Director Debuts: James Cameron's First Film

By: Keith Mitchell w/Chestpoundfilms

Director Debuts is a series that examines the very first works of top filmmakers today.

This week at Chestpound’s film blog, we examine the debut film of the director that created the highest grossing movie of all time…twice.

James Cameron, an innovative director and special effects pioneer. We trace back to a time in his early career when he was in his 20s and confused with life.

See, life changing revelations are a rare occurrence. Sometimes the clouds part with a golden beam of light descending from above. Sometimes you just find a moment of enlightenment finally clicking from within.

Cameron’s experience would be the latter, triggered by a film called Star Wars.

Back in the early ‘70s, Cameron found himself lost. His family had moved away from his hometown in Canada to Orange County, California. He just dropped out of college, frustrated at trying to find a career path that would combine his love for storytelling and science.

He knew he loved the idea of making movies. But slowly, he found his motives drifting astray, distracted by the world of booze, dope and fast cars.

Then in 1977, he went to see George Lucas’ Star Wars. The film had left him with a sense of resentment, probably more so towards himself. “I was really upset when I saw Star Wars,” he said. “That was the movie I wanted to make. After seeing that movie, I got very determined. I decided to get busy.”

Possessed by filmmaking, Cameron decided to school himself. He took apart cameras he could get his hands on, scrutinized scripts and binged on books from the library. He eventually became friends with William Wisher and Randall Frakes.

Influenced by his resurfacing ideas of cyborgs, aliens and strong heroines- Cameron and Frakes wrote a 10-minute script for Xenogenesis.

The story was about an engineered man and a woman, sent to a galactic starship to search for the right place to repopulate.

The film would be the first opportunity Cameron ever had to direct. He describes the scene:

“It was a bit like being a doctor doing his first appendectomy after having only read about it. We spent the first day of the shoot just trying to figure out how to get the camera running. Now I knew in theory how the threading path worked, but we couldn’t get the camera to run to save our lives. There were three of us, and one of the guys was an engineer, so we simply took the camera apart, figured out how it worked, traced the circuitry, and then realized there was something in the camera that shut the camera off in case the film buckled.”

Cameron convinced a group of local dentist to fund the film, raising a stunning $20,000. He then went and purchased a 35-mm camera, as well as equipment and a studio. Margaret Undiel was hired to play Laurie, while Wisher played Raj.

What makes the film special is Cameron’s usage of stop motion animation for special effects. He had created the models himself, as well as the matte painting used for the background.

Here is a link the film: Xenogenesis

SPOILERS:

The film starts with the opening credits, which aren’t too creative. It’s just white text on a black background, with a distracting telephone sound for every piece of text that appears.

The film then proceeds to establish a little exposition with some still paintings- presenting as if the film were an episode of a longer series.

Oh by the way, the paintings were beautifully done by James Cameron himself, the same man who illustrated some of the pictures below.

He’s known as a talented artist, often sketching many of his ideas for his movies since childhood. Remember that the next time you see Jack Dawson’s sketchbook.

In the first scene, Raj is exploring an empty spaceship. It’s vacant, but the sector appears to have been recently utilized. The ship has been abandoned for 50,000 years but the interior seems to be in excellent condition.

Raj makes a note of this as he continues to explore, communicating with Laurie by radio.

Suddenly a giant robot on tracks emerges. You can quickly see the influence this film has had on Cameron’s later works. The robot resembles the war machines in T2.

Raj hides, as he observes the machine. It makes for an excellent caretaker, as it tracks along …dusting and tidying. It apparently has cleaning capabilities, which would explain why the sector was so neat.

Out of curiosity, Raj confronts the robot, where he is then mistaken for dirt and attacked. He engages in an epic shootout with the robot, struggling to defend himself.

Just when things look bleak as Raj dangles off the edge of the platform, Laurie bursts through the wall operating a machine of her own.

The two machines clash in a final throw down, before Laurie disables the robot- saving Raj.

Despite some of the audio issues, like the sound effects, as well as the bland acting by the cast, Xenogensis is a pretty straightforward science fiction film.

There isn’t much of a plot, but it manages to create suspenseful action and impressive special effects. The effort put into the film allowed both Frakes and Cameron to land a job creating the miniature starship for Roger Corman’s Battle Beyond Stars.

Cameron never did make any money from the film, but it allowed him to push the bar of his limits in ways he hadn’t previously thought possible.

Besides, “James Cameron doesn’t do what James Cameron does for James Cameron…. James Cameron does what James Cameron does because James Cameron is… James Cameron.”