Battle Los Angeles

For the alien invasion thriller BATTLE: LOS ANGELES we put to good use our talents in creating menacing creatures, explosive battles, and breath-taking scenes of destruction and devastation in downtown Los Angeles and Santa Monica.

As well as bringing to life the sinister commander alien and an alien hovercraft, we had a great time creating big explosions and high-energy fire fights.

As the aliens invade, meteors hit the Earth, forming spectacular donut shaped smoke rings in the sky. The look for the smoke rings was inspired by the results of a real explosion on set. Cinesite’s FX TDs used Maya fluids to create the initial explosion followed by a rolling smoke ring floating in the sky.

Cinesite’s team also added CG helicopters, tanks and military vehicles. In one shot at Santa Monica airport there are 12 helicopters flying in formation with multiple land vehicles and CG people were added to the chaos on the ground.

• Release date: 11.03.2011
• Studio: Columbia Pictures
• Director: Jonathan Liebesman