Portfolio
Portfolio
Portfolio
“FILM WORK IN 1970-1980”... THE STARWARS ARCHIVE
STARWARS
1976
REBEL FLEET
Made for “A New Hope” 1977
STARWARS
1976
IMPERIAL GUNNER
Made for 'A New Hope' 1977
STARWARS
1976
REBEL DEFENDER
Made for 'A New Hope' 1977
STARWARS
1976
TIE PILOT
Made for 'A New Hope' 1977
STARWARS
1976
X-WING PILOT
Made for 'A New Hope' 1977
STARWARS
1976
TIE PILOTS READY TO GO
Made for 'A New Hope' 1977
STARWARS
1976
CHEESEGRATOR PROTOTYPE
Made for 'A New Hope' 1977
STARWARS
1976
THE ICON
Made for 'A New Hope' 1977
STARWARS
1976
THE PILOT FULL TORSO
Made for 'A New Hope' 1977
STARWARS
1976
X-WINGS READY TO FLY
Made for 'A New Hope' 1977
STARWARS
1976
THE FIRST BATCH - DESTINATION TUNISIA
Made for 'A New Hope' 1977
Portfolio
"FILM WORK IN 1970-1980"... ALIEN + FLASH GORDON + SUPERMAN
ALIEN
1978
GIEGERS CONCEPT
Giger`s concept of a monster that was translucent, showing all internal organisms,was a tall
order for Andrew. To develop a material and invent a moulding process in the space of the time
scale of a film shoot, was always going to be challenging. A very tall Massai Warrior from Kenya
was the actor engaged to be inside the Alien costume. Alas,the tear strength of the material was
not adequate in time for the shoot. Ridley Scott said OK, let`s go without the monster, it might
even add to the suspense. ndeed it did, because you never saw the monster in the original Alien
film.
ALIEN
1978
CLAW-LIKE-FINGERS
Andrew developed a translucent flexible material that he also used for the 'Face Hugger' He
built a large rotisserie oven with a rail tracking system to wheel in the monster. Even the
making of this monster was a weird 'Frankinstein' like experience.
ALIEN
1978
HEADS ABOVE THE REST
Andrew's production of Aliens head was very successful. Made by pushing the boudaries of vacuum forming on one oif Andrews self built bespoke vacuum forming machines.
ALIEN
1978
A SNAKE IN THE GRASS
The “Face Hugger” was made with articulating fingers and a body filched from an animal skeleton. This mated to tail made from a snake skin and produced a really spectacular monster.The resulting 'Face Hugger' could walk in a crabbing style and clamp onto any unsuspecting being, inserting its eggs into whatever orifice it could find... gruesome.
ALIEN
1978
IT'S A WRAP!
Running out of time, Andrew did actually solve the tear strength issue. At a dramatic showdown with the production team Andrew playfully slapped the head accountant with the new marial. It shattered, he picked up the wrong piece. 'Its a Wrap' was Ridley Scott's exlamation let’s go without it.
ALIEN
1978
THE LEGACY
Both Andrew and Giger were disappointed with no monster in the film. But it was a sterling effort that did not quite come off, and so Giger gave Andrew the copy of his book that was used as reference for all work on the film. The book is signed... “For Andrew....H R Giger 78 ” with a little doodle from Giger`s friend Salvador Dali.
FLASH GORDON
1979
THE STAR OF THE SHOW
Brian Blessed played a main character as Prince Vultan, dressed in a spectacular costume with enormous wings and feathers made by Andrew and his crew.
FLASH GORDON
1979
THE SILVER SCREEN
The silver shimmering backdrop on this set was made from 9,000 vacuum formed plastic panels strung together. There waS no end to Andrew's capacity for production in very short timescales.
FLASH GORDON
1979
FEATHERS...AND MORE FEATHERS
Andrew and his team made thousands of individual feathers, all cut out by hand and painted.
FLASH GORDON
1979
WOOD BEAST
This large eyed cyclop with long spindly legs was only seen hiding in a tree trunk. Dino de Laurentis claimed that he never used it and so would not pay! However, before the film was finished the lads in the editing rooms at Shepperton spilled the beans to Andrew who was able to force the production company to pay up. Dino, surrounded by his Italian bopdyguards, thretened Andrew with the suggestion that he would never work in films again... Heard that one before!
SUPERMAN
1977
WHISPERING WIND
Up until then, to create wind for a film shoot, productions used an areo engine on a dolly. This was so noisy that it was impossible to shoot sound at the same time. Andrew built foam filled plastic fan blades around a steel spaceframe and powered it with quiet electric motors. Wally Vivas, an expert in front projection, approached Andrew to see if it was possible to use a real man to play Superman. The concept was to suspend Superman in the air on a wire in front of a front projection screen and use lightweight fans to create the background wind and the movement of the cloak.An exiting proposition and Andrew built a thermplastic front projection screen.Christopher Reed, playing Superman was up for anything...so the prospect of life on the wire with a fan in front of his face didn’t phase him.
SUPERMAN
1977
AN ENGINEERING FATE "FAN-TASTIC"
Before ART School, Andrew spent 3 years studying Engineering at Kingston Poly and so the chalenge of designing the large 15 ft diameter wind machines was an exciting prospect.
SUPERMAN
1977
CRYSTALS
Andrew and his team made hundreds of crystals that made up the birthplace of Superman. Each one was individually sculpted from Acrylic and polished to perfection.
Portfolio
"FILM WORK IN 1970 - 1980"... EXCALIBUR + KRULL + SPACE 1999
EXCALIBUR
1980
BLOOD & GORE
A John Boorman film, shot in Ireland at Ardmore Studios with Helen Mirren and Liam Neeson in starring roles. The battle scenes depicted in this film were truly spectacular, with much use of watered down tomato ketchup.
EXCALIBUR
1980
SERIOUS WEAPONS
The lads employed as film extras in Ireland really gave value for money, and their enthusiasm for accurate battle re-enactment was second to none. To avoid them actually killing themselves, Andrew created flexible battle weapons from elastomeric polyurethames that allowed the armies to beat the sh*! out of each other.
EXCALIBUR
1980
THE FORCES OF EVIL
It always seemed more fun to create helmets and armour that were unknown. These helmets for the ancient Britons gave Andrew a chance to express some imagination and create a meaningful character.
EXCALIBUR
1980
THE GOOD GUYS
Traditional medieval armour is well documented and so to reproduce these designs in aluminium was a relatively easy task.
SPACE 1999
1976
THE ALIEN
Keith Wilson gave his sketch to Andrew of a Alien creature for the television series " Space 1999". A pretty good sketch to work from...
SPACE 1999
1976
A MESSY BUSINESS
Making monsters is usually a messy business. Andrew used plaster and clay to form the basic shape. Latex rubber coagulates with plaster and so the skin of the Alien was strong and flexible enough to support more detailed components like the “Cyclops eye”, the pumping blood, strobing light inside the translucent skin and not least oil & "slime" completing the effect.
SPACE 1999
1976
THE ALIEN
The Aliens were about 8ft high with an actor inside supporting the weight on a yoke placed on his shoulders. Not being the fastest movers, the Aliens soon made the command centre overcrowded
SPACE 1999
1976
MONSTERS
Plaster, Clay and Latex rubber are very versatile materials for the making of monsters. The toughness and durability of Latexlends itself to challenging action shots and so Andrew's monsters were seen in several of the episodes.
KRULL
1981
SCIENCE FICTION FROM A VICTORIAN CELLAR
Having vacated Shepperton Studios, Andrew sculpted the moulds to make the 'Beast' in his basement at Twickenham. The “Beas” and his warrieors had invaded and ransacked the planet. Fighting battle scenes on horseback, the costumes had to be tough yet light enough for action. A combination of Latex skin and PU foamed backing created the costume that worked well.
KRULL
1981
THE PALACE GUARDS
An athletic character with exaggerated chest, shoulders. The torso and bicepts were all held together with glass fibre cloth laminted with latex. The body parts were attatched to a flexible undersuit so that the actors could dress easily.
KRULL
1981
A TRICKY PROCESS
Impression from the clay sculpt were made into vacuum forming tools. Andrew vac formed a clear acrylic surface, coloured from behind to retain the high gloss.
Portfolio
"FILM WORK IN 1970-1980"... OUTLAND + BANANA PAUL +
PINK PANTHER + QUINCY'S QUEST + CAROUSEL HORSES
PINK PANTHER + QUINCY'S QUEST + CAROUSEL HORSES