The Concept Art Behind Our Favorite Science Fiction Movies

[00:00:04][music] Hey everybody, Adam Savage and I am in the academyy's Margaret Heric Library with Megan. How are you?

[00:00:13]>> Hi Adam, so nice to meet you.

[00:00:14]>> So nice to meet you. Oh, tell me what this room is. First of all, tell me what this room is for.

[00:00:20]>> Sure. Well, I might even back up a little bit. So for the Academy, the Academy collection is the largest film related collection in the world. 52 million items.

[00:00:29]>> 52 million.

[00:00:31]>> So that of course includes um uh material in the Academy Museum, the Academy Film Archive. Here at the Margaret Heric Library, um we hold over 2,000 archival collections. So >> 2,000 collections.

[00:00:46]>> Collections. So the um the library was formed in 1928, the year after the academy was founded. Um and in addition to our core collection, our special collections um comprise manuscripts, photographs and here graphic arts. So for our graphic arts holdings, those uh contain both posters and production art.

[00:01:09]>> So you were kind enough to share with us a list of some of your favorite directors to to share with you the scope of our production art holdings of which we have we've just topped 175,000 items.

[00:01:22]So, >> wow.

[00:01:24]>> Here, >> you've chosen a really, really [laughter] amazing spread. I was >> You can't go wrong here.

[00:01:29]>> Oh, man. I was peeking while we were waiting to shoot and uh it's an incredible spectrum of uh of executions of how to make a film here.

[00:01:38]>> What's such a privilege for me and what I think is so special is these types of production artworks that can actually lend insight into the creative process.

[00:01:46]And historically, these were regarded as drafts and like so many drafts, they were just discarded. So, not a lot of this survives. Um, >> that's crazy to me. These beautiful drawings and the idea that some of these are in landfills somewhere is very sad.

[00:02:01]I'm so glad they are here.

[00:02:02]>> So, I think to actually answer your question about what we are and what we do here, we are here to to preserve these materials, but also to share them with the global audience.

[00:02:12]>> To start with, um, we wanted to include for you um, as you know, kind of two icons um, of uh, character creation. So up top we have uh from Carlo Rambaldi.

[00:02:24]>> This is a Carlo Rambaldi sketch.

[00:02:26]>> It is [gasps] [laughter] >> drawn and credited as the creator of ET.

[00:02:31]>> Incredible. I This is such marvelous nightmare fuel. I did not know [laughter] that in their planning they gave him a skeletal infrastructure. It's just >> it's so funny you mentioned that. So when we've had different filmmakers visit of late, apparently Spielberg has insisted that ET is a plant, [laughter] but >> I would posit that I've never known a plant to have a rib cage and a pelvis.

[00:02:58]So I'm going to take Carlo's side on this.

[00:03:00]>> That is so funny. I mean, it also like [snorts] the idea that the idea that the final execution includes people having thought through the entire physio of the organism.

[00:03:12]Exactly. And it it goes to the the point of um you know like dressing the back of the stage like no one is going to know what ET's spine looks like, but to know that that construction each vertebrae is is thought out.

[00:03:25]>> Incredible. Um I mean and this is like it's almost like ready for an anatomical notebook.

[00:03:30]>> Exactly. Um, and it this is also where I get really jealous about these guys because Rambaldi is not only an amazing mechanical engineer and an incredible character and and and and puppet designer, but also has amazing illustration skills as well. It's super annoying.

[00:03:46]>> So true. [laughter] >> So you you've got another another creature.

[00:03:50]>> Yes. So, um, for Ridley Scott's alien, inspired by HR Guyer, Rambaldi, of course, designed, believe the the head the puppetry for the the Zenomorph.

[00:04:01]Yeah.

[00:04:02]>> We don't have any of those holdings, but for Jame Canron's sequel when he then collaborated with Stan Winston's studio.

[00:04:10]So, this is Stan Winston's design for Aliens, the Xenomorph.

[00:04:14]>> Is this a Winston sketch?

[00:04:16]>> It is.

[00:04:16]>> Wow. What a thing to have. I'm always used to seeing I mean the output from Winston's studio uh designwise, illustrations, everything is so amazing, but I haven't come across very many of his his specific sketches.

[00:04:32]>> And funnily enough, we knew it was from his studio, but we didn't know who the illustrator was until we had one of our uh governors from the hair and makeup branch come in. We were um reviewing these materials for research, and he said immediately, "Oh, no, that's that's a Stan Winston design drawing, I should say."

[00:04:48]I mean and again just that like these incredible illustration skills. This is this is painting.

[00:04:53]>> Yes.

[00:04:53]>> In the service of this marvelous horror [laughter] >> and again more is this is more Stan Winston Studio stuff here with the Terminator iterations. Am I right?

[00:05:03]>> Exactly. So yes. So moving then into T2.

[00:05:07]Um so we have three different iterations.

[00:05:10]>> And this is like this is what I grew up with right. I grew up with looking at cinnapantastic and famous monsters. And they would reprint these drawings.

[00:05:17]>> Yes.

[00:05:18]>> But I still like no amount of a digital print could make it clear what incredible refinement of a line this this is. This is such a beautiful drawing. This is John Rosenr.

[00:05:31]>> Yes.

[00:05:32]>> It's just amazing. And like everything about the Terminator is visible, right?

[00:05:36]Like the carriage, the jacket. It's just >> it's all of a perfect piece. And I always think too it's like just the the the effort and the the amount of detail going into creating these special effects. Well, if this only gets captured in a you know a medium shot or a closeup, >> right? Right. Right.

[00:05:56]>> But that so often is >> you lose all that amazing cut off.

[00:05:59]>> But again that this is also one of the things that I have heard from uh uh directors of special where there's lots of special effects is don't get attached to the special effect, right? that don't don't show it just because you spent a lot of money on it. Uh uh uh I've heard from people lurking on like District 9 Neil Blumamp would spend all this time having props built and then they'd be in like four frames but he's like it's just a part of the world.

[00:06:23]>> Oh, exactly. No, and that has to be one of the joys of the job. And I think too in retaining material like this where we can lend insight into that creative process to not only see um what was chosen but what was discarded as well.

[00:06:37]So I I love the annotation on this drawing. It says no mohawk, >> right? [laughter] They've gone to he's this is real deterioration. If this is stage four and this is stage five and six, this is something else.

[00:06:49]Yeah, exactly. Swamp thing you can and this is like this starts out the illustrator ill does the illustration.

[00:06:55]James Cameron takes a look at it, talks to the effects team and then from this cascades all sorts of creation and sculpting and prosthetics. There's probably thousands of drawings that came out of the Terminator projector.

[00:07:08]Exactly. Right.

[00:07:09]>> Exactly.

[00:07:09]>> It's like stacks and stacks. You You must uh uh uh as much as you guys have, you must always want more. [laughter] >> Always. And it And knowing that um because these were considered disposable drafts that such a small percentage survived that it's an incredible responsibility to not only be caretakers for these works, um but but really make sure that they're they're preserved. And you guys are also digitizing the collection at the same time as you're collecting it.

[00:07:37]>> Exactly. Yes. We also um we endeavor to digitize as much as possible um and then make them publicly accessible on the academy collections um public website.

[00:07:46]>> Amazing. We're moving on to another iconic and amazing director, Steven Spielberg. This is Close Encounters.

[00:07:52]>> Yes, we have two works here from Close Encounters. This was illustrated by uh George Jensen. Okay. Who is credited as um I believe the production illustrator.

[00:08:01]I I love that [sighs and gasps] there's so much tactility in this. First of all, the incredible illustration that matches the shot I remember from the film. And then the three pieces here breaking down the different effects, a foreground element, the miniature liveaction set, a sky effects plate, which they were thinking about doing with front projection, I think. Yes, front projection plate.

[00:08:22]>> Exactly. I'm not positive they ended up doing that, but I like I'm I'm really most surprised by how beautiful the color is here. Their commitment to like these are aliens and was weird.

[00:08:35]>> Exactly.

[00:08:37]Exactly. And knowing how formative, you know, color was to the that whole climactic scene. This is another gem that I love because we can see then this is George Jensen's overlay. So then prepping for >> Oh, wow. Oh, so that's the production plate shot inside a sound stage.

[00:08:56]>> Yes.

[00:08:56]>> And this is the production designer helping the effects team understand the lights.

[00:09:01]>> Wow. Oh, that's so cool.

[00:09:04]>> Okay, we have this amazing thing for >> Yeah. So, let's wrap things up here. Um, so we can even pull both these down cuz the the annotations on this are just spectacular.

[00:09:14]>> So, these are from 12 Monkeys.

[00:09:16]>> 12 Monkeys. And these are um costume design drawings by Julie Weiss who just has this incredible stream of consciousness method.

[00:09:25]>> It's and she's describing this looks like part of this is describing Bruce Willis's first costume in the film where he's wearing a clear suit over some stuff.

[00:09:35]>> Exactly.

[00:09:35]>> Um I actually own that clear suit.

[00:09:38]>> Oh my [laughter] goodness.

[00:09:40]>> I bought it a few years ago. It's it's um it's it's unremarkable. It is vinyl sewn into that shape, >> but I bought it because it's always been one of my all-time favorite costumes.

[00:09:51]>> He's wearing all this strange ephemera underneath it.

[00:09:55]>> Um, [snorts] and the ephemera he's wearing really sets the tone for what you're going to witness in this movie.

[00:10:01]A crash of all sorts of different times and styles.

[00:10:05]I had no idea that a costume designer could turn out things like this as inspiration for the costume team.

[00:10:15]That's the thing I find most surprising about this.

[00:10:17]>> Yes. And truly, I mean, no one designs like Julie does with these with these types of sketches. Um, but yeah, just diving into all of her like to your point, all of the ephemeral layers.

[00:10:29]>> Oh, look at this. Yes. wax canvas, straight jacket, arms free to flail, quilted Chinese army trousers. I want to tell you like she he's wearing this like Victorian leather and chrome neck brace which I've never been able to find any version of. I don't think much of his costume was built by the prop department. I think it was assembled going to antique stores around England, etc. Um, but I am [snorts] one of my favorite things to do is to find the ephmera that is part of costumes and film stuff. And this one has absolutely uh defeated me repeatedly and I'm delighted by that. [laughter] But I also, you know what I love about you also choosing this as the last one is I think that a lot of people might think, "Oh, I have real points of view about design and I'd like to be a costume designer, but I can't draw these incredibly refined pencil drawings." And the answer is you don't necessarily need to as long as you have a really specific point of view and you know how to >> you know how to convey that idea.

[00:11:29]Absolutely.

[00:11:30]>> This is there's so much freedom in these incredible sketches. These feel like a Terry Gilliam movie, right? It feels like watching a Terry Gillian movie just reading through these. This is such a great spectrum of all the different ways you can communicate creative and aesthetic ideas to different teams of people. Absolutely. And what's so special about getting to work at the library, so not only do we have these holdings in graphic arts, but then we have um costume bibles in manuscripts and photographs has wardrobe tests. And so we get to um even though we catalog distinctly as a means of preservation, um all of these collections comprise so many diverse material and that's what we get to share.

[00:12:16]>> Amazing. So, if I'm on the website and I'm looking through some of the graphic material, can I make leaps from one film to the other? You've given me Oh, absolutely. Oh, great, great, great.

[00:12:25]That's exactly >> what I love. I just saw a body condom, [laughter] >> colosttomy bags, handk knit baby sweater. [laughter] Megan, this is this is it is so thrilling to look at the tip of the iceberg here in these eight drawings.

[00:12:42]It's just amazing.

[00:12:43]>> Well, we got plenty more to show you.

[00:12:44]>> Oh, great. Thank you so much.

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