The Alien Autopsy Film / A Special Effects Overview.
By Rob Townshend
7th July 2004
Copyright
C. R.M.Townshend 2004
The purpose of
this article is to provide an up-to-date overview of one possible example
of how "they" the filmmakers could have gone about creating this
footage showing, in detail, the autopsy of an alien being recovered from a
UFO crash site some 57 years ago. My hope is that it helps in illustrating
to the reader, possible materials and techniques used by the films creators.
Rob Townshend.
7th July 2004
Two years ago I made contact with UFO researcher Philip Mantle regarding the "so called" Alien Autopsy Film, which purportedly showed the actual forensic autopsy of an alleged extraterrestrial being. As Philip was part of the original team that unveiled this astounding footage to an unsuspecting world, asked more questions surrounding the films authenticity and it's source. Most of which were about the alien entity. During the two-year period I've have had many conversations about the footage and the mystery surrounding it. For more than ten years after it's unveiling we are still asking ourselves, "is it real or isn't it?"
The most commonly asked question is "how would you go about faking something like what's on the film?" I had supplied Philip with a very brief overview as to how one might go about creating such an effect on film. I say that first because I think its important to try and present a possible scenario of what realities might have surrounded the filmmakers, both technical and experience. Getting it right technically isn't enough, for what you are presenting has to tell a story, a visual one; a narrative. On first viewing, the visual effects (if that indeed is what they are) look fairly convincing, for anything that might finally shed light on the UFO phenomenon, there is a real desire amongst people to want to believe that what they are seeing is real. This of coarse does not apply to every one, but for the most people, I think it does.
From my own experience of working with effects I know only too well the type of individual that is drawn into this creative field and what sort of idiosyncratic traits are most common. This is by no means a stereotypical perception, but one drawn from years of working in and with a diverse mix of effects artisans. For the main purpose of this article is to try and illustrate what might be a possible scenario to the films existence.
To me I feel that the film is a fabrication, and one that has done a fine job in fooling audiences around the world and for that alone, those involved have done their work well. They presented an illusion of an alien creature recovered from the alleged crash of a flying saucer way back in 1947! They sold that illusion and most people bought it, which at the end of the day is what filmmakers and storytellers strive to achieve.
But what of the filmmakers. They could have a background based in television and or theatre, for both of these offer good grounding allowing those who work in them many craft skills and contacts. They could have been sourced from film school or might just be a group who needed to make some quick money due to a lack of work. The film industry is well known for it's unstable grounds, I know this only too well.
But to the creature itself, it's appearance and what happens to it, on film.
One question that I keep hearing is, "could you do that with just one
body?"
To try and help put what would
be involved in bringing a reasonably convincing alien cadaver to the screen
say, on a low budget, would require quiet a bit of forethought and planning
in the preproduction stages. After all, you don't just have the body and autopsy
to deal with, there's the environment also. As with all productions, special
effects and special make up effects fall under the banner of art department
and so the look of the operating set would (if they really wanted to try and
get the look of authenticity right) be a job for the art department folks
to do their home work, making sure no details "pop" out as being
wrong. For the whole purpose of the exercise is to fool people into believing
that this is the real thing-not a fake. There will always be someone in the
audience who will spot something that is not right
IT'S ALL IN THE DETAILS
The background of information pertaining to the Roswell crash site and recovery of craft and bodies is well documented and would provide enough details to help guide the creation of such a piece of film. Looking back to that era, gathering what information and artefacts that would assist in being used to "dress the set" with historically accurate "props" giving necessary credence to the scene with the primary focus being that of the dead creature and autopsy. These "props" are vital in setting the scene and just because there in the background doesn't mean you should pay any less attention to them. If this is "the real thing" then I must admit that the fact that this historic event was not shot on colour stock eludes others and myself. I'm sure that the military at that time would have found some way of providing their field cameramen with colour film stock. Again, these are assumptions made after the fact based on what we think would have been done as opposed to being there and the circumstances surrounding the event.
TO THE HEART OF THE MATTER
I've often asked myself the question, "what if I were asked to create such an effect with little to no budget." The first thought to enter my mind was that it would be a considerable undertaking if done by one person. The creation of any form of physical effect is labour intensive only complicated if the budget is lacking in necessary funds, not only from a materials point of view, but a labour one as well.
Having worked out what would be required of the "effects body" it would then be a process by which the design be established. I'm coming from the standpoint that this is not the product of a professional outfit, but rather a group of seasoned filmmakers who have joined forces to create this. The entities design could be established during the sculpting stage, this of cause if it was sculpted and the body, arms and legs were not done as a life-cast of some one whose features were close to what was needed. If this were the case then it would speed up the process of creating a full size figure. To sculpt it from scratch would be time consuming and unnecessary if there was someone whose features could be used to take a life cast from. This would speed up the process of building the creature, though other details and features such as the head and modifications to the limbs would be required to make it look, "other worldly." But for the sake of this article, let us take the option of having to build it from scratch.
A BODY OF WORK
The body of the entity would be sculpted in the "on the slab" position allowing for the subsidence of flesh and muscle, which would naturally occur. We could assume that this autopsy took place within a matter of hours after it's retrieval from the crash site, and therefore the process of decomposition had not yet begun. What we are dealing with here is something "not of this world" so taking into account of the fact that it's bodily flesh and inner organs might behave some what differently to ours would make the illusion play more on viewers minds as they make comparisons between what is familiar and what is known. How much detail to put into this sculpture depends on how it will be shot. In this case, standard 16mm hand held with fast and at times, shaky movements. Black & white, grainy and soft focus. All these factors will help "mask" any imperfections that would show if it was filmed under better conditions. Moulding imperfections such as thick seam lines and other defects would be softened, therefore making them less obvious. Seam lines would be evident on a model cast from materials such as latex, foam latex (sponge rubber), polyurethane elastomers and silicone rubbers skins. There are many materials available to the effects artist and each material has pros and cons with their use and applications. Slip cast latex would be the obvious choice providing reasonable ease of use to someone with enough experience using the material. As latex rubber is a natural material and not synthetic (man made like polyurethane's and silicones), it allows for a number of applications. In its liquid state it is milky white giving off strong ammonia odour and can be tinted with various water-based pigments giving the effect when cast. In its dry state, it has the look of flesh with a similar texture and appearance, though more opaque than translucent. It takes paint finishes well, which can be airbrushed, stippled, brush or a combination depending on the desired effect. In a plaster, or porous mould, it casts up nicely giving an even skin thickness, which can be obtained by how long the liquid latex remains in the mould during casting.
On first glance, the figure on the table does tend to look a bit stiff (no pun), for if this is a being that was involved in a high speed crash of it's craft, I feel that there would be more trauma and distress to the head and body than we see in the film. It has a rather nasty open wound it's upper right leg and what appears to be some mild bruising, apart from that it's fine. The reason I say that is it has that look as if it has been cast in a ridged material. The skin and muscles should look like they have gravitated to the down sides, in other words, sagging. For it does not look like it's "laying there" but rather, just been put there for the simple reason that it has no weight but a mostly hollow dummy.
ONE BODY OR TWO?
Getting back to the question, "could you do that with just one body?" The simple answer is yes, you could. It would involve more work in the moulding stages, allowing for the placement of layers of internal organs and structure. When the body is "opened up" the skin folds do tend look like a cast rubber material, latex or otherwise. The flip side to that is that if it is alien and say, is a silicone based life form rather than carbon based, this might account for how the "flesh" behaves. The subcutacious fat (if that's what it is) looks like polyurethane foam, which was sprayed onto the surface. The thin membranes that the surgeon rummages around in as he/she investigates the body and head regions can be created with very thin coat sheets of latex, which on being made wet looks very organic with a milky tinge.
As I've mentioned, these materials in knowledgeable hands can be made to work wonders and not look like or resemble the original material. That's the trick with effects work, to fool the viewer into thinking they've seen something they haven't. The effect you can create just with the paint finish is remarkable. With careful painting, you can make even a papier-mâché cast to look flesh like. On closer inspection however, it will still look like a painted surface, its how things "read" on film.
The focus of the autopsy centres on the abdomen and head. Once the skin has been pealed back the body cavity is opened up we see the camera move in for several soft focus close ups on the surgeon cutting and removing some internal organs. These are messy and bloody with this part of the operation giving the impression of those involved "acting" with caution and due care. If this was something from another world one would expect this to be the case, after all, you would have no idea of what biohazard this entity might pose. As for the "guts" these to me look like fleshy lumps with no real defined shape. These could just be offal courtesy of the local butcher or sculpting various "internal body bits" or "chunks-o-flesh" could have been used to create them. Having taken moulds off these clay sculptures, the "organs" could be cast out of a number of materials. Gelatine would be an obvious choice as it has properties that look and behave like flesh. The formulas that are in use with in the effects industry are common and well know. Gelatine was one of the first materials to be used for prosthetic make up appliances with in the film industry. It is easy to mix up, cast and apply and as it is almost water clear in its raw state, can be tinted to look exactly like skin and flesh. To give the reader a better understanding of how this material is used I will list the process of how a basic formula is prepared.
You can purchase your standard gelatine power from off any supermarket shelf, though this is not of the 300-bloom variety, it will still work for our needs. You will need around 14% gelatine. To this, you'll need to add approximately 88% glycerine. The increase and addition of glycerine in modern formulations prevent excess shrinkage unlike the earlier mixes, which were mostly water. Water is still used as an additive though only in very small amounts of around 5%. To all of this we mix in the desired colour tint (and I mean a tint!) For if too much colour is added the overall effect of realism is lost, turning the material to a deeper more solid colour. A very minute pinch of zinc oxide is put in as this helps as a tanning agent and raises the melting temperature of the gelatine. You can, of course, modify this formula to suit the needs of the job, but this is a good starting point and hope that it helps in understanding, with a little knowledge of the workings of various materials and how they can be applied and made to create an illusion. If you provide enough conviction in what your presenting, people will believe it for that's the magic of film. The skull and other bony structures could be cast from plaster. This is a common and cheap material and can be made to resemble other materials, like bone etc. To make the plaster look really like bone and have that porous texture, baking soda can be mixed in with the dry plaster powder at around 2-5% by weight. The plaster foams up once water has been mixed. Though this would make for a more brittle material, again, you can modify the mixes to suit the needs and final effect. These bones of cause would be cast up out of rubber moulds to give you the best appearance.
From the moulds of the head sculpt (probably 2-piece), the skin, either latex or gelatine cast to the desired thickness could then have a plaster or brittle resin "skull" cast inside that. The "brain" could be cast into this or done via the more time consuming way by doing clay press and dupe moulds taken after each process to give you separate pieces separately sculpted and cast so that it fits together in layers. So you would have the outer skin cast up to the desired thickness. Into that you would have made the skull cast so as the outer skin slips over it. Then the brain and other gooey bits go into the completed head and skull model, which would then be fixed and "blended" to match the rest of the body.
GOOEY BITS
As for the bodily fluids and gore, these are very easy to simulate. Most film bloods are mixtures of food dyes, red and yellow to give the right colour. In England the standard blood mix has been "Kensington Gore" which is of a 2-mix variety, light and dark coloured. You mix the 2 to give the desired colour and consistency. It looks very real but has the problem in that it stains badly and therefore is harder to remove from skin and wardrobe. The film is in monochrome so this means that the creatures blood fluid doesn't necessarily have to be of a blood colour. It could be thinned down chocolate sauce for this would certainty "read" as a very dark fluid on film. What ever was used to create the blood it could have also been mixed with either Golden Syrup, glycerine or thinned down KY jelly, which is one of the many Methylcelluloses. These come in powder form and are mixed with water to give the required viscosity, it behaves very slime like and you can even mix a small amount of mineral oil in with it to change it's structure. "Polygrip Dental Paste" makes very realistic "clotted blood" lumps when combined with blood mixes. Even something as simple as wallpaper paste can give startling organic effects when used in different ways. It's amazing how many effects gags can be created from buying certain products off both supermarket and hardware shop shelves.
It does all sound a bit complicated but the process of creating this alien entity to "perform" it's autopsy for the camera with the right amount of realism is necessary if it is to work.
In summing up, there are many materials that could be used to create these types of effects, and most artists have their own way of obtaining the desired look. I have compiled this overview to illustrate how "they" might have gone about building an alien entity, and then slice it up for the camera. Again, this is just one individuals view and opinion of the subject and is only offered as a possible hypothesis.
Rob Townshend Copyright
7th July 2004.
NB: Rob Townshend is a special effects artist from the UK whose film credits
include
'Star Wars - Special Edition' and 'Lord of the Rings'.
UFO / Alien Information
Rersearchers and Their Work