Bug Bytes

Article by Paul M. Sammon

To bring their ambitious adaptation of Robert A. Heinlein's classic Starship Troopers to the screen, director Paul Verhoeven and producer Jon Davison turned to animation maestro Phil Tippett for swarms of insect warriors, to Sony Pictures Imageworks for epic-scale space battles, and to special effects coordinator JohnRichardson for on-set pyrotechnics. Others recruited to support the war effort included Amalgamated Dynamics, Industrial Light & Magic, Boss Film Studios, Banned From the Ranch, Compound Eye, Visual Concept Engineering and Kevin Yagher Productions.

Alien Resurrection

Cloning Aliens

Article by Bill Norton

For Alien Resurrection, the latest offering in the Alien franchise, Ellen Ripley and the alien fetus within her are brought back from the dead in a film directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Returning as alien purveyors were Tom Woodruff, Jr., and Alec Gillis of Amalgamated Dynamics Incorporated, whose animatronic and suit-based creatures were augmented by digital warriors created by Blue Sky Studios. Overseeing the visual effects — filmed in Los Angeles, but composited by Duboi in Paris — were effects supervisors Pitof and Erik Henry.

Flubber: Playing With Flubber

Mouse Hunt: Of Mice and Men

An American Werewolf in Paris: Werewolf Wizardry

Event Horizon: Starship Hades

Boss Film Studios: End of an Era