Alien Studio environments:
The Art Department, Shepperton Studios


 
Is it that Dan O'Bannon and Ron Cobb can be found talking about work related problems in a photo of the two of them sitting in the art department, Dan is smoking a cigarette.

There are numerous photos of the room to be found and very slowly they begin to add up into a room in with dimensions that can be guessed.

It has various low shelves against the wall, and tables that can be pulled around.

It is lit by long fluorescent light bulbs across the ceiling.

Once Ridley Scott had told Dan to go ahead with designing the Facehugger, Dan went over to the art department with Roger Dicken, they took a drafting table and a huge piece of paper with some pencils. Ron who inhabited the room while doing his drawing work for the film would sketch out a skeletal understructure (see The Facehugger)


Dan O'Bannon and Ron Cobb in the art department?


b) Room dominated the Hieroglyphics painting
 
 
b.i) Later in August 1978, after various disgreements about the quality of work from Giger and the blame being put on Giger by Clinton Cavers for the fact that the Alien had not been finished.
 
H R Giger had been moved away to a new studio to work in, the Art Department.

At first he had no interest in this new place for him at all but Mia set it up beautifully diminishing his frustration by half.

A room which Giger uses with a wall that is painted white.
 
Against the wall in the back, there is Giger's Hieroglyphics painting.

On the wall next to it but separated by a small case of shelfs is a painting that might well be a study for part of the alien's body, and he is painting the derelict ship tail fin, while sitting on a chair with pale material.

The windows have been covered over that would be found next to the shelves on the right.
 
 
b.ii) Giger works on the painting of the derelict tail film with the Alien Hieroglyphics painting in the background (Alien Anthology blu-ray) See Giger's Alien Life Cycle hieroglyphics 
 

 
b.iii)   Giger works on the painting of the derelict tail film with the Alien Hieroglyphics painting in the background (sourc http://fanat1k.ru)  See Giger's Alien Life Cycle hieroglyphics
 
 
 
b.iv) Giger painting the derelict's tail fin. Hieroglyphics painting in the back on the left, and Alien poster in the corner See Giger's Alien Life Cycle hieroglyphics 
 

 
 
 
 
b.v) Perhaps Giger's artwork for an Alien poster
 


c) Other uses
He also uses this room to paint the alien eggs and later the "Brett egg" would be photographed within the chamber against a photograph of the planetoid landscape altered with the airbrush by Giger. The Alien costume

Casting of the Alien suit  in the room (See: Creating The Alien)
 
 
c.i)  Polaroid of polyester alien painted up (source: Alien Diaries)
 
HR Giger: Saturday, August 19, 1978. Colored the alien egg black. Finally received Alien III from the plaster shop to paint. To my great surprise, I found paint that you can use on PVC. Wonderful day (Alien Diaries)
 
 

 
 
c.ii) Polaroid of polyester alien painted up (source: Alien Diaries)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
c.iii)
 
 
c.iv) Giger goes to work on an egg. image source : https://www.timeout.com/


 
 
 


c.v) Giger goes to work on an egg. My source Imagimovies  v01n03 (Spring 1994)



 
 
 
 
 
 
c.vi) Giger goes to work on an egg. My source: https://twitter.com/avpgalaxy/status/1509547132965036043
 
 

 
 
c.vii)  Giger sits in the art department (Image extracted from Wonderland Speciale 40 anni di Alien - 17/06/2019  https://www.raiplay.it/video/2019/06/Wonderland-Speciale-40-anni-di-Alien
 




 
c.viii) Giger sits in the art department



c.ix) Giger reading something (source HR Giger - Kunst Design Film)



c.x) Giger goes to work on an egg (Giger's Alien Diaries)



c.xi) Giger goes to work on an egg  (From Giger's Alien)


 
c.xii) Giger goes to work on an egg. In England during the 1950s, the very popular TV adverts featuring the words "Go To Work On An Egg", so this photo might a strange variation on the idea
 



 
 
 
d) The Brett Egg  (Source: Giger's Alien) See: Human To Spore


 
 
 
e) The other end of room while airbrushing the alien suit worn by Bolaji Badejo.
 
On the door in the background is a poster of Baphomet (work 272) (1974) by HR Giger
(image from Giger's Alien documentary)
 

 
 
e.i) Baphomet poster image
 
 
 

 

Baphomet (work 272) (1974) by HR Giger
 
 
 
 
 
f) Giger carrying the alien's upper torsoe with backpipes and head.  
 
f.i) On the wall on the right is a drawing of a leaping alien  In the background on the left if Giger's drawing Astro Eunuchs. In the centre on the wall is Giger's initial derelict entrance painting. Along the cupboard on the right, derelict pilot chamber painting and then alien landscape painting.   (My source: Yahoo! Entertainment 'Alien' Day: The terrifying, long-lost Xenomorph prototype never before seen in public)

 

 
f.ii) See: Giger's Astro-Eunuchs (work 71) (1967) as seen on the studio wall
 
 

 

 
 

 
 
 
 
f.iii) Leaping alien drawing as seen on the wall on the right, probably by Ron Cobb

 
 
 
 
 
g.i) Giger airbrushing the hanging alien costume parts in the Art Department (still from video: Giger's Alien)
 
 
 
 
 


1 comment:

  1. Indeed, a date featured here, August 1979 has been corrected to August 1978. That error been stuck here a few years without being noticed but I'm pointing it out right now

    ReplyDelete