Xenogenesis (film)
Encyclopedia
Xenogenesis is a 1978 science fiction short film directed by Canadian director James Cameron
.
was a truck driver who wrote science fiction and painted small models. He saw Star Wars
and was upset that someone else created a film that he felt he should have made. He studied how the effects in Star Wars were done and practiced dolly shots in his living room. He also went to the library at University of South Carolina
to study special effects.
Cameron convinced several local dentists to provide an investment of $20,000, and he wrote a screenplay for a short film with a friend. He produced a 12-minute short that featured a stop-motion fight scene between a woman in an exoskeleton suit and an extraterrestrial robot, which he had built himself. Cameron hoped to present the short to studios to make a feature film, but he was unsuccessful. The effort did land Cameron a job building miniature starships for Roger Corman
's film Battle Beyond the Stars
, and he eventually became one of Corman's visual effects specialists.
James Cameron
James Francis Cameron is a Canadian-American film director, film producer, screenwriter, editor, environmentalist and inventor...
.
Plot
A woman and an engineered man are sent in a gigantic sentient starship to search space for a place to start a new life cycle. Raj decides to take a look around the ship. He comes across a gigantic robotic cleaner. Combat ensues.Production
In 1977, 22-year-old James CameronJames Cameron
James Francis Cameron is a Canadian-American film director, film producer, screenwriter, editor, environmentalist and inventor...
was a truck driver who wrote science fiction and painted small models. He saw Star Wars
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, originally released as Star Wars, is a 1977 American epic space opera film, written and directed by George Lucas. It is the first of six films released in the Star Wars saga: two subsequent films complete the original trilogy, while a prequel trilogy completes the...
and was upset that someone else created a film that he felt he should have made. He studied how the effects in Star Wars were done and practiced dolly shots in his living room. He also went to the library at University of South Carolina
University of South Carolina
The University of South Carolina is a public, co-educational research university located in Columbia, South Carolina, United States, with 7 surrounding satellite campuses. Its historic campus covers over in downtown Columbia not far from the South Carolina State House...
to study special effects.
Cameron convinced several local dentists to provide an investment of $20,000, and he wrote a screenplay for a short film with a friend. He produced a 12-minute short that featured a stop-motion fight scene between a woman in an exoskeleton suit and an extraterrestrial robot, which he had built himself. Cameron hoped to present the short to studios to make a feature film, but he was unsuccessful. The effort did land Cameron a job building miniature starships for Roger Corman
Roger Corman
Roger William Corman is an American film producer, director and actor. He has mostly worked on low-budget B movies. Some of Corman's work has an established critical reputation, such as his cycle of films adapted from the tales of Edgar Allan Poe, and in 2009 he won an Honorary Academy Award for...
's film Battle Beyond the Stars
Battle Beyond the Stars
Battle Beyond the Stars is a Roger Corman-produced science fiction film, directed by Jimmy T. Murakami and released in 1980. The film, intended as a "Magnificent Seven in outer space," is a pastiche of The Magnificent Seven, the Western remake of Akira Kurosawa's film Seven Samurai...
, and he eventually became one of Corman's visual effects specialists.