Another Cloverfield update (monster details)

Ra88 · Jan 10, 2008

No pics, just descriptions.

First up is a not so heavy spoiler loaded article on it (though still heavy).

Cloverfield Monster Details Revealed
Posted on Wednesday, January 9th, 2008 at 9:16 pm by: Peter Sciretta

I just got my hands on the production notes for Cloverfield.

Below I have pasted an excerpt, where JJ Abrams, director Matt Reeves, and writer Drew Goddard talk about the monster like we’ve never heard before, in exteme detail. They also talk about the “parasites” and explain the long rumored flashback sequences (the way they constructed it actually makes a hell of a lot of sense). Those weary of spoilers, please continue no further.

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Reeves also skillfully interweaves an important storyline throughout the film, that of Rob and Beth’s (Odette Yustman) earlier relationship. Hud is unknowingly taping over an earlier recording Rob had made with the camera of intimate, quiet time spent with his mate. “You see their loving gaze. It’s this small love story,” says Reeves.

“So I began thinking, ‘Isn’t there some way to make that kind of a parallel story?’” The film actually begins with some of this footage – much of it shot by Michael Stahl-David himself using a small video camera. But additional portions also appear interspersed throughout the movie, typically after some shocking event has caused Hud to briefly shut off the camera, allowing a brief portion of Rob’s original recording to play for the audience before Hud picks up the current action again.

“We’re seeing the aftermath of two people who have longed to be together, and somehow finally come together, crosscut with this other event,” the director explains. “By going back and forth between these two pieces, you end up heightening the drama. By looking back at this relationship and what it could have been, the audience starts to put the pieces together as to why Rob is so eager to rescue her.”

Building a Better Monster
The visual effects for “Cloverfield” were produced under the direction of visual effects supervisors Kevin Blank, Eric Leven of Tippett Studio and Michael Ellis of London-based Double Negative. Tippett created all the shots that include the monsters, while Double Negative was responsible for all of the other destruction and sequences which did not include the monster.

The concept for the monster (affectionately known simply as “Clover” in-house) is simple, says Abrams. “He’s a baby. He’s brand-new. He’s confused, disoriented and irritable. And he’s been down there in the water for thousands and thousands of years.”

And where is he from? “We don’t say – deliberately,” notes Goddard. “Our movie doesn’t have the scientist in the white lab coat who shows up and explains things like that. We don’t have that scene.”

Not only is the creature disoriented – he’s downright angry. “There are a bunch of smaller things – humans – that are annoying him and shooting at him like a swarm of bees,” observes Reeves. “None of these things are going to kill the monster, but they hurt it and it doesn’t understand. It’s this new environment that it finds frightening.”

For the monster’s design, Abrams engaged veteran creature designer Neville Page, who had just finished creating characters for James Cameron’s upcoming “Avatar” (and is currently working on Abrams’ “Star Trek”).

“So much has been done in so many different movies with large creatures that the trick was to find a way to create a unique character,” explains Abrams. The producer had first become familiar with Page’s work through the designer’s series of instructional DVDs for The Gnoman Workshop. “One of the things that struck me about Neville’s instructional videos was the way he approaches everything from a realistic point of view. He develops non-existing creatures, but can explain to you their physical makeup, musculature and skeletal structure.”

Adds producer Burk, “Neville was the first person we met with. And he’s amazing. He doesn’t just think about designing the creature, he thinks in terms of how it would walk, how it would breathe, what its skin would be like, how it lives – everything.”

Once Page’s designs were complete, it was up to Tippett Studio to implement and refine the monster for inclusion in the few – but crucial – shots in which he appears. “We did a test, where we inserted him into some background plate shot in downtown L.A.,” explains Leven. “We experimented with different looks, in terms of not only the creature itself, but how it would interact with the camera and with light.”

Another facet of the design was added at director Reeves’ suggestion. “I wanted him to have that sort of spooked feeling, the way, when a horse is spooked, you can see the white of its eyes along the bottom. And you see that when the military is firing on him, where he becomes completely agitated and confused.”

As part of a “post-birth ritual,” as Abrams describes it, the monster is seen early on scratching his back on a building (destroying it in the process), to remove a layer of parasites that are set loose to wreak their own havoc on the city.

“Drew and I were struggling with, ‘When you have a monster that size how do you keep the characters from seeming totally irrelevant?’” says Abrams. “How do you have any one-on-one struggle?” Explains Goddard, “Because he’s so big, we knew it was going to be difficult to have intimate sequences. It’s not like any of the characters could fight him or that anyone could even figure out a way to hurt him.”

And because of that, the idea of the parasites was born. “They’re these horrifying, dog-sized creatures that just scatter around the city and add to the nightmare of the evening,” Abrams says.

“The parasites have a voracious, rabid, bounding nature, but they also have a crab-like crawl,” Reeves explains. “They have the viciousness of a dog, but with the ability to climb walls and stick to things.”

In addition, the parasites also move more rapidly than their giant host counterpart. “Tippett Studio has a lot of expertise with these kinds of fast-moving creatures that can destroy people and rip them to shreds, which is always a lot of fun to work on,” says Leven. “They’re like little whirling dervishes that just destroy anything in their path. They’re totally deadly.”
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http://www.slashfilm.com/2008/01/09/cloverfield-building-a-better-monster

Then finally there's this spoiler heavy thread of someone who saw the movie, and which goes in full describing the monster (the dates and some of the stuff sound off, but others sound legit). The monster sounds weak-ish from his description, but who knows, it could just be a weird description.

The monster isn't green, it's grey.
-It has 4 legs and 2 really small, crab-like legs on it's torso (the crab legs might've been vestigial).
-It's approx. 30-40 stories tall (Rob/Lil/Hud climb up Beth's building (59th floor) where she is impaled on some metal thing, after saving her, they see the monster walking down the street, monster is significantly shorter than 50 stories).
-It's front "arms" are "backwards" (as if you're elbows protruded in front of you) The arms are pretty long.
-It has 3 LONG fingers on each hand (like, index finger middle finger and thumb.
-Has 2 back legs, walks upright, but it appears that the front "arms" are significantly longer than the back legs.
-Has a long tail.
-Human-like head.
-Has these 2 red, puffing (possibly lungs) lobes on it's head. It's jaw looks like a bulldog (where it's "fangs" are over it's lips)

The little monsters look nearly identical to the black/yellow bugs from starship troopers, but they're between knee and waist height.

It's face is human/snake-like.
Slit nose, 2 slit-ish black eyes, 2 upper and 2 lower "fangs" protrude over it's "lips" like a bulldog (haha).
Round, bald head. It actually looks like a combo of Voldemort and a Bulldog haha.

It's got a somewhat short-looking torso, the tail makes it look way longer. The tail is definitely longer than the length of the torso, neck, and head.

The front arms are "backwards" where the elbows come out in front. Three REALLY slender and REALLY long fingers on each hand (like a "grey" alien) The arms appear MUCH thicker than it's legs. At one point, it appears to walk like a gorilla using it's front arms to propel itself, but it mostly appears to walk on it's back legs (mostly when it's being shot). It moves kinda fast, but not overly fast.

It's surprisingly short (on it's back legs, but with it's arms outstretched it has the capability to be really, really tall) and not as wide as you might think. I think it's no more than 35 stories tall (because Beth is trapped in her apartment impaled on a piece of metal, and the monster walks by/beside/underneath the building after Hud, Lil, and Rob get her out. Beth's apartment is on like the 59th floor (?) The last numbered floor I remember seeing is 57 and they were still going up).

In the scene where it kills [Cut out by Ra88], it appears to have red "lungs" on it's head that puff in and out as if it's breathing, creepy.

The legs are slender too, but the feet are THICK and stump like, bigger than one of the tanks it steps on.

Overall, the monster is a dark grey.

(In response to this Godzilla monster: http://images.quizilla.com/B/Billman/1058200703_cturesOrga.jpg (the poster said the description made him think of that)) Hmmm...it's torso was much further away from the ground, and it's tail never appeared to drag, it's arms were long, but thick, and it's "hands" were slender and long. The torso was definitely way thinner, but somewhat wide.

It's head definitely protruded more. It kinda had a long-ish neck that allowed it to rotate and lock around, and the head and was human/oval shaped, like a "grey" alien or voldemort.

The CGI was actually pretty good, especially close up with all the chaos going on. It was comparable to the most recent "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies.
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http://forums.unfiction.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=23357 (SPOILER LOADED THREAD.)

I'm glad that the guy says the movie's good, though. Sounds like a rush, and a much scarier ride then I Am Legend.

TonyzCustomz · Jan 10, 2008

Sounds really good, Kinda weird monster description, I can depict the parasites much better. Can't wait to see it.

Bryan · Jan 10, 2008

I think that's some old concept or fan art. It doesn't really gel with the specifics in Ra88's post.

TonyzCustomz · Jan 10, 2008

squirrelcar said: ↑

I think that's some old concept or fan art. It doesn't really gel with the specifics in Ra88's post.
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Hell i dunno, still looks cool though, I think cooler than the description.

Jeremy.B · Jan 10, 2008

TonyzCustomz said: ↑

Hell i dunno, still looks cool though, I think cooler than the description.
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Yeah, there was a post about this a month or so ago. Whale Monster. Whale Monster is way cool, and if it isn't the Cloverfield monster (which it appears not to be), they should make a movie about Whale Monster attacking a city, but not New York.

Birmingham. Or Atlanta. Knoxville? Fayetville? Houston!!! Austin?!?! Albequerque???

Keiichitron · Jan 10, 2008

one more week, i'm gonna have to see this alone though, nobody i know wants to see it

Deceptichage · Jan 10, 2008

Pretty interesting. I guess we'll see when the movie is out.

Dirge121 · Jan 10, 2008

Huh, apart from the head, that monster sounds awesome. The head part sounds uber-lame-tastic.

funkatron101 · Jan 10, 2008

I have a feeling this movie will be a big let down.

Ra88 · Jan 10, 2008

funkatron101 said: ↑

I have a feeling this movie will be a big let down.
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From what the poster said it IS an awesome movie, though it is a B-movie. But it was intended to be that all along, so I'm fine with it.

Codimus Prime · Jan 10, 2008

Despite reading all the spoilers I still want to see it. Hope it rocks.

Tenebrouser · Jan 10, 2008

The only reason to pay to see this is to catch the Star Trek teaser in front of it, and even that will be on the Internet within days of its release.

Magelite · Jan 10, 2008

No matter how I try and visualise that description, It kinda sucks.

DaraRex2.0 · Jan 10, 2008

Maybe it'll be just one of those movies that just sorta works. Like the first Terminator, or Blaire Witch Project.

Parasites and stuff? I thought it was going to be a giant robot picture? *shruG* See it before the reviews, early in the day without extra fee. On the other hand, we could always hope for another remake q:<

Liege Prime · Jan 10, 2008

It kinda reminds me of Sin from Final Fantasy 10 with the parasites that break off.

Anyways... I have a feeling that once again directors and writers want to push the human side on us and make us follow a bunch of humans throughout. The problem is, judging from the previews, it looks like a bunch of young kids that are just going to annoy me. Maybe that's why I liked Aliens/Predator/The Thing where their was some actual adults... maybe I'm just getting old, but it grows annoying that so many movies include teen drama and fashion shows (not literally).

Bendimus Prime · Jan 10, 2008

TonyzCustomz said: ↑

Sounds really good, Kinda weird monster description, I can depict the parasites much better. Can't wait to see it.

Edit*Did a little searching and came up with this, looks like the description I guess?http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2270/2124824171_35ff6d52b5.jpg
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That is actually fan art, which is based on the Sin monster from FFX.

TonyzCustomz · Jan 10, 2008

Bendimus Prime said: ↑

That is actually fan art, which is based on the Sin monster from FFX.
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Ohh ok I will remove it then, no use making everyone think thats it. Thanks

Ultimate_Menasor · Jan 10, 2008

cant wait to see "clover" in action.

Jeremy.B · Jan 10, 2008

Harry has it up at Aintitcool.com - I don't know how much you guys put into his reviews. He went to a review and absolutely fapped over the movie. Sometimes he is kinda hard to read; he can be dead on or really off. I hope he is dead on, as his review and description of the movie (not just the monster) sounded really good.

dark_mullet · Jan 10, 2008

I just hope for non-handy cam establishing shots. If it's all handy cam I'll hate the movie.

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Another Cloverfield update (monster details)

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Another Cloverfield update (monster details)

Ra88 Dutchman!

TonyzCustomz Am I doin it rite? TFW2005 Supporter

Bryan ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ

TonyzCustomz Am I doin it rite? TFW2005 Supporter

Jeremy.B Leader Blackout LIVES!!!

Keiichitron Not a physicist, dammit

Deceptichage Decepticon Land Pirate

Dirge121 I'll be your end of days

funkatron101 TFW2005 Supporter

Ra88 Dutchman!

Codimus Prime Missouri Toy Hunter

Tenebrouser Craft...or is it crap?

Magelite I make stupid look good

DaraRex2.0 I'd totally eat the leaf

Liege Prime Well-Known Member

Bendimus Prime Rolls for initiative TFW2005 Supporter

TonyzCustomz Am I doin it rite? TFW2005 Supporter

Ultimate_Menasor peanut butter jelly time!

Jeremy.B Leader Blackout LIVES!!!

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