CMU School of Drama


Wednesday, May 03, 2017

Alien Covenant's Armor, Weapons, and Blood Effects!

Tested: On the set of the upcoming Alien: Covenant, Adam Savage learns about the array of prop guns and knives used in filming by production armorist John Bowring! Adam then stops by the breakaway effects department to see how the various alien, human, and synthetic bloods and fluids are made and used to great effect on screen!

3 comments:

nick waddington said...

I really enjoyed this video especially as a follow-up to the last Tested segment about Alien: Covenant. Again Adam Savage demonstrates his love and appreciation for the behind the scenes team in the film industry. one of the things i thought was most valuable about this segment was how well educated the armorer was about his craft, because he was instantly able to identify the people who would have been trained to fire a gun sideways, and was obviously extremely knowledgeable about all kinds of different training techniques for people of all eras down to the very detail of soldiers not being trained to not put their finger on the trigger. i also thought it was fascinating to hear about how many different replications of the original weapons they made. each weapon had almost 7 replicas for various situational needs, whether that was sitting on a table during a scene, or being an actual firing prop. I also liked how much he geeked out about the different types of fake blood, because it really is an art being able to replicate something so common, yet also so vulnerable

Julien Sat-Vollhardt said...

Man, I get really salty every time Adam Savage gets mentioned on this blog, just because he has come to the CMU campus several times this year, and NOT ONCE have I witnessed his coming. ALWAYS I have been notified after the fact, in an article chronicling his epic and informative visit, and conveniently I have never been there. This is, of course, not relevant in any way to the article at hand but I felt like this was the right forum to voice my displeasure. I want to meet Adam Savage goddamn it! In other news, Tested is an amazing channel, which provides invaluable content for budding scenic artists, as well as those already professionals in the business. I love particularly his one day build videos, which really go through the entire process of building a particular prop or object from a tv show or movie that is really quite cathartic when you watch as you fall asleep at 4am the night of an 8:00 class!

Alexa James-Cardenas said...

I read the Adam Savage/ Alien Set article last week, which was really cool, but this is what I’m really interested in. Also in the video it really reminds me of why I love Adam Savage, where he talks about the first gun, and the fact that the bolt is behind the trigger and how that effects the shooting of the gun, and then his knowledge of all the other guns. It is truly amazing how much work goes into the manufacture and detail of prop guns, and having up to 90 of them! But I also think that there is a bitter-sweet side to that because not all the audience members are going to will appreciate/ notice the different array of guns and pistols that the armorist and crew have designed and built. But I guess that is why they have articles like this. I absolutely love the section on the history and the best/worst ways to hold a gun. Who knew that holding a gun/pistol sideways was actually historical? (well they did obviously). But still for modern guns, it is a stupid way to hold a gun and think you will shoot your target correctly. I must say for the blood portion it was hard for me to watch, but still cool to learn about. Now I kind feel like I actually want to watch the movie.