Computer Animation Arts

Okay, so not very Christmassy at all... but this fanboy can't help seem to help himself - even after the disappointment of Prometheus...

In common with The Omen (1976), Ridley Scott's  Alien (1979) was another of those infamous horror-movies-for-grown-ups, that, as a small person, I was compelled to seek out and experience.   Alien was the film my mum had forbidden me from watching (after my dad insisted she watch it, much to her continuing regret!).  You knew right from those now famous opening credits, that Alien was serious in its intent to scare you - and that it was going to show you something truly otherworldly.  That intent is absolutely locked into what is sinister and strange about Goldsmith's score, with that opening agitation of strings and the melancholy, almost  ' The Last Post - like' horns (as if foreshadowing the proliferation of human casualities the film will soon be showing us).  It is in the Face Hugger cue included below that you really get to the aural identity of the film - that eerie, moaning wind sound, so desolate, so inhuman, created by blowing acro...

Just a very enjoyable 6 minute animation involving polar bears and dancing puffins. whether you are a coca cola fan or not.

Mainly for you Phil, seeing your past posts around the new Prometheus film, there's been some new trailer releases over last few day. They bring some more insight to where the film will be taking us, as well as some interesting visuals relating to the Alien universe. Still though, no concluding if it will be a direct link to Alien but it will get you thinking on the subject even more! So if you haven't pick up on the new trailer releases, take a look.  - Also a new short viral video has been released, from Ridley's viral campaign for Prometheus. Enjoy.

At last - the official trailer for Ridley Scott's 'prequel' to Alien (1979). Tutorphil is VERY excited!

Summary: “A magical adventure which features elves, demons and other mythical creatures. Darkness, the personification of evil, plans to disperse eternal night in the land where this story takes place, by killing every unicorn in the world. Although he looks unbeatable, Jack and his friends are disposed to do everything to save the world and princess Lili (who Darkness intends to make his wife) from the hands of this evil monster.” Written by Chris Makrozahopoulos (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089469/plotsummary) Analysis: “ The finished version of the film draws on diverse sources, combining elements of classical European fairytales and Judeo-Christian Myth...However there is a thread of evil running throughout the film which sets it apart from other fairy tales of princesses and heroes and culminates in the final battle between good and evil. The film establishes a balance between the sinister and the sentimental by means of cinematic resources – lighting, sound, set design, montage...

In common with the squirming erotica of   Hans Bellmer , the artwork of Hans Rudolf Giger  is a psychosexual pick-and-mix of lust and loathing.  Best known as the Oscar-winning designer for Ridley Scott's 1979 'spam-in-a-can' sci-fi shocker, Alien , H. R. Giger is the artist your mother warned you about.  His bloodless, monochromatic world is characterised by orifices, labial, anal, mechanical; by phalluses lethal with teeth; with pox-ridden babies and  pentagrams; with machines hewn from cartilage and bone.  Giger's view of flesh is not the glistening pink of the pornographer, but rather the waxy shine of the embalmist - worse, these are necrophiliac dreams - or nightmares more accurately.  As an 'artist', Giger is disparaged and dismissed - a one-trick pony and probable misogynist - and yet, the popularity of his work is undiminished, his design for the Alien unsurpassed in terms of true 'other-worldliness'.   "Giger’s art has oft...

Summary: Answering a distress call from a far off planet, the crew of the mining ship Nostromo come across the egg of a bizarre alien species. Director Ridely Scott enlisted Swiss artist H.R Giger to design all aspects associated with the Alien and its environment while Ron Cobb and Chris Foss were hired to design the human side of the film. Though equally striking, it was Giger’s gruesome surrealist vision which reverberated the most with audiences, influencing Science Fiction design for years to come. Analysis: “From the outset, it was Giger’s unique vision, a blend of nightmare surrealism with industrial design, that seemed to lift Alien out of the conventional, his creations shaping and challenging its production values. Alien is a perfect example of an image-driven film. (Raw, 2009:78) Raw, L. (2009) The Ridley Scott encyclopedia . USA:Scarecrow Press Inc. Release: 1979 Director: Ridley Scott Screenplay by: Dan O’Bannon Produced by: Gordon Carroll, David Giler, Walter Hill Genr...