Derek Vanlint CSC / Alien

HATCHING A FRANCHISE

When Derek Vanlint CSC passed away in 2010, obituaries called him the “Alien cinematographer”. With the help of David Johnson BSC, we look back at the film that defined Vanlint’s career.

Neil Oseman

Released in 1979, Alien forever changed what sci-fi could look like, sparked a long-running franchise, and established Ridley Scott as a director to watch. Yet for Derek Vanlint CSC it was something of an oddity in a lifetime of shooting commercials. “My experience with feature films was very limited,” he wrote in American Cinematographer. “Alien was to be my first big feature.”