Alien Covenant Secrets

I saw the original "Alien" movie by Ridley Scott when I was just 12 years old - far too young really (I was terrified) - but since then I've always been fascinated by this most stylish of horror film franchises.



Penn gave an excellent talk about his work on the film at Escape Studios last thursday - a fascinating insight into how the movie got put together.
 
So, what were the secrets behind this most coveted of VFX roles - working for one of the greatest living film directors on the latest Alien movie?

Stuart Penn

What's happening at Framestore?
Tons of projects. Framestore are super busy, part of the recent boom in VFX work in London that shows no sign of stopping. Framestore are working on some of the biggest VFX projects in the world, with many new films and projects in the pipeline.

Alien Covenant - dividing the work
On "Alien Covenant", as on many film projects, the work was divided between a number of vendors, in this case between Framestore and MPC, with Framestore doing the work both in London and in Montreal. Montreal did the spacework - The Covenant colonisation vessel - and the chest bursters, London did the set extensions and face huggers - a total of around 80 shots.

The Covenant

The Covenant
The model for the Covenant was insanely complex - 3 billion polygons - and impossible to load up in one go. Of course, no-one can work with this level of detail; the model has to be loaded up in sections, or using low poly proxy models for animators to work with.

The Animation Challenge
The challenge for the two London unit animators assigned to the project was to animate monsters that aren't clearly seen. Not chance here for character development and personality, rather the animators executed quick shots of terrifying creatures, moving rapidly - and often dimly lit.

Spacesuits - the "EcoSuit"
The spacesuits started out as real on-set physical suits worn by real actors, filmed against a black background (no green screen here), all shot on a sound stage in Sydney Australia. The actors moved around on giant cranes, to simulate weightlessness.  But, in the end, the live action suits were all replaced digitally - only the face of the actors remained. It was easier in the end to replace the whole suit rather than digitally remove the pole arm and patch the remainder.

Techviz
Lots of previz work was done in advance, especially the spacewalk shots, to figure out how to block out the sequence.

chestburster

Chestburster
The Chestbursters began as physical models on set, so that the editorial dept can get started editing the movie, and develop their rough cut, even though the physical models would all be replaced.

Having a physical model also really helped to get the lighting right, and make sure the actors have their sight lines right - looking in the correct direction and making proper eye contact with the digital effects. 

The 3D digital model - which is what you see in the final shots - was built from the bones up, including organs and muscles, with translucent skin. The animators had to do motion studies to see how it would move, and breathe.  And, of course, they had to animate the creatures bursting from chest cavities - bringing to life the "violent, disgusting, and painful" nature of these scenes.