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Cor! | Too long and heavy to have anything but steel box section running through the centre of this baby. | |
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Computer cables | Iris's on the satellites cameras were to be moved by computer controlled stepper motors, the cables for which are quite thick. Fair bit of effort to thread these through the model. Never used.In the end, green discs were placed over the lenses and the images were added post-production using computers. | |
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The guts of the thing | It was easy to find hiding places for the cables. Id like to say that I'd designed it that way, but I cant. I didnt worry about it - theres always somewhere to hide a tiny motor wire or two. Didnt expect stepper-motor wires to be so thick! | |
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A tasty dish | Transmitter dish of the 'make-it-up-as-you-go-along' variety..or 'MIUAYGA' for short (I just made that up!). Not long since made one of these for Icarus in Bond xx, but I jazzed it up a little for AVP and you do get to see it! (phew) | |
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Off the shelf satellite? | At this juncture, the art department had not communicated what they wanted (or maybe they didnt even know) so it was up to us. Bill and I co-designed this Maquette. The cameras would be housed behind the discs on the main body, which would pop out on motors. As the camera passed by and lined up with the rear of the satellite, the Solar panels would align and the Weyland logo would breifly appear. An in-joke for the fans, that was Bills idea. Only 2 - 3 days build. | |
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Anyone at home? | Although not a specific request for the satellite to look like it was permanently manned, we thought it was large enough to be visited for repairs, etc, from time to time and so made it look like this was possible by incorperating a hatch. Something people can relate to, like handles and hinges etc, give the craft a sense of scale, even if details like this only register sub-consciously. | |
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One for Cinefex? | Another sense of scale. Not for the film-goer, but for the interested modelmaker. Standing a person next to a model instantly tells you how big it is.The model I mean....not my head. | |
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Uh-oh...whats THAT? | The original idea for the satellite
was that at first, you didnt really know what you were looking at until
the camera moved back and revealed all. Wishing to fool the audience for
a moment that they were looking at alien technology/biology whathaveyou.
Eventually the art dept stepped in and were very specific, they now actually
wanted the satellite to look like the QUEEN alien for a moment. Back to
the original plan....we thought that we could imply That gigeresque look with a close up of the wiring connecting the main dish to the satellite. This was only a maquette...I think it could have worked on the full size model. I think what we end up seeing in the movie is more like a hallucination.either way, I dont really mind...made the satellite more memorable. |
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Only for the die-hard fans | The camera would pull back to reveal the satellite and then away into space to reveal the Weyland Yutani logo | |
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close up | A different view of the satellite showing some of the recessed detail. You'll notice that the dish is in a different position. this was before the fx director changed his mind. | |
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I can see your house from here | An extra shot involving the satellite was a cut to the onboard cameras that would detect the underground pyramid on earth. 3 real camera lense iris were originally to be moved on computer controlled stepper motors..which meant me threading some rather heavy gauge cables through the model. This idea was abandoned AFTER the cables had been installed (naturally) in favour of a post- production optical insert (we just placed green screen discs over the lenses during the shoot) | |
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Nice Wiggets | A close up of the dish array on the first maquette. Fans of Babylon 5 will spot the blast sheilds from Star Fury's around the perimeter | |
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Smiiiiile!!! | (say cheese) The Satellite in position for shooting in Prague. I was lucky enough to have spent three days over there, making sure the model was all present and correct on the day and making any changes needed or repairs. And there were a few. The spikes out front to be made on the spot and the rear of the solar panels to be painted with dark patches for example. | |
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Queen in space | Although you cant really see it from this angle, from the rear, this little maquette had the silhouette of the Queens head and her big bone throne. Alan, John and myself produced three maquettes. Alans design was used as the basic configuration for the final satellite. | |
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Forget the stars...the Model's the star! | Another view of the satellite, with a few stars pasted in in photoshop. | |
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If Cinefex wont do it, then I will! | Its always been my dream to have something Ive worked on, on the front cover of CINEFEX...this was just a bit of fun in photoshop. Quite a few of Bill's team on AVP have appeared within the pages of this industry journal (other than Bill himself) Chris Trice, Chrissy Overs, Alan Brannan, Vincent Jenkins are the ones I know about. But Im not bitter....much. | |
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Wot scale? | The aforementioned camera array scale...the chap is about 12th scale and was always kept close at hand, so as to be ever mindful of the scale involved. Not sure anyone else was that bothered about the scale when you look at the size of these cameras! |
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