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20th Century Fox 1979 Alien photo porfolio

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  • drquest
    ~~/\~~\o/~~/\~~Shark!
    • Apr 17, 2012
    • 3742

    20th Century Fox 1979 Alien photo porfolio

    I had posted this under the SciFi section, but decided to post here as well hoping to get a few more eyes on it. I'm still not certain what this was produced for and any thoughts are appreciated.

    The original thread is here: http://megomuseum.com/community/showthread.php?110741

    The most interesting thing I got is this photo portfolio. 18 pages or so, with two sided full page photos. This is a very impressive book, and it's definitely vintage photos and attention to detail was used to lay it all out.

    The interior mentioned that all of the photos included in this portfolio were taken within the first three weeks of shooting before the special effects were filmed. The back says the photography was by Bob Penn and this was compiled by SB International Photographic, London. I looked up Bob Penn and he was the photographer on Alien as well as Aliens and a lot of other movies. SB International was a company that processed onsite photos for movies, including Alien. http://www.stanleybielecki.com/about/

    It looks like this was created even before the Alien move was released, maybe for 20th Century Fox, but I have no idea if that's true or not. I did some digging online but didn't find anything listed like this.

    Please take a look at these photos and let me know what you think. I didn't take pictures of the other pages, but there's some really nice shots of the production.




    Danny(Drquest)
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  • enyawd72
    Maker of Monsters!
    • Oct 1, 2009
    • 7904

    #2
    I've seen a couple of these before for different films...I believe it's part of an early press kit that would've been sent out in advance to theatres to promote bookings of the film. Probably British since it was produced in London. Their press kits differ from American press books.

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    • drquest
      ~~/\~~\o/~~/\~~Shark!
      • Apr 17, 2012
      • 3742

      #3
      Thanks for your input!
      Danny(Drquest)
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      • Steve Evets Reywd
        New Member
        • Jun 15, 2018
        • 16

        #4
        Great piece! Yes, I have seen some examples of this. From my understanding, this was created before the movie was released, 100%. I know it was handed out to some theater owners, and for other marketing reasons. Example, when Kenner sent Jim Swearingen out to their set, to have a toy license agreed on, one of these books was given to him. I also saw one featured on Antique Roadshow, a couple of months ago. They gave it a $1500 value. But yes, these have popped up from folks associated with the film, like theater owners, or from associates that dealt with the marketing end of the movie, like Kenner, with the toys. My focus is Alien prototypes, so a book like this is pretty sweet, and I still do not own an example yet. Someday perhaps. Thanks for sharing : )

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        • drquest
          ~~/\~~\o/~~/\~~Shark!
          • Apr 17, 2012
          • 3742

          #5
          Double post....
          Last edited by drquest; Dec 11, '23, 5:04 PM.
          Danny(Drquest)
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          • drquest
            ~~/\~~\o/~~/\~~Shark!
            • Apr 17, 2012
            • 3742

            #6
            I finally found something about this Alien portfolio. Looks like Sothebys had one listed in February. Link is below, and here's some additional information and it looks like these were hand put together and sent back to executives at Fox during the production of Alien in 1978.


            Alien (1979), pre-production spiral-bound photographs (1978), BritishPhotographer: Bob Penn (1925-2002)Unframed: 11 x 16 in. (20 x 40.6 cm)This spiral-bound pre-production book was put together by SB International Press Services, London, and it contains a mixture of large format black and white photographs (matt finish) and colour photographs (gloss finish). The black and white photographs are of a very high quality. This book was designed to be given to executives at 20th Century Fox, with the view to add more photographs as filming continued. The photographs include the cast on set, special effect shots, and a shot of the director Ridley Scott on set. These photographs could easily be taken out and individually framed.This masterpiece of science fiction horror was directed by Ridley Scott and written by Dan O'Bannon, starring Tom Skerritt and Sigourney Weaver. It took a little time to get off the ground, with many rewrites and presentations to various studios. The success of Star Wars in 1977 ignited 20th Century Fox's interest in sci-fi films and it was then that Alien got the green light. Cinemagoers were introduced to the alien egg and the brilliant tagline "In space, no one can hear you scream."



            Description

            Alien (1979), pre-production spiral-bound photographs (1978), British
            Photographer: Bob Penn (1925-2002)
            Unframed: 11 x 16 in. (20 x 40.6 cm)

            This spiral-bound pre-production book was put together by SB International Press Services, London, and it contains a mixture of large format black and white photographs (matt finish) and colour photographs (gloss finish). The black and white photographs are of a very high quality. This book was designed to be given to executives at 20th Century Fox, with the view to add more photographs as filming continued. The photographs include the cast on set, special effect shots, and a shot of the director Ridley Scott on set. These photographs could easily be taken out and individually framed.

            This masterpiece of science fiction horror was directed by Ridley Scott and written by Dan O'Bannon, starring Tom Skerritt and Sigourney Weaver. It took a little time to get off the ground, with many rewrites and presentations to various studios. The success of Star Wars in 1977 ignited 20th Century Fox's interest in sci-fi films and it was then that Alien got the green light. Cinemagoers were introduced to the alien egg and the brilliant tagline "In space, no one can hear you scream."
            Danny(Drquest)
            Captain Action HQ
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