This gallery contains 51 photos.
Main Articles: Scum of the Universe — Men in Black II, Part 1 Scum of the Universe — Men in Black II, Part 2 Scum of the Universe — Men in Black II, Serleena
Blog Archives
Special: Monster Legacy’s Monstrous Hundred – Part 3
The Monstrous Hundred continues with the 90s, a turning point in effects-making with the advent of CGI.
Tremors (1990)
Kicking off the 90s roster of creature features on a fabulous note, Tremors is one of the most brilliant, all-around engaging monster movies of all time. From the witty dialogue penned by S.S. Wilson and Brent Maddock, to the colourful performances of the cast, to the absolutely brilliant creature designs and effects by none other than the team at Amalgamated Dynamics in their first solo outing, Tremors never once gets boring. A real classic.
Scum of the Universe — Men in Black II, part 2
To convince the neuralyzed Kay that what he is saying is true, Jay shows Kay that most of the workers at the postal office are actually aliens. Dozens of concepts were devised, and ultimately nailed down to four.
Scum Of The Universe — Men In Black II, part 1
Rick Baker and Cinovation Studio returned to design and give life to the creatures for Men In Black II, accompanied on the visual effects front by Industrial Light & Magic. Like its predecessor, the film posed an ambitious challenge of bringing to the screen a vast array of practical and digital creatures; and yet, Sony Pictures demanded completion of the project in a fraction of the time the same teams had been given to produce the first film.
Scum Of The Universe — Men In Black II, Serleena
Responsible for the design of Serleena’s various forms throughout Men In Black II were Rick Baker himself and ILM art director David Nakabayashi. “The trick,” recalled Nakabayashi, “was to give Serleena creature continuity, even though it would be seen in many different forms. There had to be visual cues telling the audience that Serleena was one creature.”
Monster Gallery: Men in Black (1997)
Jul 2
This gallery contains 20 photos.
Main article: Scum of the Universe — Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | The Bug
Scum of the Universe – Men in Black, Part 3
Rosenberg is revealed to be a mechanical human disguise that houses a small, green humanoid alien — dubbed ‘Chucky’ or ‘Mr. Gentle’ by the crew — designed directly after classic depictions of grey aliens with large eyes and craniums.
Scum of the Universe – Men in Black, Part 2
It was during production that both Sonnenfeld and the producers realized that the MIB headquarters looked empty — as in they lacked a consistent alien presence. As originally envisioned, the headquarters had to represent a 60s airport or way station, and yet the footage shot up to that point only displayed few alien characters. The producers thus decided to introduce more exotic creatures into the scene — in the style of the iconic Star Wars cantina sequence — and commissioned additional creature effects.
Scum of the Universe – Men In Black, Part 1
“When I first went in and talked to Barry Sonnenfeld about Men in Black,” said special effects wizard Rick Baker, “I said it would really be hard to do an alien that does not look like something you’ve seen 40,000 times on TV. That was one of the challenges — to do something that doesn’t look like something which has been done before. I don’t know if we totally succeeded in that, but some of them are original-looking.”
Bringing to life the fair of the bizarre to be at display in Barry Sonnenfeld’s Men in Black was a long process that involved a wide diversity of artists. Before Rick Baker’s Cinovation Studio became attached to the project, various concept artists and illustrators had begun devising creature designs based on Ed Solomon’s script — which also changed its plot and story beats as production progressed. Artists involved in this early phase included Yasushi Nirasawa and Ricardo Delgado, as well as Carlos Huante — who would eventually have the most influence on the design and aesthetic of the aliens. The Men in Black creatures would go on to become characterized by their whimsical, bizarre aesthetic combined with organic, life-like texture.
Monster Legacy 