being a man in a suit. I'd be willing to bet money Tom will insist on being in the suit again and I just don't think he's tall or slight enough
The lighting is different in those films, Alien 3 tended to have an orange or bronze tint all the time, whereas the previous films were far darker and obscure.
Quote from: SuicideDoors on Mar 07, 2015, 04:45:18 PM
Tom has portrayed the Alien since Alien 3 too pal. Every shot he's in I can tell it's a man in a suit whereas in the 1979 film the illusion is much better, despite it STILL being a man in a suit. I'd be willing to bet money Tom will insist on being in the suit again and I just don't think he's tall or slight enough
(https://alienseries.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/pictur07-2.jpg)
That, and being at the helm of the special effects does not mean being at the helm of photography. Do some research on how this stuff is done, please.
Quote from: SuicideDoors on Mar 07, 2015, 04:45:18 PM
They were so hands on with the creature designs in the AvP films too and fluffed all them up. They've had their chance. Remember the mandibles on Scar in AvP? Or the Predalien in general. Woeful
Under specific directions in all cases.
Quote from: HuDaFuK on Mar 06, 2015, 01:33:46 PM
Yeah, I don't get the hate for ADI. Sure there Aliens looked crap, but how much of that was down to the design they were told to produce?
From a technical standpoint, their work is great.
I agree. ADI gets a bad rap because of decisions that the studios that hire them make. Their work for The Thing prequel was awesome until the studio replaced it with shitty digital effects. So ADI kickstarted Harbringer Down, it got so bad.
Personally I love practical effects, and Stan Winston's studio did some great work back in the day. Weta did some great work with Blompkamp and Jackson's films, but they seem more and more digitally oriented, nowadays. I want me a guy in a suit, please.
Quote from: Omegazilla on Mar 07, 2015, 10:26:54 PM
Quote from: SuicideDoors on Mar 07, 2015, 04:45:18 PM
Tom has portrayed the Alien since Alien 3 too pal. Every shot he's in I can tell it's a man in a suit whereas in the 1979 film the illusion is much better, despite it STILL being a man in a suit. I'd be willing to bet money Tom will insist on being in the suit again and I just don't think he's tall or slight enough
https://alienseries.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/pictur07-2.jpg
That, and being at the helm of the special effects does not mean being at the helm of photography. Do some research on how this stuff is done, please.
Quote from: SuicideDoors on Mar 07, 2015, 04:45:18 PM
They were so hands on with the creature designs in the AvP films too and fluffed all them up. They've had their chance. Remember the mandibles on Scar in AvP? Or the Predalien in general. Woeful
Under specific directions in all cases.
I would just prefer the reigns to be handed over to someone else for this instalment. I actually really enjoy watching them on the quad/anthology docs, they're charismatic guys
It won't make any difference...
Any special effects company will still be told what to do by the studio and director. SFX companies are not the boss of what they do, they can suggest small changes, usually in the event of something not working like the studio/director hoped but that is all, major decisions such as designs are done by someone else.
They're given their marching orders, they create some concepts, the directors/producers come in and pick what they like, and they go from there. Within that framework they have a little pull, but yes, it's generally out of their hands... And with AVP the money was such an important factor given they had essentially a double work load for creature work.
I go with WETA. I've liked their sensibilities since their roots in the early Peter Jackson films...
They need to bring something new to the Alien. I think Blomkamp will be smart enough to know that and his style and a new effects team will be wise to do just that. They need to shoot it differently, block it differently, design it differently.
Incidently, does anyone know what's up with the new egg and face hugger in Blomkamp's concet art?
Someone mentioned, that this was actually from Prometheus' unused concept art.
Can someone confirm this?
Do you mean like the octo-facehugger? yeah that is was in the original script by Jon Spaihts, they create Beluga-morphs, white fleshy Xenomorphs.
Someone said WETA use CGI mostly, practical effects are the best way to go with the Aliens series, CGI should only be used for what cannot be done with practical effects and not to cut corners.
WETA Digital does digital effects. WETA Workshop does practical effects.
Quote from: CainsSon on Mar 08, 2015, 02:34:01 PM
I go with WETA. I've liked their sensibilities since their roots in the early Peter Jackson films...
They need to bring something new to the Alien. I think Blomkamp will be smart enough to know that and his style and a new effects team will be wise to do just that. They need to shoot it differently, block it differently, design it differently.
Incidently, does anyone know what's up with the new egg and face hugger in Blomkamp's concet art?
Someone mentioned, that this was actually from Prometheus' unused concept art.
Can someone confirm this?
That isn't actually Blomkamp's art- it's fan art someone sent to him.
Well if WETA can do practical effects too that is good. CGI is not bad but if you can do something practically and it looks better, then it should be done that way.
When the CGI is well done you hardly notice the difference between practical effects and digital animation. I think it should be a mixture of both techniques and WETA is the right candidate for the job. So I guess people want to see this iconic monster being portrayed in the best way, right?
That depends, the CGI Aliens in AVP looked bad, not because it didn't look realistic but because it made them look squashed, they barely had any shoulders. the CGI made them look so compact, it took away their stature.
Its always came down to the balance between animatronics and cgi, partly the reason that the first two films captured so many peoples imaginations was the fact that cgi pretty much didn't exist then but the directors knew how to show just enough of the aliens in camera to make the suits seem so real, to be honest the worst example of cgi was in alien 3, granted cgi had just really began but they overexposed the alien way too much and the bad example of animatronics and suits was avp r it seemed like the actors were just going through the ropes there was no sense of actual alien movement they just moved like guys in suits or focused on close ups of the head area.
Quote from: Murfy426 on Mar 08, 2015, 04:41:37 PM
Its always came down to the balance between animatronics and cgi, partly the reason that the first two films captured so many peoples imaginations was the fact that cgi pretty much didn't exist then but the directors knew how to show just enough of the aliens in camera to make the suits seem so real, to be honest the worst example of cgi was in alien 3, granted cgi had just really began but they overexposed the alien way too much and the bad example of animatronics and suits was avp r it seemed like the actors were just going through the ropes there was no sense of actual alien movement they just moved like guys in suits or focused on close ups of the head area.
Alien 3 didn't use much CGI, the Alien was a rod puppet.
A lack of CGI allows creativity, CGI no matter how good, is often used to cut corners.
You two have shared interesting points, but I do not think the new film will be a cheap production. I know that money does not guarantee the quality of a movie, but it certainly helps. And Neill Blomkamp seems to be a perfectionist in terms of special effects (a bit like Cameron).
Quote from: Murfy426 on Mar 08, 2015, 04:41:37 PMthe worst example of cgi was in alien 3
That Alien wasn't CGI at all. It was a rod puppet. It was badly composited into the live-action footage which is why it looks so bad.
sorry cruentus should of specified with alien 3 the couple scenes when it was just seemed to take the horror away from me when I watched it as a kid, part of me is just worried that with fox's influence in the franchise the recent films have just been alien porn with the xenos been shown too much, take for instance my fiancée's brother, hes 14 and he and his friends have seen the avp movies a couple of times and just recently I handed him the first three movies thinking that this will show him the same feelings we felt when we watched them, he just handed me them back and was like "yeah they were okay" I was shocked beyond belief, at his age i had watched the movies countless times and they still stirred the same feelings of terror when I watched them as a kid, maybe its his generation having call of duty lol but im straying off subject I just hope that blokamp as a director and fan will try and keep a slight bit of mystery to the creatures and give back a hint of the horror and tension from so long ago
Quote from: CainsSon on Mar 08, 2015, 02:34:01 PM
Incidently, does anyone know what's up with the new egg and face hugger in Blomkamp's concet art?
Someone mentioned, that this was actually from Prometheus' unused concept art.
Can someone confirm this?
Artist Doug Williams runs runs a blog pleaselookatmeneillblomkamp.blogspot.com, and when
Prometheus's trailer came out he posted a piece of art speculating on the Hammerpede based on the glimpses seen in the trailer. That piece wound up getting republished online on Blomkamp's Instagram when he published all of the concept art that he had commissioned for his Alien project, so I"m hoping that means that, while the Hammerpede piece likely won't be used in the film, Williams himself might be involved. He does some great work (he recently worked as a concept artist for
Pacific Rim, and has done some great Space Jockey pieces).
Quote from: The Cruentus on Mar 08, 2015, 03:24:50 PM
Well if WETA can do practical effects too that is good. CGI is not bad but if you can do something practically and it looks better, then it should be done that way.
That'd be WETA Workshop (they're a separate entity than WETA Digital). Blomkamp usually works with both of them in tandem (he did on
District 9 and
Elysium for sure, not sure if WETA Workshop did anything for
Chappie though).
Think WETA Workshop did the background TetraVaal Robots in some of the scenes in Chappie. The full scale MOOSE was definitely theirs too.
That's what I figured (and those practical robot chassis looked fantastic). Just played it safe when I noticed that Chappie wasn't listed on WETA Workshop's site, for some reason.
Quote from: HuDaFuK on Mar 06, 2015, 01:33:46 PM
Yeah, I don't get the hate for ADI. Sure there Aliens looked crap, but how much of that was down to the design they were told to produce?
From a technical standpoint, their work is great.
loved their work on alien 3 and can't believe how they got screwed over on the thing.
Thats film-making for you, somewhere somehow, someone is getting screwed over.