District 9 | clairegolbymue

District 9 (2009) Neil Blomkamp

District ( tells the story of a scientist studying an alien population who've appeared on earth, when he starts turning into a 'prawn' after he gets alien weapon fluid in his eyes. The aliens are looked upon as worthless, as the whole film is an underlying metaphor for apartheid. The aliens are reffered to as prawns as an insult, synonymous with bottom-feeder and weak.

Vikus' transformation happens over 3 days and occurs at an even pace, by that i mean elements develop gradually. At the start he looses his nails and has a black nose bleed, then that evening violently vomits black liquid and passes out. The next day upon removing his bandage, a fully developed prawn hand is revealed and from then on this prawn infection slowly develops up his arm to his chest and back. Thats the last you see of him until its revealed that he couldn't be saved and turns full-prawn at the very end.

Falconer, D. (2010) The Art of District (: Weta Workshop Auckland, N.Z: HarperCollins Publishers (New Zealand) pages 42-554

The Art of District 9

" Completed sculptures depicting the various stages of the Wikus to Prawn transformation were matrix-moulded in silicone and fiberglass before being run in foam latex. Smaller eruptions of wounds were produced as three-dimentsional transfers as well as gelatin bald patches. A brushed on urethene rubber simulated hard shell parts with a thin layer of epoxy resin providing translucency, and horsehair was punched between the shell pieces. Finger extensions fabricated from aircraft-grade aluminium gave actor Sharlto Copley complete control of his extended prosthetic Prawn tentacle hand.

Joe Dunckley supervised and looked after all Weta Workshop's product on set, while Sarah Rubano supervised hair and makeup on Wikus; the many stages of his transformation saw them working closely together and often improvising new solutions as director Neill Blomkamp came up with ideas during the shoot.

Modern digital technology often makes it possible to augment physical makeup for extreme effects and increasingly that is done in films, but with the exception of an eye enlargement during the most advanced stage of the transformation, Wikus' mutation was achieved entirely using prosthetics. "

" Designer David Meng had resolved the alien physiology by the time work began on Wikus Van Der Merwe's transformation. With beginning and end points defined, the process of deciding how to blend the human and prawn anatomy was the challenge both David and fellow designer Greg Broadmore tackled.

To begin with, director Neill Blomkamp envisioned the change beginning like a disease or rash. Initial designs saw his skin smoothly transitioning into the carapace. Human tissue was becoming Prawn exoskeleton, underlying muscels becoming Prawn muscles and so on. However, neill quickly realised there was a better way to do it, which would also provide more motivation for Wikus' personal journey. the transformation could be far more repulsive, violent and painful, with Prawn carapce erupting from beneath the epidermis, presumabley out of Wikus' own bones, endoskeleton becoming exoskeleton. Neill's own sketch spurred a second round of designs in which the carapace was puching up from beneath, tearing and shredding the human flesh as it emerged.

With the concept resolved, the finer details of the transformation were explored by a team of Weta sculptors as four individual sculptures over fibreglass body forms, each depicting a more advanced stage in the mutation. "

This book was not only helpful due to its immense detail and insight, but the whole design process is increibly informative and gives key details about anatomical decision making. This image shows how important and influential something like the eye colour and pupil size and shape can be.

I like the idea of an infection as a way of starting a human/animal hybrid. It lends another aspect as infections themselves are typically bloody or pussy or have some element of body horror which would be interesting. Also as this doen't have to be a complete makeup I could just do a section on the body at a point in the mutation process which would work in accordance.