SYNOPSIS
An escape pod hurtles towards "Ixion" B-751. It's hull marked with a mysterious tracking beacon. On the surface, a team of core drillers and corporate security operate the Oasis IV coring platform, going about their mundane and risk averse lives surrounded by a primordial alien world in search of wealth buried beneath the planet's surface.
When the pod makes planet fall near their platform, the hapless souls of Oasis IV find themselves caught between the deadliest creatures in the universe. The only question on their minds is...
Who will survive?BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Dissatisfied with the official direction taken with the ALIEN and PREDATOR franchises, AVP OASIS sets to strip both characters back to their roots and throw them into a blender of rending claws and savage blades. One Predator. One Alien. Fair game.
I was deeply inspired by SiL's very own AVP script (
https://www.avpgalaxy.net/forum/index.php?topic=34423.120) and borrowing a few of his ideas I set out to craft my own version of an AVP story.
One comic in particular nagged in the back of my mind. "Chained to Life and Death." It's a short one-off about an aging predator who goes on one last hunt against an alien, and in the end realizes that the beast does not understand or care about it's role in this Predator's "glory."
The fusion of ALIEN and PREDATOR was something that I really thought was poorly handled with the first AVP film. Neither creature feels particular authentic. Location, time period, character. It was all fairly disappointing.
Ixion, as described in the synopsis is an active planet. It's a younger world too, in the sense that life has begun to sprung up on it for the first time. strange alien plants and fungal pods wrapped and weave it's surface. In certain respects it'll look like an arid Beksinski come to life.
The Oasis project was set up by a rival company to Weyland Yutani, looking to exploit raw material on distant worlds. Unfortunately Oasis has proved to an expensive, ambitious, failure.
The crew of Oasis IV are a dozen plus personnel. The coring/operating crew. The Admin staff, and a small contingent of Colonial Marshalls.
Our primary leads will be the Chief Administrator Chelsea Van-cleef and Marshall Thomas Warden. Van Cleef is basically in over her head and under the gun, and that's before the creatures show up. Warden is an older, tired, ex colonial marine who was discharged after an industrial accident aboard a marine transport. Cut him off his track to a proper military commission. He's coped by developing an addiction to drinking.
The Predator in the story, given the nick name of "Drifter." He's an elder Predator whom at a glance will appear to be very much based on Jungle Hunter. He's lean, and fit. Agile, and adept. His nickname comes from another source of inspiration. The classic Clint Eastwood western "High Plains Drifter." Visually. if you imagine a mixture of Jungle Hunter, "Scout", and Elder, you're on the right track.
The Alien is intended to be as perfect a recreation of the original beast as possible. The important stages of the life cycle are all highlighted and the intelligence, grace, and power of the creature are on full display.
Some additional sources of inspiration:
Freddy vs Jason, The Thing, The second Gibson draft for Alien 3, and AVP on Atari Jaguar(tone).
Like I said previously, authenticity is very important. That's everything from creature design, to world and character building, to music and sound. I intend to create a new score for the film, but utilize motifs and themes heard in both ALIEN and PREDATOR. From the distant clanging and dissonant trumpeting from Alien, to the tribal bongo drums of Predator. The infamous clicking and pulsing of Motion Trackers, to the familiar whirring and beeping of the Alien verse hardware.
WHERE IS IT/WHAT IS IT?
A 3D animated Machinima that I am currently working on. At this stage it is in pre-production, but I wanted to start the thread and get the word going. This is my primary project, and I've been buzzing on and off about it for years.
I'll be posting the treatment in a few days. Right now, i'm looking to put this all together in Unreal Engine 4 using it's incredibly powerful sequence and animation editors.