Alien Versus Predator 2004

The visual effects were supervised by John Bruno.

Bill Pearson's UK miniatures crew built the miniature icebreaker ship in this movie. It had a flat bottom and was placed on a flat glossy surface that represented the ocean covered in simulated ice and snow. The dimpling of the welded platework that makes up the superstructure of the ship is very convincingly modeled. Among other things, they also built the satellite that features in the opening shots as well as a helicopter and the miniature support structure that chains up the puppet alien queen. The satellite was designed to look like the silhouette of the Alien Queen before being revealed for what it is.

The production miniatures crew, in Prague, under miniatures supervisor Richard Van Den Bergh were responsible for various miniatures including the underground alien temple and an abandoned whaling village which eventually collapses into a sinkhole formed as the underground temple is destroyed.

             

Dunkirk 1958

Terrific British film about the evacuation of the British army at Dunkirk in 1940. Nicely handled miniature work is mostly used as rear projected night backgrounds. One shot of a sinking ship is lifted from the movie The Cruel Sea from 1953. There is also a miniature shot of the demolition of a stone bridge earlier in the film plus a matte painting or two throughout.

Sinking ship shot is lifted from "the Cruel Sea"