Aliens Expanded - A New Aliens Documentary Announced

Started by Darkness, Apr 26, 2022, 08:03:14 PM

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Aliens Expanded - A New Aliens Documentary Announced (Read 25,992 times)

Local Trouble

Quote from: Engineer on Nov 21, 2022, 10:08:14 PM
Quote from: HuDaFuK on Nov 21, 2022, 08:19:06 PM
Quote from: Valaquen on Nov 21, 2022, 03:23:22 PMWhat question hasn't Lance been asked? That's a tough one.

"Did you put the egg on the Sulaco?"
I think they're trying to avoid everything NOT "Aliens" lol

But it would have happened during the events of Aliens.

kwisatz

Quote from: Local Trouble on Nov 21, 2022, 10:14:58 PM
Quote from: Engineer on Nov 21, 2022, 10:08:14 PM
Quote from: HuDaFuK on Nov 21, 2022, 08:19:06 PM
Quote from: Valaquen on Nov 21, 2022, 03:23:22 PMWhat question hasn't Lance been asked? That's a tough one.

"Did you put the egg on the Sulaco?"
I think they're trying to avoid everything NOT "Aliens" lol

But it would have happened during the events of Aliens.

Is that consensus?

Local Trouble


Engineer


BlueMarsalis79


Corporal Hicks


A nervous Hicks' dealing with his first live podcast.

BlueMarsalis79

You will do fine


Corporal Hicks


Corporal Hicks


Corporal Hicks



Corporal Hicks

Release pushed back to Alien Day 2024. Which I'm fine with.

QuoteWelcome to our latest production diary and Happy Alien Day!



Before handing over to Ian for our production news, we have an important announcement to make. We have taken the decision to move the release date of Aliens Expanded to spring 2024, a year from now, to coincide with Alien Day on April 26 2024.

As Ian will explain in more detail below, this comes down to making the best documentary possible so that we can do this incredible film justice.

Here's Ian:

Happy Alien Day!
What better occasion to bring you up to date with how the production of Aliens Expanded is progressing? And progressing it is. I have recently completed my twenty-first interview and we are far from finished.

Indeed, there will be some exciting announcements very soon.

The documentary is definitely taking shape. The bones of the synopsis now have a layer of muscle and tissue. Organs are appearing. It's like one of those medical diagrams that show the insides of the human body, or one of Giger's glorious biomechanical paintings – a bit of weirdness is always to be encouraged.

Talking of which, Creature Effects Coordinator Alec Gillis, who can picture every model and costume he made as if it were yesterday, is so good on what he calls "the foundational work" of H.R. Giger – it was an entire language from which they could expand. He is convinced there wouldn't have been a franchise if it wasn't for Giger's visionary contribution.

While we were setting up the shot, with some of his maquettes silhouetted behind, a last-minute adjustment was made to the tableau at Gillis's request – there was a xenomorph he felt shouldn't be shown, one he had made specifically for Neill Blomkamp's aborted reboot-sequel. I couldn't make out exactly what was different, but it was a tantalizing glimpse into what could have been. And another line of enquiry for Aliens Expanded.

The big, on-screen names from the cast have provided such good material, but there is a unique texture you get from some of the behind-the-scenes artisans, people who went right back with Cameron to his Roger Corman days.

Model maestro Robert Skotak, for instance, is a treasure trove of Aliens lore, and he is a writer himself, having regularly contributed to Famous Monsters of Filmland and Fangoria. That is alongside his immortal model work, with brother Dennis, on not only Aliens, but Escape from New York, The Terminator, Tremors, Darkman, and Batman Returns. You have to love a credit list – he also did all the miniatures for Captain Ron. Skotak is a real night owl. It was 11pm, his time, when we spoke. But so worthwhile. He held me under his spell for the entire interview, bringing to life an entire era of hand-crafted special effects.


Here's an Alien/Aliens curio: Skotak mentioned how, prior to the sequel, he had worked on a live Halloween production of Alien with Bob Burns. Burns was the legendary genre aficionado and prop collector who mounted fully immersive, movie-themed Halloween shows at his house in Burbank, California every year, utilizing the skills of up-and-coming effects people – not only the Skotak brothers, but the likes of Dennis Muren, Rick Baker, and D.C. Fontana. Shows featured The Exorcist, The Thing, and Forbidden Planet. And in 1979, it was the turn of Alien. It ran on two consecutive weekends, with thousands queuing around the block. Such was the innocence of the age, that 20th Century Fox actually provided the original model of the Derelict and the xeno headpiece.

And that's how they got hold of the Derelict for Aliens, a little battered and bruised since production in 1978, but they spruced her up ready to use in scenes that would ultimately only make the Special Edition. Which means, technically speaking, production on the sequel began in the US, where all the background plates were shot for the Jorden family excursion to the Derelict.

I love this kind of detail, how it enhances the mythology of the film, exposing the grain of history, and the connective tissue between sequel and original. And also the sense of the movie tradition into which Aliens was born – not only in relation to Ridley Scott's masterpiece, but the history of science fiction and horror as a whole.

Scripting is gathering pace, and it is always a pleasure to see how bringing quotes together yields new directions. Incidental points grow into major themes, stories you think you know take on new dimensions.

The challenge that lies ahead is how to bottle all this nuance into a satisfying story.

With each interview, Aliens Expanded grows: historically, technically, anecdotally, and with a vital sense of the richness and personality of those involved at every level.

Which brings me to our release date announcement.
We have taken the decision to postpone the release date of Aliens Expanded to spring 2024, a year from now, to coincide with Alien Day on April 26.

This is good news. The documentary will only get better.

More time offers more flexibility to pursue yet more interviews with top tier talent. There is more time to finesse and shape a new species of documentary, to react to interviews and delve ever deeper, and also to continue taking onboard your ideas and advice from the recent backer consultation (which bring a whole level of detail in themselves) to pictorial elements. The opportunity to tell a better, more layered, and even more passionate story keeps, well, expanding.
By extending the production period, I am also giving myself breathing space in post-production, which will allow my editor to get their head around the frankly dizzying levels of material.
Put simply, I don't want to rush it. From the outset, it has been my mission to make the ultimate statement about our collective love of Aliens, and I don't want to short change my own ambitions, and most importantly, I don't want to short change you.

And to be fair, James Cameron delayed his Avatar sequel by over a decade!
In the meantime, the live events will be extended (more vidcasts, more live Q&As, more interaction). And we will keep you posted every step of the way.

I thank you so much for your patience and belief. This is a journey we are making together, and I couldn't do it without you.



Stay frosty,
Ian

SiL

I'm kind of glad I never heard back from them about an editing position.

426Buddy

Going to be some great interviews in this one.

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