Cameron’s Aliens is 36 years old and still looks impressive. Now the viewer is spoiled by computer special effects and huge movie budgets. But how did they film the epic fantasy in the mid 80’s? – Let’s find out.
Space fiction is always difficult and expensive to film, the director and his team must come up with something that will only be invented in the future. And show it on the screen so that the viewer would gape and wait for the sequel. James Cameron was able to do it, he always manages to be on top (remember the Avatar series and the mythical Titanic).
The futuristic M577APC planetary armored personnel carrier played a prominent role in this part of the film. How was it done without computer simulation?
At first, they wanted to build a working armored car from scratch, on the sketches it looked completely different, and frankly, it looked more like a formidable combat vehicle. But it turned out to be incredibly expensive.
And a way out was found – this is a decommissioned airfield plane tractor! The film was shot in England, near London, and at Heathrow airport the film crew bought an old Hunslet ATT77. It was converted into an armored assault vehicle. The length of the car is 9 meters.
The work on creating mobile props was arduous, the specialized airfield machine had to be lightened up to 30 tons (ballast and excess metal were removed), gun turrets and external entourage were added. The armored car turned out to be heavy and low to the ground, but it drove and crushed the alien evil spirits.
Still, the final cost of the M577APC was $1.5 million (the movie’s budget was $18.5 million).
The movie scenes shot inside the armored car were shot in the pavilion, because most of the internal volume of the tractor is occupied by the engine, and 12 paratroopers cannot be accommodated there.
But everyone remembers the sliding turret with plasma cannons (it was effectively moved along the rear of the hull to reduce the size of the vehicle).
And for the combo shot, they made a couple of M577APC radio-controlled scale models. By the way, the armored car is still stored in the garage at Pinewood Studios.
There is a huge number of drawings and models of armored vehicles from fans of the Alien movies. And the obedient servant of him, once, while studying at a technical university, instead of the next academic work, drew a 3D model M577APC.
Many years have passed, and three-dimensional modeling has taken a step forward, many new programs have appeared, and PCs have become more powerful. Fan art has become more detailed, three-dimensional models for printing on affordable 3D printers have appeared.
The main thing is that the series of films about strangers is not forgotten, new films are released (perhaps not as successful as the first ones), and the audience remembers the terrible xenomorphs and the brave Ellen Ripley. And the M577APC armored car is only part of the Alien universe.
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Source: IXBT
