Dark Encounter Director Carl Strathie Talks Alien Lights And Grief In Our Interview

Horror Fuel: “I love the way the lights flood the home. How was that achieved?”

Carl Strathie: “Bart Sienkiewicz, our outstanding Director Of Photography, and his genius Gaffer, Tom Nowell, came up with various ways to have these huge lights, which represent the UFO’s, pass the windows. Some were fitted to camera cranes and some tied to ropes, which were essentially pulled like a clothesline across the windows. But it wasn’t easy as there wasn’t much room on set. All the interiors of the house were built in sound stages and we were practically wall-to-wall, not allowing much room down the sides of the house for these UFOs to pass. But Tom, Bart and the team handled it like pros and created incredible lighting effects. No condition is ever perfect on set. And it’s not about the conditions. It’s about how the conditions are handled and how you overcome them. I like to nickname Tom Nowell “The Lord Of Light” as he truly is a genius with lighting. We also had him on Solis, our first film, in which light is also essentially another character. But with this film, Dark Encounter, we were just blown away by what he and his team achieved and how hard they worked to pull it all off.”

Horror Fuel: “It worked out beautifully. The alien looked amazing, was it CGI?”

Carl Strathie: “I’m so glad you think so! The alien was actually a full practical creation, a huge six-foot-something puppet created by ArtemFX. I knew early on that I didn’t want the alien to be CGI. Audiences will just be able to tell, and it’s a cheap trick – unless you’re going to pour loads of time and money into it, which we didn’t have either of. So Artem rose to the challenge. In fact, they didn’t have to rise far as it wasn’t a challenge for them at all! These guys are wizards. There’s nothing they can’t do, especially when you don’t have much room in the budget. But they created “Maurice” (the alien’s birth name, I believe) with a full inner skeleton, some organs, and translucent skin, and could be manipulated to move his head, arms and torso. They also created a hero arm that has moveable fingers for separate close shots. We then decided that digital technology could be used to enhance Maurice, so using CGI in post, we had these light effects inside his body as if there are pulses in energy running through his nervous system. I think they based the little lights inside on the UFO’s themselves, so there’s that connection. But the VFX team just enhanced the light within the alien, which completed the effect.”

Carl Strathie: “Maurice the alien is safe and sound in the lobby at ArtemFX I believe. We wouldn’t have room for it at home. Would make a great burglar deterrent though… We do however have the spooky-as-hell cymbal monkey, the famous Charlie Chimp. We endured all kinds of hell acquiring the rights to use that thing. Well, our Production Coordinator Rory Johnston did. I think he still has nightmares about it. So we’ve kept it in our loft. I think a few cast members got to keep a few props related to their characters. I know that Bridget Doherty, who plays Maisie, the missing girl, got to keep her red dungarees. She was very pleased about that. On our last film, SOLIS, I really wanted to keep the miniatures we shot with, as again we avoided CGI as best as we could (the finished result was a combination between the practical miniatures and extensive touch-ups with CGI) so we had both spacecraft in the film made as models. But there was no way we’d have the room in our house for them. So both spaceships I believe live in the ViridianFX offices in York. It’s always nice going in there and seeing the models sitting there. They become symbols of memory.”