Categories
Thoughts

Action Movie Cliches

A recent video montage identified signature clichés in mainstream action movies over the last 30 years.

Edited together by Jacob Britta, it shows how several tropes seem to recur throughout the genre.

Perhaps this is because films and directors naturally influence one another and that certain conventions evolve over time.

Action is perhaps not something you would immediately associate with film school analysis.

Paul Thomas Anderson once told the story of how he left NYU after just 2 days when a teacher pompously declared the screenwriting students should leave if they wanted to write Terminator 2:

But action is worthy of analysis, especially as it has been with the cinema almost since the beginning of the medium.

It has been used to excite and dazzle audiences ever since 1895 when the Lumiere Brothers decided to project a train hurtling towards an audience, right up to 2010 when Christopher Nolan pulled a similar trick in Inception.

In between there was Douglas Fairbanks swashbucklers, classic Westerns, the crop duster sequence in North by Northwest (1959), the Bond franchise, thrilling crime dramas like Bullitt (1968), The French Connection (1971) and Dirty Harry (1971) and the testosterone-fuelled action era of the 1980s with Stallone, Schwarzenegger and Willis.

Since the early 1990s CGI has allowed action films to go in to ever more fantastical realms with The Matrix (1999), the last decade of comic book movies and Avatar (2009).

A recent video essay by Matthias Stork explored the recent phenomenon of ‘chaos cinema’ which may or may not be tied to modern cameras and digital editing systems.

Like anything else it has been done badly, but when films get it right there are few other art forms that can match cinema for the pure visceral thrill of an action scene.

By looking closely at Britta’s video we can see them:

So, what are the ingredients going on in these action movies?

  • The Hero Head Turn: This is where the main character is dramatically framed whilst turning his head. It’s mostly used as a tool of realisation, when our hero considers something big and important, as if to say “wow, there’s some heavy s**t going down”. But it also gives an audience an expectation that something exciting is happening soon. The swooping pan (or sometimes tracking shot) that often accompanies a ‘hero head turn’ increases the sense of disorientation and excitement in the viewer.
  • The Run Amongst Cars: If someone walks across the street in a movie you can almost guarentee that a car will appear from nowhere and screech to a halt. The ultimate example is perhaps Midnight Cowboy where Dustin Hoffman screams at a New York cab. But in an action movie it would be dull just to have them walk across the street, so to ramp this up they have the hero run into speeding traffic, thus increasing the drama and tension.
  • The Walk at the Camera: A tracking shot used to focus on the character’s movement and intention. There is often a frission of drama when we see a character walking at or near the camera as it provokes an instant curiosity about where they’re going. The pay off when they reach their destination, is usually some kind of confrontation or decisive action.
  • The Staircase Run: Stairs often play a role in horror movie because they provide an interior exit point for someone being chased by a villain or creature. But in action movies they can work both ways, as an obstacle for our hero as he chases a scum bag on the subway or as a stumbling block for a protagonist trying to escape from something.
  • The Hit to the Head: In real life head injuries are a serious business that can result in brain damage or death. But in movies they are often used to demonstrate that our hero really can be hurt. Blows to the body are often shrugged off, but in a fight where someone is hit on the head it has got serious. However, it is rare to see repeated blows to the face disfigure the hero in any way.
  • The Weapon Pull Out: Unsurprisngly this often signifies that guns are about to be used, but there is almost something fetishistic about how weapons are depicted. Think of Schwarzenegger movies like The Terminator (1984) or Commando (1985) where guns are assembled and loaded with almost loving care. It is an immediate sign that action is around the corner, villians are going to die and justice will be served.
  • The Car Swerve: Car chases often form an essential part of any self-respecting action movie from Bullitt to The Bourne Supremacy. But look closely and you’ll see it’s not just a matter of a high speed chase from A to B. One recurring motif is the dramatic swerve out of danger, whether its avoiding a pram crossing the road (The French Connection, Speed) or a plane on a runway (Face/Off). It reminds us of the danger and keeps the adrenaline flowing until the climax of the chase.
  • The Helicopter: One way to inject a bit of sizzle in to any action movie is to include some helicopters. Whether they are used in the actual chase or just as a place to shoot from (or both), they give an aerial aspect to a chase or sequence. Michael Bay has become infamous for his use of helicopters, but Apocalypse Now is perhaps the most famous use of the aircraft, with the famous attack sequence set to Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries. Notice how Coppola is especially inventive in that film at synchronising the sound of the blades with the rhythm of the score.
  • The Slow Motion Fall: Slow motion has become a cliche in the action genre, but like cliches it exists for a reason. If you saw someone jumping in real-time, the scene would be over in 1-2 seconds. So to mine the drama of a hero jumping into the sea (e.g. Face/Off) or a villain falling from a building (e.g. Die Hard) the camera slows down and milks the scene. A particularly inventive use of slow-motion occurs in Inception to signify the different time scales in different dream states.
  • The Quick Drive By: Often this is a simple stationary shot of a vehicle driving from one side of the screen to another. But the vehicle usually passes by in a flash to indicate speed and excitement, which can form part of a chase or a race against time. If the director is really up for it, then he does a tracking shot which pans on to an oncoming vehicle, showing the car coming at and past the camera in one go (essentially this is the vehicle equivalent of the “hero head turn”). Go back to the Lumiere Brothers film of the train and you’ll a nascent version of this.
  • The Vehicle Smash: What good is a car chase if there’s no carnage to show for it? This is a logical extension of the car swerve, in that it shows what happens when a car can’t get out of the way of another vehicle. They often end with a particular flourish, like a car flipping over in a spectacular way. Or my personal favourite, which is a car crashing in to some yellow bins filled with water (Speed, The Matrix Reloaded).
  • The Mayhem Explosion: There’s explosions and then there are mayhem explosions, which are designed to let you know that some s**t just got real. Often major explosions are used within in a scene to indicate the death of expendable goons. But primarily it is because the sight of bright orange flames and the sound of a loud explosion on the soundtrack is a feast for the eyes and ears. Often ‘The Camera Walk’ is blended with a ‘Mayhem Explosion’, where the hero casually walks away from a explosion. This is completely impractical in real life, but as used in the movies (in slow motion!) it indicates how cool the hero is as he dispatches another villain (e.g. Man on Fire).
  • The Climactic Scream: Film is primarily a visual medium but since the invention of movie sound in the late 1920s, filmmakers have used it to tap into our primal senses (e.g. The Wilhem Scream). A good example of this is the “climactic scream”, which indicates some kind of terror and/or release at the end of an action sequence. It could indicate danger or pain, but is designed to cut through and viscerally affect the audience. Whether it is the Alien Queen at the climax of Aliens or Wez at the end of Mad Max 2 a climactic scream can be a cherry on top of the action movie pie.

[Original video via Urlesque]

> More on the Action Movie genre at Wikipedia
> Chaos Cinema and the Rise of the Avid

Categories
Interesting

Voice Cameos of James Cameron

Director James Cameron can often be heard making off-screen voice cameos in his movies.

In the The Terminator (1984), some have speculated that he voices the guy who leaves an answerphone message for Sarah Connor, cancelling their date for the evening.

But although it could be him putting on an accent, it seems more likely he is the motel receptionist later in the film who checks Sarah and Kyle Reese in as they flee the killer cyborg.

At a Terminator promotional event in 1991, Cameron admitted that he provided some of the sounds for the Alien Queen in Aliens (1986), dubbing them at his house near Pinewood Studios.

Near the beginning of The Abyss (1989), he began a tradition of voicing a pilot, as we can hear him ask for clearence to land a helicopter on the Benthic Explorer ship as he drops off the Navy SEAL team.

In Terminator 2 (1991) he went back to voicing villains, providing the screams of the T-1000 as it interacted with molten steel towards the end of the film.

With True Lies (1994), he was back to voicing pilots, as one of the Marine Harrier pilots who fires upon the terrorist convoy on the Overseas Highway bridge.

With Titanic (1997), his voice cameo is easily missed as a faint voice on deck asking a fellow passenger about ‘talk of an iceberg’. (Unusually, he also makes couple of visual cameos in the background of two scenes)

Avatar (2009) saw him return to pilot mode as he can be heard on the radio as Quaritch’s forces begin their attack on Hometree.

I’m guessing he finds voice cameos easier than making a distracting visual appearence and that it’s easier to dub in some dialogue during post-production.

> More on James Cameron at Wikipedia
> T2 fan event in 1991

Categories
Behind The Scenes music Trailers

Frequently Used Trailer Cues

Various pieces of film music often end up in trailers for other movies but some appear more frequently than others.

When you watch a trailer for an upcoming film, the music featured is not necessarily what you hear in the final cut.

Often this is because the film and score haven’t been finished, but there are some musical cues that keep re-appearing.

The movie music website Soundtrack.net have compiled a long list of frequently used cues from trailers and here are the top five:

1. Redrum from Immediate Music (Used 28 times): Immediate Music are a LA-based music company that specialise in music for trailers and for some reason their track ‘Redrum’ has really caught on. The pounding rhythm conveys a sense of emergency, the dynamic pause at 0.22 is useful for cutting to a dramatic shot and the choral singing creates an atmosphere of heightened tension.

It has been used 28 times in trailers for Dante’s Peak (1997), The Day After Tomorrow (2004), The Last Castle (2001), The Mummy Returns (2001) and The Ring (2002).

2. Fire in a Brooklyn Theatre from Come See The Paradise (1990) by Randy Edelman (Used 27 times): Not many people remember Alan Parker’s drama about the treatment of Japanese people in America following the attack on Pearl Harbor, but one track from Randy Edelman’s score has been used in plenty of trailers as an action cue.

Again, urgency is the key here with the insistent rhythm and pounding keyboards creating the impression that what you are watching is dramatic and important. Ironically, this is musically out of step with the rest of film but studio marketing departments seem to love it, especially for weighty dramas with high stakes, which means it has appeared in trailers for The Chamber (1996), Clear and Present Danger (1994), A Few Good Men (1992), Rob Roy (1995) and Thirteen Days (2000).

3. Tightwire from Immediate Music (Used 26 times): The trailer music specialists are at it again with this fast, orchestral cue which screams urgency and a sense that something big is about to happen (i.e. a bomb about to go off), creating the illusion that you’re seeing something important and dramatic.

This is probably the reason why it has been used in trailers for The Avengers (1998), Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995), Leprechaun 2 (1994), The Man in the Iron Mask (1998) and What Lies Beneath (2000).

4. Naked Prey by Immediate Music (Used 25 times): Another track from Immediate Music, this cue automatically signifies urgent action with its quick beats and pounding rhythm.

Film trailers it has been used in include: Along Came a Spider (2001), The Beach (2000), The Constant Gardener (2005), The Mummy (1999) and Waterworld (1995).

5. Bishop’s Countdown from Aliens (1986) by James Horner (Used 24 times): James Horner’s score to James Cameron’s sequel to Alien (1979) was composed under extreme time constraints and pressure. But it features perhaps the most memorable trailer cue ever, taken from the climax to the film as Ripley fights the Alien queen.

The sounds of pounding metal, interweaving strings and perfectly judged brass all build to a monumental crescendo. It works so brilliantly that it appears in plenty of trailers including Alien 3 (1992), Broken Arrow (1996), Dante’s Peak (1997), From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) and Minority Report (2002).

UPDATE 07/04/2011: After Roger Ebert tweeted about this post (thanks Roger!) there was a lot of traffic and some excellent suggestions in the comments below.

Some are more modern examples of music that has been re-purposed for use in trailers.

Michael Williams suggests Steve Jablonsky‘s theme My Name is Lincoln from Michael Bay’s The Island (2005), which most people probably remember for its use in the trailer for Avatar (2009):

What’s interesting about this one is that it is used for the first minute of the trailer and was probably chosen for the spacey, sci-fi vibe.

Another suggestion from Fax Paladin was the track “St Crispin’s Day” from Patrick Doyle’s score to Kenneth Branagh’s Henry V (1989). Click forward to 2.37 to hear the specific cue, which is used when Henry give the Band of Brothers speech.

I’m not exactly sure what it has been used for, but it sounds familiar and the rousing strings around 4.22 certainly have that uplifting quality you often see in a good trailer.

Rug Daniels suggested Carter Burwell‘s theme to Miller’s Crossing (1990), which not only appeared in the trailer for that film but also cropped up in the trailer for The Shawshank Redemption (1994).

Although the film wasn’t a box office hit for The Coen Brothers, the moving strings and charming melodies make it perfect for creating a mood in a trailer.

Cat Vincent suggests Lux Aterna from Darren Aronofsky’s Requiem For A Dream (2000), which was famously remixed for the trailer to The Two Towers (2002).

Aronofsky told me in 2008 that Mansell was initially unhappy about this use of his music, but it caught on and quickly became a staple of various trailers and ads including The Da Vinci Code (2006), Sunshine (2007), and even Sky Sports News (it was also the theme for Soccer Saturday from 2007-2009)

Kevin Bingham suggests a track from John Murphy’s score to Danny Boyle’s Sunshine (2007), which combines an absolutely epic mix of strings, electronic beats and piano.

For some reason this was re-used (or slightly remixed) by Murphy himself in Matthew Vaughn’s Kick-Ass (2010) – in a fairly tense sequence – and also cropped up in the trailer for The Adjustment Bureau (2011). It also seems to appear regularly in various TV shows. By the way, click here for a monster remix of this track.

Chris Knight suggests the track “Archer Solomon Hike” from James Newton Howard’s score to Blood Diamond (2006):

I can’t quite put my finger on what trailers have used it but the moody strings certainly fit that quiet/reflective moments in a trailer.

Dave suggests Basil Pouledoris’ main theme for Conan the Barbarian (1982). Listen to the opening part:

The rhythm and melody sound very familiar and create a vibe of impending doom in a foreign land. It also sounds like Jerry Goldsmith’s main theme for Total Recall (1990), another film which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Be sure to check out the full list of the most used trailer cues at Soundtrack.net if they aren’t included above.

> Soundtrack.net Trailer Music
> More on trailers at Wikipedia

Categories
Amusing

Aliens vs Tron

Aint It Cool have been running a competition for users to make other films look like Tron.

Among the films that have been ‘Tronitized’ are A Clockwork OrangeDr. Strangelove and The Big Lebowski.

So far it look like this Aliens mashup could be the winner.

> AICN post
> More on Tron and Tron: Legacy at Wikipedia

[Via AICN]

Categories
DVD & Blu-ray Reviews

Blu-ray: Alien Anthology

Alien Anthology (20th Century Fox): Although essentially a Blu-ray upgrade from the previous Alien Quadrilogy boxset, that was one of the best in living memory, so the added extras make this one worthwhile.

The dilema with purchasing the Alien series in one package is that the first two films are outstanding and the next two are, for different reasons, interesting failures (the less said about the AVP films, the better).

However, the HD transfers for Alien (1979) and Aliens (1986) have been done with considerable care and attention and there is extra material which will be of interest to fans of the series.

James Cameron personally oversaw the new transfer of Aliens, the audio for Alien 3 has been upgraded with Charles Dance and Lance Henriksen recording new dialogue and there is a previously unreleased ‘Alien 3’ documentary which features visual evidence of the nightmare David Fincher had on the set of his directorial debut.

A lot of the interviews are new and extended and Mark Kermode’s excellent ‘Alien Evolution’ documentary is included in an uncut, complete version.

There is also the interactive MU-TH-UR mode, which lets you tag and bookmark topics across the discs and access them later.

The full features breakdown like this:

DISCS

  • 4 film discs
  • Two versions of each movie (Directors Cut or Special Edition & Theatrical Version) in High Definition, plus commentaries
  • 2 discs of Bonus Material
  • Over 60 hours of extra features, including every piece of bonus material ever released
  • Including over 4 hours of NEVER BEFORE SEEN content
  • New MU-TH-UR Mode, a fully interactive companion takes the extensive materials in the ALIEN ANTHOLOGY and puts them in the user’s hand – connecting fans to special features on all six discs and instantly providing an index of all available ALIEN content.

SPECIAL FEATURES

DISC ONE: ALIEN

  • 1979 Theatrical Version
  • 2003 Director’s Cut with Ridley Scott Introduction
  • Audio Commentary by Director Ridley Scott, Writer Dan O’Bannon, Executive Producer Ronald Shusett, Editor Terry Rawlings, Actors Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton and John Hurt
  • Audio Commentary (for Theatrical Cut only) by Ridley Scott
  • Final Theatrical Isolated Score by Jerry Goldsmith
  • Composer’s Original Isolated Score by Jerry Goldsmith
  • Deleted and Extended Scenes
  • MU-TH-UR Mode Interactive Experience with Weyland-Yutani Datastream

DISC TWO: ALIENS

  • 1986 Theatrical Version
  • 1991 Special Edition with James Cameron Introduction
  • Audio Commentary by Director James Cameron, Producer Gale Anne Hurd, Alien Effects Creator Stan Winston, Visual Effects Supervisors Robert Skotak and Dennis Skotak, Miniature Effects Supervisor Pat McClung, Actors Michael Biehn, Bill Paxton, Lance Henriksen, Jenette Goldstein, Carrie Henn and Christopher Henn
  • Final Theatrical Isolated Score by James Horner
  • Composer’s Original Isolated Score by James Horner
  • Deleted and Extended Scenes
  • MU-TH-UR Mode Interactive Experience with Weyland-Yutani Datastream

DISC THREE: ALIEN3

  • 1992 Theatrical Version
  • 2003 Special Edition (Restored Workprint Version)
  • Audio Commentary by Cinematographer Alex Thomson, B.S.C., Editor Terry Rawlings, Alien Effects Designers Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff, Jr., Visual Effects Producer Richard Edlund, A.S.C., Actors Paul McGann and Lance Henriksen
  • Final Theatrical Isolated Score by Elliot Goldenthal
  • Deleted and Extended Scenes
  • MU-TH-UR Mode Interactive Experience with Weyland-Yutani Datastream

DISC FOUR: ALIEN RESURRECTION

  • 1997 Theatrical Version
  • 2003 Special Edition with Jean-Pierre Jeunet Introduction
  • Audio Commentary by Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Editor Hervé Schneid, A.C.E., Alien Effects Creators Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff, Jr., Visual Effects Supervisor Pitof, Conceptual Artist Sylvain Despretz, Actors Ron Perlman, Dominique Pinon and Leland Orser
  • Final Theatrical Isolated Score by John Frizzell
  • Deleted and Extended Scenes
  • MU-TH-UR Mode Interactive Experience with Weyland-Yutani Datastream

DISC FIVE: MAKING THE ANTHOLOGY

In addition to over 12 hours of in-depth documentaries, these Blu-ray box set has nearly five hours of additional video ‘Enhancement Pods’, presenting behind-the-scenes footage, raw dailies and interview outtakes from all four films. At topical points in the documentaries, you can access these pods to enhance your experience, or watch them on their own from the separate Enhancement Pod index.

The Beast Within: Making ALIEN

  • Star Beast: Developing the Story
  • The Visualists: Direction and Design
  • Truckers in Space: Casting
  • Fear of the Unknown: Shepperton Studios, 1978
  • The Darkest Reaches: Nostromo and Alien Planet
  • The Eighth Passenger: Creature Design
  • Future Tense: Editing and Music
  • Outward Bound: Visual Effects
  • A Nightmare Fulfilled: Reaction to the Film
  • Enhancement Pods

Superior Firepower: Making ALIENS

  • 57 Years Later: Continuing the Story
  • Building Better Worlds: From Concept to Construction
  • Preparing for Battle: Casting and Characterization
  • This Time It’s War: Pinewood Studios, 1985
  • The Risk Always Lives: Weapons and Action
  • Bug Hunt: Creature Design
  • Beauty and the Bitch: Power Loader vs. Queen Alien
  • Two Orphans: Sigourney Weaver and Carrie Henn • The Final Countdown: Music, Editing and Sound
  • The Power of Real Tech: Visual Effects
  • Aliens Unleashed: Reaction to the Film
  • Enhancement Pods

Wreckage and Rage: Making ALIEN3

  • Development Hell: Concluding the Story
  • Tales of the Wooden Planet: Vincent Ward’s Vision
  • Stasis Interrupted: David Fincher’s Vision
  • Xeno-Erotic: H.R. Giger’s Redesign
  • The Color of Blood: Pinewood Studios, 1991
  • Adaptive Organism: Creature Design
  • The Downward Spiral: Creative Differences
  • Where the Sun Burns Cold: Fox Studios, L.A. 1992
  • Optical Fury: Visual Effects
  • Requiem for a Scream: Music, Editing and Sound
  • Post-Mortem: Reaction to the Film
  • Enhancement Pods

One Step Beyond: Making ALIEN RESURRECTION

  • From the Ashes: Reviving the Story
  • French Twist: Direction and Design
  • Under the Skin: Casting and Characterization
  • Death from Below: Fox Studios, Los Angeles, 1996
  • In the Zone: The Basketball Scene
  • Unnatural Mutation: Creature Design
  • Genetic Composition: Music
  • Virtual Aliens: Computer Generated Imagery
  • A Matter of Scale: Miniature Photography
  • Critical Juncture: Reaction to the Film
  • Enhancement Pods
  • MU-TH-UR Mode Interactive Experience to Access and Control Enhancement Pods

DISC SIX: THE ANTHOLOGY ARCHIVES

ALIEN

  • Pre-Production
  • First Draft Screenplay by Dan O’Bannon
  • Ridleygrams: Original Thumbnails and Notes
  • Storyboard Archive
  • The Art of Alien: Conceptual Art Portfolio
  • Sigourney Weaver Screen Tests with Select Director Commentary
  • Cast Portrait Gallery
  • Production
  • The Chestbuster: Multi-Angle Sequence with Commentary
  • Video Graphics Gallery
  • Production Image Galleries
  • Continuity Polaroids
  • The Sets of Alien
  • H.R. Giger’s Workshop Gallery
  • Post-Production and Aftermath
  • Additional Deleted Scenes
  • Image & Poster Galleries
  • Experience in Terror
  • Special Collector’s Edition LaserDisc Archive
  • The Alien Legacy
  • American Cinematheque: Ridley Scott Q&A
  • Trailers & TV Spots

ALIENS

  • Pre-Production
  • Original Treatment by James Cameron
  • Pre-Visualizations: Multi-Angle Videomatics with Commentary
  • Storyboard Archive
  • The Art of Aliens: Image Galleries
  • Cast Portrait Gallery
  • Production
  • Production Image Galleries
  • Continuity Polaroids
  • Weapons and Vehicles
  • Stan Winston’s Workshop
  • Colonial Marine Helmet Cameras
  • Video Graphics Gallery
  • Weyland-Yutani Inquest: Nostromo Dossiers
  • Post-Production and Aftermath
  • Deleted Scene: Burke Cocooned
  • Deleted Scene Montage
  • Image Galleries
  • Special Collector’s Edition LaserDisc Archive
  • Main Title Exploration
  • Aliens: Ride at the Speed of Fright
  • Trailers & TV Spots

ALIEN3

  • Pre-Production
  • Storyboard Archive
  • The Art of Arceon
  • The Art of Fiorina
  • Production
  • Furnace Construction: Time-Lapse Sequence
  • EEV Bioscan: Multi-Angle Vignette with Commentary
  • Production Image Galleries
  • A.D.I.’s Workshop
  • Post-Production and Aftermath
  • Visual Effects Gallery
  • Special Shoot: Promotional Photo Archive
  • Alien3 Advance Featurette
  • The Making of Alien3 Promotional Featurette
  • Trailers & TV Spots

ALIEN RESURRECTION

  • Pre-Production
  • First Draft Screenplay by Joss Whedon
  • Test Footage: A.D.I. Creature Shop with Commentary
  • Test Footage: Costumes, Hair and Makeup
  • Pre-Visualizations: Multi-Angle Rehearsals
  • Storyboard Archive
  • The Marc Caro Portfolio: Character Designs
  • The Art of Resurrection: Image Galleries
  • Production
  • Production Image Galleries
  • A.D.I.’s Workshop
  • Post-Production and Aftermath
  • Visual Effects Gallery
  • Special Shoot: Promotional Photo Archive
  • HBO First Look: The Making of Alien Resurrection
  • Alien Resurrection Promotional Featurette
  • Trailers & TV Spots

ANTHOLOGY

  • Two Versions of Alien Evolution
  • The Alien Saga
  • Patches and Logos Gallery
  • Aliens 3D Attraction Scripts and Gallery
  • Aliens in the Basement: The Bob Burns Collection
  • Parodies
  • Dark Horse Cover Gallery
  • Patches and Logos Gallery
  • MU-TH-UR Mode Interactive Experience

SUBTITLES AND AUDIO

Alien

  • Theatrical Audio: English 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio, English 4.1 Dolby Surround, English 2.0 Dolby Surround, Brazilian Portuguese 5.1 Dolby Digital, French 5.1 DTS, German 5.1 DTS, Latin Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital
  • Theatrical Subtitles: English for the hearing impaired, Brazilian Portuguese, Danish, Finnish, French, German, Latin Spanish, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish
  • Extended Audio: English 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio, English 2.0 Dolby Surround, Brazilian Portuguese 5.1 Dolby Digital, French 5.1 DTS, German 5.1 DTS, Latin Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital
  • Extended Subtitles: English for the hearing impaired, Brazilian Portuguese, Danish, Finnish, French, German, Latin Spanish, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish

Aliens

  • Theatrical Audio: English 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio, English 4.1 Dolby Surround, English 2.0 Dolby Surround, Brazilian Portuguese 5.1 Dolby Digital, French 5.1 DTS, German 5.1 DTS, Latin Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital
  • Theatrical Subtitles: English for the hearing impaired, Brazilian Portuguese, Danish, Finnish, French, German, Latin Spanish, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish
  • Extended Audio: English 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio, English 2.0 Dolby Surround, Brazilian Portuguese 5.1 Dolby Digital, French 5.1 DTS, German 5.1 DTS, Latin Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital
  • Extended Subtitles: English for the hearing impaired, Brazilian Portuguese, Danish, Finnish, French, German, Latin Spanish, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish

Alien 3

  • Theatrical Audio: English 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio, Brazilian Portuguese 5.1 Dolby Digital, French 5.1 DTS, German 5.1 DTS, Latin Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital
  • Theatrical Subtitles: English for the hearing impaired, Brazilian Portuguese, Danish, Finnish, French, German, Latin Spanish, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish
  • Restored Work Print Version Audio: English 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio, Brazilian Portuguese 5.1 Dolby Digital, French 5.1 DTS, German 5.1 DTS, Latin Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital
  • Restored Work Print Version Subtitles: English for the hearing impaired, Brazilian Portuguese, Danish, Finnish, French, German, Latin Spanish, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish

Alien Resurrection

  • Theatrical Audio: English 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio, Brazilian Portuguese 5.1 Dolby Digital, French 5.1 DTS, German 5.1 DTS, Latin Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital
  • Theatrical Subtitles: English for the hearing impaired, Brazilian Portuguese, Danish, Finnish, French, German, Latin Spanish, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish
  • Extended Audio: English 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio, Brazilian Portuguese 5.1 Dolby Digital, French 5.1 DTS, German 5.1 DTS, Latin Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital
  • Extended Subtitles: English for the hearing impaired, Brazilian Portuguese, Danish, Finnish, French, German, Latin Spanish, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish

Alien Anthology is out now from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

> Buy Alien Anthology on Blu-ray from Amazon UK
> Find out more about the Alien series at Wikipedia

Categories
Amusing Viral Video

DJ Mayhem’s Aliens Rap

DJ Mayhem and Mouthmaster Murf of The Anomalies and DJ crew The Farcical 3 have done a rap based on Aliens.

They say:

‘This video is in no way trying to take credit for this almost flawless masterpiece, it is merely a tribute to how spectacular it is’

Right on.

(N.B. I wouldn’t watch this unless you have seen the film as it reveals major plot points)

Categories
The Daily Video

The Daily Video: Al Matthews on Aliens

The great Al Matthews describes his no nonsense approach to weapons on the set of Aliens:

> Find out more about Al Matthews at Wikipedia
> Official site for Al
> Aliens at the IMDb

Categories
Behind The Scenes News

A tribute to Stan Winston

I’ve been off ill for a couple of days so apologies for the delay in posting this but last night I saw the very sad news that Stan Winston had passed away at the age of 62.

Even if you aren’t a huge film fan you probably know some of his work: the robots in the Terminator series, the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park and the alien colony in Aliens – all were created by Stan Winston studios.

In his career he won a total of four Oscars and set a new standard in make-up, puppets and visual effects.

Director and longtime collaborator James Cameron issued this tribute:

He ran at full throttle, in both work and play, and was a man of kindness, wisdom and great humour.

He was a kid that never grew up, whose dreams were writ large on the screens of the world.

I am proud to have been his friend, and I will miss him very deeply.

Iron Man director Jon Favreau has said:

He was experienced and helped guide me while never losing his childlike enthusiasm.

He was the king of integrating practical effects with CGI, never losing his relevance in an ever-changing industry.

California governor and former Terminator star Arnold Schwarzenegger said:

The entertainment industry has lost a genius, and I lost one of my best friends.

Here is a look back at the highlights of his career.

THE TERMINATOR SERIES

Although his company was founded in the 70s and achieved a level of recognition in the industry it was in 1984 that his work broke through globally with The Terminator.

A surprise sci-fi hit, it was the tale of a merciless cyborg assassin sent back in time to kill the mother of a future rebel leader.

It propelled director James Cameron and star Arnold Schwarzenegger to fame and still stands as a landmark action film of the 80s.

One of the enduring images from the film is the T-101 cyborg, which we see in the future sequences and in the later stages of the film as the Terminator loses his outer skin.

This video is from a making of film shot in 1984, showing how Winston’s team operated the robot in a  chase sequence:

After the success of that film, a sequel was inevitable and in 1991 came Terminator 2: Judgment Day which took visual effects to another level with the now famous T-1000 liquid metal android.

On this film Cameron married groundbreaking CGI by ILM with make up and mechanical work from Winston’s team – the combination redefined visual effects in cinema.

Check out this segment of a 2002 documentary about the film – Stan makes an interesting point about art and technology at 5.01:

Although Cameron didn’t return for Terminator 3, Winston did and made the T-1 robots that feature near the end.

ALIENS

When James Cameron made Aliens, the 1986 the sequel to Ridley Scott’s Alien, the story called for colony of creatures rather than just the single beast of the first film.

Given that this was made in the mid-80s before the CGI revolution heralded by The Abyss and T2, it is a testament to Winston’s work that the alien creatures still look so damn good.

Here is a video of Winston, Cameron and their team talking about the re-creating H.R. Giger’s original monster for the sequel:

PREDATOR

In 1987 Winston helped create another a memorable movie monster in Predator.

Like Aliens it was a beast from another world and like Terminator it also starred Arnold Schwarzenegger, only this time he was the good guy.

The visual camoflaugue effects and the costume were highly impressive, in some ways a foretaste of the T-1000 in Terminator 2.

The actor who played the Predator was Kevin Peter Hall – someone also now sadly no longer with us. Check out Stan’s warm tribute to him in this video:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMRPxtDlYjY[/youtube]

JURASSIC PARK

After Terminator 2, visual effects went into a new era with morphing and digital CGI becoming common place.

But in 1993 Steven Spielberg‘s bockbuster Jurassic Park took it even further.

The recreation of dinosaurs was a triumph, with remarkable work from ILM and Winston’s team in making the prehistoric creatures seem believable.

For four years (until Titanic in 1997) it was the highest grossing movie of all time and was another blockbuster in which Winston had a key role.

Here is a segment from the making of the film with Stan and Spielberg discussing the challenges of how to make dinosaurs look real on screen:

OTHER FILMS

Winston also worked  on films such as Edward Scissorhands (1991), Small Soldiers (1998) A.I. (2001), the Jurassic Park sequels, Big Fish (2003), Wrong Turn (2003), Constantine (2005) and most recently Iron Man.

For the first blockbuster of this summer his team worked on the creation of the different Iron Man suits.

Here is a video of him signing autographs and joking around with fans from Comic Con last year:

Stan had been battling multiple myeloma (a plasma cell cancer) for for seven years and on Sunday he died at home in California surrounded by his family.

> BBC News, New York Times, LA Times and report on his death
> Stan Winston at the IMDb
> Official site for Stan Winston Studios
> Check out a series of fine tributes to Stan at Aint It Cool News with contributions from James Cameron, Joe Dante, Jon Favreau, Jonathan Liebesman and Frank Darabont.
> Green Cine Daily has many useful links to other tributes
> Cinematical with a list of Winston’s greatest creations
> Check out The Winston Effect: The Art and History of Stan Winston Studio – a book by Jody Duncan about Stan’s career that was published by Titan in 2006 (you can buy it Amazon here)