In the new film from Neil Rowe, Alien Outbreak, the deadliest plague has come from above! Set in a rural English town, two police officers begin their normal shift but soon realise something is wrong. With residents behaving strangely and horrific events unfolding before their eyes, they learn they are under attack from terrifying alien creatures and must fight to defend their town and community.
Alien Outbreak is the second feature film from Devon’s Rendered Pictures, featuring husband and wife team Neil Rowe (writer, director, producer, VFX artist) and Amanda Rowe (producer, composer). To celebrate the new release of Alien Outbreak on DVD and digital download, we chat to them exclusively about the film…
For both of you, was there a key moment when you recognised that being filmmakers was going to be a part of your lives?
Amanda: It followed the success of our first sci-fi feature film, Robot World. That started out as a hobby really and for a place for Neil to showcase his CGI skills as he was considering going freelance. When the film was complete, we decided to enter into a few film festivals. Surprisingly, we started winning some awards and, from this point, various agents approached us and we signed on with High Octane. The sales from our first film meant we could seriously consider turning this into a business and Alien Outbreak pre-production began. We formed our company Rendered Pictures in 2016 and started writing and producing our next film, Alien Outbreak.
Neil Rowe: As well as a production studio we are also a visual effects studio. So even when we are not producing our own films, we are still very much involved in filmmaking, working with other producers on their projects.
Which filmmakers or actors have been most inspiring and influential to you, and why?
N: I am often impressed and inspired by what other low budget filmmakers manage to achieve. Although lacking in production value, the stories, imagination and creativity can be much braver than most of what you will see from the big studios. Shane Carruth’s Primer, Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead’s Resolution and James Ward Byrkit’s Coherence to name a few.
What did you both enjoy the most about bringing Alien Outbreak to life?
A: Working with a cast and a slightly bigger crew, so it was nice to have a team around us this time. Although it was hard work due to the amount of filming we did versus not having the luxury of a vast film crew and runners, we enjoyed seeing the script come to life and seeing the actors at work, while working in some lovely locations across Devon. We are both from Exeter and we utilised the lovely landscape around us. As with Robot World, we filmed at several locations across Dartmoor, Plymouth and Exeter.
A: We also enjoyed putting the film score together and adding this to the scenes. This is my field and I always look forward to the pre-production side of things. As Neil develops and handles all the CGI, I look forward to seeing his creatures and robots coming to life when the scenes are handed across to me.
N: The cast and crew on Robot World consisted of me, Amanda and my brother, that was it. This time, although still very small, we had a few more cast and crew and so seeing them work and building on the script was a real joy, everyone was so committed and so professional, so it was quite humbling.
Watching Katherine and Ritchie switch their characters on and off was really impressive, one second we would be laughing and joking and then I would call action they would just snap back into character. And I’m sure they knew the script better than I did, and I wrote the thing!
I also didn’t realise that by adding a great sound guy to our crew I was also getting a kind of assistant director. Alex Stephens was constantly checking the monitor for what was in frame, giving feedback on how performances were sounding and just general problem solving, so Alex did an amazing job.
Alien Outbreak has some top-notch special effects and CGI, how did you come up with the design for the aliens, various craft and general visual style?
N: I had a great concept artist, Amy Blevin, who helped me develop the look of the ship. She produced some incredible concepts that were evolved to a point where I could take her drawings and produce a 3D model. This also gave me the look and style that I would then apply to the drones. This was all done after we shot the film. I knew they would be some sort of leggy machines but I didn’t really know what they would end up looking like. So, on the set when the actors would ask me “what am I looking at, towards the end of the corridor?” I had to just make something up because I still wasn’t sure myself!
Do you think that CGI is taking something away from the world of physical effects, or do you feel that there is plenty of room for them to work side-by-side?
N: They should definitely co-exist. I rely heavily on VFX because that is my field and I know how to get it done relatively cheaply, therefore keeping it within our limited budget. I know on set what is needed to make life easier in post-production. I would love to use more physical effects in the future and certainly will do, now that we have met some great special effects artists like Ash Linton.
When it came to the writing of Alien Outbreak, how did you come up with the idea and what was the process for developing it?
N: Early on, we knew we wanted to have a police setting and a female lead. With this kind of low budget movie, the challenge is to find some way to isolate your characters from the rest of the world to keep your production costs down. We came up with the idea of a small rural community as a starting point and we could then be (deliberately) a bit vague about the size of the population.
A: It came from my job really. I am a police officer and have worked in numerous rural isolated areas and have dealt with many challenges. I was often phoning Neil to tell him I was going to be late off work as I was dealing with something. You simply can’t just clock off, you have to finish what you are doing before going off duty. This gave Neil the starting point: what if aliens descended on a small rural town and cut them off from the outside world, and it was down to the police and the community to survive? I helped Neil with the ‘policing’ elements in the script so this aspect would look realistic.
How did the experience of filming Alien Outbreak differ from your earlier feature, Robot World, and were there any new and unique challenges?
A: The main difference was having a bigger budget which meant we could hire a cast and a small crew, something we hadn’t experienced before. It was great having a bigger team around us this time, although it is still considered small scale in the grand scheme of things.
We had a sound engineer and a makeup/special effects artist on set and on two filming days we had a runner. That was it, and the rest of the jobs we all pitched in to help with. Filming is very hard work when you have to do everything yourself and can be lonely, so it was nice to have people around to help carry around the equipment! Having a bigger team around us also meant there was more organising to do. With Robot World, there were only 4 of us to organise and very few locations. With Alien Outbreak we had about 10 locations written into the script including a few shots in a land rover.
We filmed Alien Outbreak over 17 days, broken up over the course of 4 months. These included both day and night shoots. This meant more organising for me as I had more people to get to the locations. We all had day jobs, so I really did have to organise everyone military style. It was a miracle we all ended up where we were meant to be!
With lots of indie films now making their mark in the film industry, how do you think they stand up against bigger budget Hollywood movies? And is there a way indie can perhaps challenge or stand apart from the mainstream?
A: Neil’s’ background is in CGI and all the robots/drones were designed and built by Neil and his friend Gareth Knight and concept artist Amy Blevin. The budget was small and therefore we did not have the funds to employ a large team of CG artists as you would typically have in the big budget Hollywood films that take on visual effects in the manner we did.
Our business model enables us to achieve good quality visual effects on a low budget. This is what our company is all about. Neil has also worked with various other filmmakers lending his vast knowledge and skills within the visual effects field.
What’s next for the Rendered Pictures team?
We are currently in pre-production for our third feature film. We have been scouting around more locations and have our eye on a place in Okehampton. This time around we are hoping to step up another gear and hire a camera operator, so that Neil isn’t always having to shoot everything himself. We are also concentrating on the visual effects side of our business and Neil is working on other projects with other talented filmmakers.
Dazzler Media presents Alien Outbreak out now on DVD & Digital Download at Amazon and iTunes.
Karen Woodham is the founder and owner of the Blazing Minds. She is also a Cinema reviewer and works with RealD 3D reviewing the latest 3D releases and IMAX, she has also had several articles published in various publications including the first edition of SFW Magazine. In 2015 she became an Award Winning Blogger and also has her website listed as one of the UK’s Top 10 Film Blogs.
