October 15, 2011
Notes On Giger's work On "Alien"
Initial Work
Giger talked about his sudden transition into being the designer of the derelict space craft, which would have been confusing situation because he had initially not been expected to design the craft but only the life form that was the title creature. The derelict would have been designed by Chris Foss (design seen here) if Dan O'Bannon had his way.
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/LT.HIGHTIMES/derelict6.jpg[/img]
Gigers Work 374
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/LT.HIGHTIMES/02derelict.jpg[/img]
Foss' half buried derelict
Another point to note, if one takes a look at Foss' second derelict design and Giger's main design, work 274, it looks a lot as if the left half of Giger's ship is a biomechaniased version of Voss' lobster like structure sticking out of the sand, and Giger has given the thing another half with a hammer shaped tip. The fin to the left side of Voss' derelict on Giger's derelict becomes a bulbous protruberance .
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/LT.HIGHTIMES/396.jpg[/img]
Giger's wreck detail work 396
1.) H. R. Giger: 5 March 1978, London. "In Scott's office on Lexington Street, I outline my ideas for the derelict (plate 374) The derelict is a space-ship built by non-humans which the three astronauts come across on the strange planet. Scott thinks its absolutely great. O'Bannon who has just flown over from the USA, doesn't think it's technical enough. A battle of pros and cons begin. I keep quiet; I know that Scott will win the argument. I did the picture one morning when I couldn't get back to sleep. I was staying in a flat in Old Church Street in London at the time.
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/LT.HIGHTIMES/374a.png[/img]
derelict sketch 374a
The derelict is not strictly in my field of work. But I had this idea and simply had to get it down. By the time Mia gets up I have finished the picture. I also get a good feeling when pictures go so easily, and looking back, I'm often not disappointed with my work. The certainty that my ideas will be adopted and that Scott can interpret them allows me to keep quiet. The war of words comes to an end and Scott asks me to paint a picture of the entrance passage. The battle is won. "(Giger's Alien, p22, )
2.) H. R. Giger: "Well, it was decided that I would do the alien and only the alien. That's because Ron Cobb was working on the project in the early, early days. I don't remember whether they asked me or not, but I painted my version of the derelict in the morning and showed it to Ridley in the afternoon. He said, "That's it. We'll use it. Please do the entrance and the interior now." So I wound up doing more than we expected." (Warren's Alien Collector's edition, p33)
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/LT.HIGHTIMES/375.jpg[/img]
Giger's Wreck Entrance , work 375
3.) H. R. Giger: 16 March, Zurich "I've had a longish talk with my lawyer about my contract, and an hour and a half's telephone conversation with Beale, a production executive of Twentieth Century Fox. It all seems clear for the time being. I've made my concession and done two extra pictures for my Alien designs. I've finished the entrance passage (plate 375) as well as a view of the derelict showing the glass dome about the cockpit (plate 382)." (Giger's Alien, p22, )
origins of wreck entrance design
4.) H. R. Giger: "Once the alien was under control, Ridley asked me if I could design a spaceship not made by human beings. Well how do you do that? I thought maybe it might look organic - something that could grow even, like a plant *- but I didn't know exactly what it should look like. Then early one morning I couldn't sleep, I got up and started painting and the derelict ship was born in a few hours. It ended up like an aerodynamic bone with little technical stuff all over it, but it wasn't anything I had planned - it just sort of ran out of my mind and my airbrush, which is not uncommon for me. Often I try to switch off my thoughts as much as possible and let the painting flow spontaneously from my subconscious mind. (Cinefex 1)
(* Giger often talks about creating the final image that looked as if it were something planted that was on the verge or maturing. In Warren's Alien Collector's edition (p32) he mentions" I wanted it to look like something planted - perhaps in the process of maturing.)
Changes
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_8sv9gYsuLwc/TIVHLXh993I/AAAAAAAAAUk/rIsPJZnES4c/s1600/396.jpg
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/LT.HIGHTIMES/396.jpg[/img]
work 396
There was talk about changes that needed to be made to the derelict's design, the information about this is not exactly clear in the quotes below, we find Giger's explanation revealed that there was some confusion about whether the ship could be told apart from the landsdcape and then we also discover another side to it, that his derelict space ship design didn't make sense in three dimensional terms for the modellers so Giger had to do some pictures to explain the structure even further. Giger mentioned that there were several reasons given for the need to change it but not one of the ones given was the most talked about how there was some trouble getting the design accepted but nothing about the problem regarding how to interpret it's dimensions.
Were these two events or one event seen from two extremely different points of view? We might wonder perhaps if the earlier concern about whether they could be interpreted took place at an earlier time as described in the first Giger quote in "Initial Work". However Giger produced two other paintings to explain the shape of the derelict as seen from the side, works 396 and 397, and perhaps 382
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/LT.HIGHTIMES/397.jpg[/img]
work 397
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/LT.HIGHTIMES/derelictportals.jpg[/img]
1.) H. R. Giger:19 July 1978, Shepperton Studios " They ask me to the office, where Scott, Seymour and Carroll are waiting for me. Carroll says I will design another derelict. The entrance passage and the landscape can stay the same as those that have been built in Sound Stage H, but the rest will have to be changed. As it is now, it is too reminiscent of a bone (work 378*) and might make people think it was an organic part of the landscape. There will also be technical difficulties in building it. I am astounded to hear this from Carroll, of all people, who had been enthusiastic about my derelict when he first saw it. I suspect that Shusett and O'Bannon are behind it. Even good friends can often infuriate one. I try to convince Carroll that the dimensions and the aerodynamic shape are enough in themselves to distinguish the derelict from the landscape, and moreover the technical details ought not to be too obvious in case they spoil the biomechanical character of a space-ship built by non-humans. I simply can't see how I can improve on it; I regard it as one of my best pictures. Carroll proves unyielding and finally practically orders me to conjure up something else out of the ground. They seem to think I can just shake good ideas out of my sleeve - the bitter fate of a creative artist. Scott keeps quiet during the discussion, and in silent opposition demonstrates a quite ordinary, banal crashed aircraft, its tail fins pointing skyward. I understand and, promising to try something different, go back to my work. This is an occasion when time will work for me. " (Giger's Alien, p24, )
(* Giger makes a reference to work 378 in his book Giger's Alien but this an error because this is the painting of the egg silo exterior, so maybe he is still talking about work 374)
2.) H. R. Giger: "I liked the derelict very much and Ridley did also - but then they wanted it changed for several reasons. But I said I could not. Once I have a good design, I cannot change it to something I think is not so good." (Cinefex 1)
3.) Ridley Scott: "There's a great tendency in this business not to use the first thing you come up with. As a result, people often just work something to death - I've been accused of this time and time again. What we were looking for here was a totally alien-looking spacecraft. I didn't think it would something with a lot of lights on it and stuff like that. I figured it would be like nothing anyone ever imagines; either that, or extraordinarily familiar and slightly archaic looking. And Giger's first drawing was just a knockout. I took one look at it and said 'That's it.' Other people couldn't quite see it though, so I had to keep digging my heels and saying, ' You wont get a better derelict - don't screw about with it.' You know, Giger is a special case, and when something's that good, you have to recognise it and leave it alone." (Cinefex 1)
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/LT.HIGHTIMES/escher-waterfall-small.jpg[/img]
4.) Brian Johnson: "It's a wonderful design, but as it turned out, we couldn't build it. It was like an Escher optical illusion. As a two-dimensional painting it look very logical, but there was not actual way you could build it in three dimensions. To get a rough idea of the shape, we took about a nine-inch piece of polystyrene and then carved it with a little device that looks like a tuning fork with a wire stretched between. When you heat it up, the hot wire just melts its way through the polystyrene and you can carve the right sorts of shapes very quickly, You can't get the sorts of detail you can with clay. But somehow the derelict form just didn't work, so I got together with Giger and we talked about possible modifications. Then he went off and did the drawing. From that we produced another polystyrene shape which he though was pretty good."(Cinefex 1)
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/LT.HIGHTIMES/Screenshot2010-09-06at234423.png[/img]
5. Brian Johnson: We took Giger's sketch and sculpted a small replica without any detail, just the basic shape, for a test. It's a common problem. A director will come to you with drawing; "Hey I've got this great sketch!" But it's a two-dimensional drawing, and when you put it into three dimensions it never looks the same. You have to be able to look at the sketch and say, "That's going to look like a pile of rubbish. Why don't you let me have a go at making something similar, but might have a totally different shape in three dimensions?"
"We showed the rough sculpted form of the Giger sketch to Ridley, who said that it was somewhere near what he would like. Then we built a huge one about 12 feet across that would be used for background establishing shots. (Starlog. October 1979)
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/LT.HIGHTIMES/382-1.jpg[/img]
Success
The following comments speak about the successful creation of the Giger's derelict. Giger points a finger at Dan O'Bannon being a major opposition towards building his design.
1.) H. R. Giger: 3 August, 1978, Shepperton Studios. Next day O'Bannon flies back to America. Mia films him as a souvenir. (Giger's Alien, p24, )
2.) H. R. Giger: 20 September, 1978, "Seymour drives me to Bray Studios, where the special effects group works. In the middle of the hall is my tried and trusty derelict, or at any rate the framework of it, with a nucleus of steel tubes. The whole surface is covered with netting. Dick Butten, one of the modellers, has built it up, and now Voysey has to cover it with a coat of plasticine and fit it out with cables and technical accessories. I'm delighted with the way they have done the job, built up from my plasticine models, I say so to the group, and they seem very pleased. Extraordinary -suddenly they are working from my designs. Has O'Bannon's departure got something to do with it? As always there simply wasn't time to make any other design. (Giger's Alien, p26)
3) Martin Bower :"At this time we were joined by Peter Voysey. He had been working on the sets, in particular the huge "space jockey" over at Shepperton. Now he set about detailing the Alien derelict. An outside contractor had built a huge 2 foot wide polystyrene shape over a steel framework based on one of Giger's drawings. Now he had a job of detailing it! I cannot tell you exactly how many pounds of plasticene he used by I believe it was several hundred. I know we cleaned out every florist, toy and craft shop in the area! This was applied and sculpted over an entire models with thousands of EMA pipe bends pressed into it and then spray painted directly over. It was filmed that way and was fine as long as no one pressed it too hard! " (scifi and fantasy models p36)
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/LT.HIGHTIMES/Screenshot2010-09-06at234423.png[/img]
4) Nick Allder :"The model was built of polystyrene with a fibreglass skin." (Starlog, October 79)
