The Darkest Hour 2011 Alien
Lacy Tortelli
Back in 2006, director Chris Gorak helmed one of the most disturbing meta-horror films I've ever seen: the little-seen, micro-budgeted Right at Your Door,, which posited the chillingly believable results of a dirty bomb exploding in contemporary Los Angeles. That film succeeded in freaking the wits out of anyone who bothered to see it because it was grounded in the everyday, the mundane, and what might presumably happen in a fear-driven nation such as ours when the object of that collective angst lands literally right at our door. (Arguably, a similar storyline unfolded in John Milius' much-loved/reviled pinko-plinking Red Dawn, but let's go there some other time, preferably over a few drinks at the Alamo Drafthouse.)
The Darkest Hour, an alien-invasion film set in Moscow and produced by the same team that gave us the infinitely superior Russian horror fantasies Night Watch and Day Watch may not be Gorak's personal darkest hour, but it's certainly not his finest, either. Saddled with a truly weak script from Jon Spaihts (who has also penned Ridley Scott's pending, highly anticipated Prometheus), the story involves invisible aliens who feed on electricity and kill off humanity here, there, and everywhere by turning them to ash via unimpressive, whiplike CGI weaponry. This is exactly the sort of film I wasn't expecting from either Gorak or his producers. In many too-obvious ways, this is just a formulaic riff on Spielberg's War of the Worlds, but at least that film had sound design to die for and a serious surfeit of imaginative imagery (recall that blazing passenger train which rocketed out of nowhere so shockingly or the disembodied clothing fluttering to the ground like so much Twin Towers subtext).
At least that film, a bona fide classic of American sci-fi cinema, boasted achingly vibrant Technicolor and a plummy narration from no less than Sir Cedric Hardwicke. (For the record, Spielberg's clanky, whooshy do-over featured, all too predictably, Morgan Freeman, Hollywood's go-to God voice of late. No contest there.) The Darkest Hour has none of the zip, zing, or interplanetary xenophobic pizzazz of either of those films. Instead, it opts for less of the same old thing, but with more cruddy CGI and even more predictable results.
Dmitry Tokoyakov began his career as a compositor and rose through the ranks to become VFX Supervisor. He worked many years at Bazelevs and oversaw the effects of movies like WANTED or APOLLO 18. In the following interview, Dmitry talks about his work on THE DARKEST HOUR.
What have you done on this show?
After completing the RnD and look development work, I worked on set as a second VFX Supervisor along with Stefen. We usually split between the two units. After the shoot was over, I was responsible for all of the work done in Russia.
Our team did all of the shred effects, when the aliens destroy humans, plus a number of alien presence effects, which is a subtle revelation of an alien force field.
What was the main idea for the Aliens?
The script had them described as energy-based beings. Our early discussions were mostly around degree of their physical visibility. Then we agreed that the aliens will be cloaked by some energy shield and come to light when that shield is damaged by the microwave gun. The main challenge was to make them feel physically possible, not magic. And, they had to be able to shred people too.
How did you create the impressive shred effects?
We started by putting different streams of particles together, playing with color and density. At some point, it formed into an interesting burst of ash that everybody liked. Then we worked a way to connect the shred to a character and designed the way a character gets snapped into the alien force field. Technically, it was a combination of Houdini particles and our in-house tools, which then was put together in Nuke.
How did you manage the particles aspect for the Aliens?
Our RnD team have written a C++ code that created interesting elements that consisted of millions of splines, overlapping into multi-dimensional gradients. Those elements were animated and combined with Houdini particles to produce passes for our compositing team. Also, we have enhanced the ash that the aliens have turned all of the people into. In some shots, we had to add or remove ash to keep continuity.
Did you create digi-doubles for this effect?
We shot traditional T-pose textures right on set, both for actors and their stunt doubles. Then we also scanned them in minutes using an Artec 3D scanner, which was actually developed in Russia.
How was filmed the stuntmen for the shred effect?
They were pulled using wire rigs in most cases, but for the multi-shred shot when the aliens rush though a crowd outside the club the stuntmen (including two girls!) actually jumped and fell on asphalt without any mats. We placed witness cameras to have enough data for rotomotion and tracking.
Did you used some interactive lights on set to simulate the aliens presence?
The aliens affect all kinds of electric devices, causing them to turn on and light up. In order to show the audience there was an alien approaching, every light bulb on set was rigged to a controller that would flash the lights around the virtual alien.
In some of the shots, we were asked to re-light the scene, so that the alien could move in a way different from what was intended on set. Having HDRI photography for every setup, we were able to achieve that.
Can you tell us more about the design for the Alien death?
When our heroes find a way to penetrate the alien shield and kill it, the resulting explosion bursts out a lot of debris, including a body piece that Sean later uses as a weapon.
We designed the piece, combining elements of bones, nerve system network and even fish scales. Based on the concept art, the piece was sculpted in Mudbox and physically printed using a 3D printer.
Was there a shot or a sequence that prevented you from sleep?
Working with LA usually means staying pretty late for reviews, when the team on the other side of the world just starts their day. But still, we managed to run normal hours and even kept the weekends free of alien invasion as well.
What do you keep from this experience?
Most importantly, me and my team were the first ones in Russia to complete a large 3D stereo project. Being a part of an international team we stayed connected between Moscow, Los Angeles, Paris, Toronto, Prague and Mumbai.
It is always a pressure to run a major studio project, especially for a relatively new player on the international market, such as ourselves. But, we never surrender.