VFX artists share how a balance of practical and digital techniques employed in a classic John Carpenter and Kurt Russell feature created visuals that would fit alongside later technological developments. Carpenter is known for helming influential, genre-defining features, including Halloween, They Live, and The Fog. He is a celebrated director because of his lasting impact on the horror genre. Carpenter and Russell began their working relationship with an unlikely project in the form of Elvis, a 1979 TV movie where Russell portrayed the singer looking back on his life and career.
Carpenter and Russell’s collaborations would continue throughout their careers, allowing the actor to play characters such as pilot and survivor R.J. Macready in The Thing and truck driver-turned-hero Jack Burton in Big Trouble in Little China. While there have been times when Russell wasn’t always Carpenter’s first choice, he nevertheless has struck up a great bond with the performer. And though their collaborations have often not received the appreciation they deserved upon release, many have become respected cult classics for filmgoers everywhere.
Escape From New York’s VFX Were Ahead Of Their Time
The Movie Captures Surprising Future Technological Advances
Corridor Crew turned their attention to Carpenter and Russell’s first theatrical collaboration, Escape from New York, in the latest episode of their “VFX Artists React To Great & Bad VFX” series. The crew focused on the movie’s radar screen sequence. Rather than relying purely on digital effects to create the New York wire-frame digital imagery, Sam explained that the sequence was instead filming a practical miniature as the visual scrolled through the digital city skyline. As the image focused in on a single rooftop, the sequence almost seamlessly cut away to a true digital wireframe. He said:
They said, “Hey, we want a sweet futuristic HUD.” But this is, you know, mid-80s right now and so they’re like, “Yeah, we could do it wireframe, but it’s not going to be that detailed.” So instead of rendering these ’80s wire frames out, they’re just like, “Screw it…”
Reflective paint was used to create the green glow, and the pattern was applied to the miniature, followed by a later treatment on the footage when the crosshair was added to the final visual to get the final color. Ultimately, the crew would praise the visuals for capturing the aesthetic of what similar technological developments would bring, with Wren explaining:
Whatever that paint is, it’s not actually like green paint, it just looks green underneath the lights of the camera. Unless it actually looks like that white in camera, and they treating it and shifting it to a greener color. ‘Cause they’re still doing some effects, because notice how there’s a little bit of a HUD on top of that. But like they nailed the aesthetic of the sort of like vectorized-like graph line rendering.
Our Take On Escape From New York
The Movie Has Been An Inspiration To Many
A definitive hit both critically and financially upon release, Escape from New York stands out as one of Carpenter and Russell’s finest collaborations. Alongside the return of several of Carpenter’s other collaborators, including Donald Pleasence, Nick Castle, and Adrienne Barbeau, the movie also has an incredible legacy in pop culture. From inspiring the pioneering cyber-punk novel Neuromancer, the scope of the destruction seen in Cloverfield, and Hideo Kojima’s Metal Gear Solid video game series, the movie has left an incredible mark that continues to resonate to this day.
As such, it is fascinating to see how a surprisingly true-to-life visual is buried among other notable, fantastical images. While it may have been a product of a workaround, the marriage of practical and digital VFX to create the digital New York is a testament to Carpenter’s VFX expertise and filmmaking. Many may revisit Escape from New York with a new appreciation for its visuals.
Source: Corridor Crew
John Carpenter takes on the role of writer, composer, and director in Escape from New York, a post-apocalyptic sci-fi film where a large portion of New York City is converted into the biggest prison in the world, with all criminals in the United States sentenced there. When the President is kidnapped and taken abruptly into the heart of the prison, the government will turn to former soldier turned convict Snake Plissken to rescue him within twenty-four hours in exchange for a full pardon of his crimes.
- Release Date
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July 10, 1981
- Runtime
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99 minutes
- Franchise(s)
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Escape from New York
- Budget
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$6 million
- Studio(s)
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Embassy Pictures
- Distributor(s)
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Embassy Pictures