5 Questions with Brett Piper about “Outpost Earth”

5 Questions with Brett Piper about “Outpost Earth”

1) Where does the film take place?

Hmm. Starting with the tough ones, eh? I really couldn't say. Some generic no man's land after an alien invasion.

2) Where did you come up with the idea that the hero had to fly the spacecraft drunk? What's wrong with you?

I have no idea (to answer both your questions). It seemed a logical progression of the story. Also funny.

3) Are you worried that your heroes' suicide mission will be seen as sympathetic to terrorists? Why or why not?

Wow. I'd never even thought of that until you asked. Certainly the method involved, ramming a ship into a building, evokes images of 9/11. But truthfully, no. The situations are entirely different. The attack in Outpost (which only turns into a suicide mission --- a failed one at that --- at the end) was an attack on a legitimate military target. I don't think there's any real comparison.

4) How was the cast of Outpost Earth to work with? Did any funny or frustrating occurrences happen while shooting?

The cast was great. Sounds like my stock answer, doesn't it? But I haven't had any real problems with actors since those two punks on Muckman. My only real problem with actors around here is finding them. And we threatened to make Ken wear a helmet this time for his own protection, but he managed to come through unscathed.

5) The end of Outpost Earth is one long special effects sequence. Tell us a little bit about your special effects approach and process on the film.

The ending sequence is almost entirely miniature work. Even the shots of the actors inside the alien ship used a miniature ship interior. The biggest problem was with scale. Nothing was really the size it seemed to be in the movie. The Golem, the ships and the crab sentries were actually all about the same size. Even the alien outpost is only about twice the size of the ship that rams it. The hardest part was showing the Golem picking up the crab sentry, which is supposed to be small enough for him to grab in one hand even though the sentry model is actually slightly larger than the Golem. I had to animate them separately, trying to line up the action (without benefit of onion skin or any such thing) then matte them together and blend the rough edges. A very slow, tedious process that even taxed the patience of a life-long animator.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NU3tJOjphes