Alien Earth | On-Set Dispatches - Creating the Crash Sequence | FX - video Dailymotion

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Creator Noah Hawley joins the cast and crew to break down the colossal sets, stunts, and effects that went into the explosive first episode of FX’s Alien: Earth. FX’s Alien: Earth, Tuesdays on FX. Stream on Hulu.

Transcript

00:00The crash sequence is something that we talked about for a long, long time.

00:26There's a practical element, there's a CG element.

00:31Well, I've never worked with so many people on such big sets.

00:35Everyone really works as a team.

00:39We landed in Bangkok and had to find this location where we could build massive sets

00:45with the backdrop of a metropolitan city.

00:49Everything starts with the Prodigy tactical unit on the roof.

00:54The spaceship comes through and screams past overhead.

00:59We shot on the rooftop.

01:00It's right outside of our production office.

01:02I looked at maybe 30 or 40 rooftops, and of course, the best rooftop was the one that

01:07was closest to our office.

01:09Looking out of my office, I looked onto the American Embassy and a huge park spreading

01:13out from the back of the embassy.

01:14That just gave me the idea it would be great if we, in visual effects, extended that so

01:18that was the initial impact point that just gave the Prodigy tactical team the reason

01:22to go straight to the site of the spaceship.

01:24Go, go, go, go!

01:25Move!

01:26Move!

01:27Move!

01:28Move!

01:29Move!

01:30Move!

01:31Move!

01:32Move!

01:33Move!

01:34Move!

01:35Move!

01:36Move!

01:37Move!

01:38Move!

01:39Move!

01:40For the crash site, we shot in a giant parking lot right in the center of Bangkok, with giant buildings all around us.

01:47All right, let's go, let's go, go, go, go, go!

01:49We did a sequence which we shot entirely in one take.

01:53It's a pretty massive shot that was done with a big technocrane and 200 feet of track.

01:59After rehearsing and building the set and building the camera move,

02:03and the satisfaction of completing that kind of shot and to know it's going to work for this show is amazing.

02:10Camera's going to once. Rehearsing with practical effects.

02:14Great visual effects involve real people doing real things and real reactions,

02:18and if the reactions aren't good, then the best visual effects in the world aren't going to help.

02:23We had like 10 or 12 stunt people, and the rest of them were action extras.

02:27We had people helping drag people. We maybe had a stunt guy carry somebody,

02:31so we kind of utilize what's there in the moment.

02:34Trying to keep that real. The background really is the detail.

02:37If they're not really in that story, ultimately it ruins the foreground.

02:41So it's making sure everybody's on point.

02:46Follow me. Let's move.

02:47When they get into the building, we pick that up seamlessly

02:51with a set that we built inside of an abandoned mall in Bangkok,

02:55like five stories tall and has a big empty center section of the mall.

02:59And so we built our craft ship inside of the Central Park.

03:03Let's move in.

03:06The mall's been abandoned for 20 years, and we had a bunch of challenges,

03:10and we pulled it off.

03:11As a Thai person who's been in the show base for like 20 years,

03:14I've never seen this level of set before.

03:17The whole structure is like three, four story high.

03:20There's multiple layers to it. The attention to the detail is just amazing.

03:24The ship to the apartments, to the stairwell, everything is handmade.

03:29You walk onto the crash site.

03:32You definitely feel like you've stepped into another world.

03:36It's full of smoke and sparks, and you're about to be eaten by Vizina Moth.

03:40Part of you doesn't have to pretend that much to believe that.

03:44Part of you doesn't have to pretend that much to believe that.

Alien Earth | On-Set Dispatches - Creating the Crash Sequence | FX

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