Editing Independence Day (1996 film) (section)

==Production==
===Development===
[[File:Independence Day (film logo).svg|thumb|Official film logo]]
The idea for the film came when Emmerich and Devlin were in Europe promoting their film ''[[Stargate (film)|Stargate]]'' in 1994. A reporter asked Emmerich why he made a film with content like ''Stargate'' if he did not believe in aliens. Emmerich stated he was still fascinated by the idea of an alien arrival, and further explained his response by asking the reporter to imagine what it would be like to wake up one morning and to discover 15-mile-wide spaceships were hovering over the world's largest cities. Emmerich then turned to Devlin and said, "I think I have an idea for our next film."<ref name="dvd"/><ref name="ID41">Aberly and Engel 1996, p. 8.</ref><ref name="EW7">[http://www.ew.com/article/1996/05/24/1996-summer-movie-preview-july The 1996 Summer Movie Preview: July]  ''Entertainment Weekly''. Retrieved July 8, 2008.</ref>

[[File:F-18s from VFMA-314 in formation.jpg|thumb|F/A-18 Hornets of [[VMFA-314]], "Black Knights"]]
Emmerich and Devlin decided to expand on the idea by incorporating a large-scale attack, with Devlin saying he was bothered by the fact that "for the most part, in alien invasion movies, they come down to Earth and they're hidden in some back field …[o]r they arrive in little spores and inject themselves into the back of someone's head."<ref name="ID42">Aberly and Engel 1996, p. 93.</ref> Emmerich agreed by asking Devlin if arriving from across the galaxy, "would you hide on a farm or would you make a big entrance?"<ref name="ID42"/> The two wrote the script during a month-long vacation in Mexico,<ref name="ID41" /> and just one day after they sent it out for consideration, [[20th Century Studios|20th Century Fox]] chairman [[Peter Chernin]] [[greenlight|greenlit]] the screenplay.<ref name="EW"/> [[Pre-production]] began just three days later in February 1995.<ref name="dvd"/><ref name="ID41"/> The [[United States Armed Forces|U.S. military]] originally intended to provide personnel, vehicles, and costumes for the film; however, they backed out when the producers refused to remove the script's [[Area 51]] references.<ref name="dvd"/><ref>{{Cite web |last=Boguslaw |first=Daniel |date=2024-12-31 |title=Pentagon Approved Funds for MrBeast, Kelly Clarkson, Guy Fieri Last Year |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/pentagon-support-mrbeast-kelly-clarkson-guy-fieri-1235221946/ |access-date=2025-03-11 |website=Rolling Stone |language=en-US}}</ref>

A then-record 3,000-plus special effects shots would ultimately be required for the film.<ref name="EW7"/> The shoot utilized on-set, in-camera special effects more often than [[computer-generated imagery|computer-generated effects]] in an effort to save money and get more authentic pyrotechnic results.<ref name="dvd"/> Many of these shots were accomplished at [[Hughes Aircraft Company|Hughes Aircraft]] in [[Culver City, California]], where the film's art department, [[motion control photography]] teams, [[pyrotechnics]] team, and model shop were headquartered{{dubious|date=July 2018}}. The production's model-making department built more than twice as many miniatures for the production than had ever been built for any film before by creating miniatures for buildings, city streets, aircraft, landmarks, and monuments.<ref name="Aberly and Engel 1996, p. 72">Aberly and Engel 1996, p. 72.</ref> The crew also built miniatures for several of the spaceships featured in the film, including a {{convert|30|ft|adj=mid}} destroyer model<ref>Aberly and Engel 1996, p. 54.</ref> and a version of the mother ship spanning {{convert|12|ft}}.<ref>Aberly and Engel 1996, p. 121.</ref> City streets were recreated, then tilted upright beneath a high-speed camera mounted on a scaffolding filming downwards. An explosion would be ignited below the model, and flames would rise towards the camera, engulfing the tilted model and creating the rolling "wall of destruction" look seen in the film.<ref>Aberly and Engel 1996, p. 78.</ref> A model of the [[White House]] was also created, covering {{convert|10|ft}} by {{convert|5|ft}}, and was used in forced-perspective shots before being destroyed in a similar fashion for its destruction scene.<ref name="ID43">Aberly and Engel 1996, p. 82.</ref> The detonation took a week to plan<ref name="EW"/> and required 40 explosive charges.<ref name="ID43"/>

[[File:USA little colorado pano AZ.jpg|thumb|The [[Little Colorado River]] [[canyon]]; a World War II training aircraft with a camera mounted on its front navigated through the walls of the canyon and the footage was used as pilot point-of-view shots.<ref>Aberly and Engel 1996, p. 112.</ref>]]
The film's aliens were designed by production designer [[Patrick Tatopoulos]]. The actual aliens in the film are diminutive and based on a design Tatopoulos drew when tasked by Emmerich to create an alien that was "both familiar and completely original".<ref>Aberly and Engel 1996, p. 86.</ref> These creatures wear "bio-mechanical" suits that are based on another design Tatopoulos pitched to Emmerich. These suits were {{convert|8|ft}} tall, equipped with 25 tentacles, and purposely designed to show it could not sustain a person inside, so it would not appear to be a "man in a suit".<ref name= "Aberly and Engel p. 91">Aberly and Engel 1996, p. 91.</ref>

[[Christopher Weaver]], founder of video game publisher [[Bethesda Softworks]] consulted with the movie's production team, Centropolis Films, and provided scientific collaboration.<ref name="Weaver"/> Dean Devlin used Weaver as the basis for the film character David Levinson.<ref name="Weaver">{{cite web|first=Bod|last=Starzynski|url=https://www.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/1996/08/19/newscolumn6.html|title=Erol's sees C&W deal as ticket to business market|newspaper=[[American City Business Journals#List of publications|Washington Business Journal]]|date=August 19, 1996|access-date=July 27, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|first=Steven|last=Ginsberg|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/1996/12/23/at-bethesda-softworks-an-emphasis-on-cool/24d7f055-c228-4568-a674-e9c136d794e5/|title=At Bethesda Softworks, an Emphasis on Cool|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=December 23, 1996|access-date=July 27, 2021}}</ref>

===Filming===
[[Principal photography]] began on July 28, 1995, in New York City. A second unit gathered plate shots and [[establishing shot]]s of Manhattan, Washington, D.C., an [[Recreational vehicle|RV]] community in [[Flagstaff, Arizona]], and the [[Very Large Array]] on the [[Plains of San Agustin]], [[New Mexico]].<ref name= "Aberly and Engel p. 91"/> The main crew also filmed in nearby [[Cliffside Park, New Jersey]] before moving to the former [[Kaiser Steel]] mill in [[Fontana, California]] to film the post-attack Los Angeles sequences.<ref>Aberly and Engel 1996, p. 62.</ref> The production then moved to [[Wendover, Utah]], and [[West Wendover, Nevada]],<ref>Aberly and Engel 1996, p. 104.</ref> where the deserts doubled for [[Imperial Valley]], and the [[Wendover Airport]] doubled for the [[Marine Corps Air Station El Toro|El Toro]] and Area 51 exteriors.<ref>Aberly and Engel 1996, p. 96.</ref> It was here where Pullman filmed his pre-battle speech. Immediately before filming the scene, Devlin and Pullman decided to add "Today, we celebrate our Independence Day!" to the end of the speech. At the time, the production was nicknamed "ID4" because [[Warner Bros.]] owned the rights to the title because of a film from 1983 which is also called ''[[Independence Day (1983 film)|Independence Day]]''. Devlin had hoped that if Fox executives noticed the addition in [[dailies]], the impact of the new dialogue would help them to win the rights to the title.<ref name="dvd"/> Pullman had stated in a 2020 interview that Fox had otherwise been aiming to use ''Doomsday'' for the film's release to match with other disaster films of the time, and Devlin and Emmerich had hoped the impact of this speech scene would help win Fox over to the ''Independence Day'' name.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.cinemablend.com/news/2547380/how-bill-pullman-helped-independence-day-change-its-original-bad-title | title = How Bill Pullman Helped Independence Day Change Its Original (Bad) Title | first = Mike | last = Reyes | date = June 8, 2020 | access-date = June 8, 2020 | work = [[CinemaBlend]] | archive-date = June 9, 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200609232213/https://www.cinemablend.com/news/2547380/how-bill-pullman-helped-independence-day-change-its-original-bad-title | url-status = live }}</ref> The right to use the title was eventually won two weeks later.<ref name="EW"/>

The production team moved to the [[Bonneville Salt Flats]] to film three scenes, then returned to California to film in various places around Los Angeles, including Hughes Aircraft where sets for the cable company and Area 51 interiors were constructed at a former aircraft plant. Sets for the latter included corridors containing windows that were covered with blue material. The filmmakers originally intended to use the [[chroma key]] technique to make it appear as if an activity was happening on the other side of the glass, but the [[compositing|composited images]] were not added to the final print because production designers decided the blue panels gave the sets a "clinical look".<ref>Aberly and Engel 1996, p. 98.</ref> The attacker hangar set contained an attacker [[mockup]] {{convert|65|ft}} wide<ref name="Aberly and Engel 1996, p. 72"/> that took four months to build.<ref name="EW"/> The White House interior sets used had already been built for ''[[The American President]]'' and had previously been used for ''[[Nixon (film)|Nixon]]''.<ref name="ID43"/> Principal photography completed on October 8, 1995, after 72 days of filming.{{citation needed|date=September 2024}}

The film initially depicted Russell Casse being rejected as a volunteer for the July 4 aerial counteroffensive because of his alcoholism. He then uses a stolen missile tied to his red [[biplane]] to carry out his suicide mission. According to Dean Devlin, test audiences responded well to the scene's irony and comedic value.<ref name="dvd"/> However, the scene was re-shot to include Russell's acceptance as a volunteer, his crash course on flying modern fighter aircraft, and him flying an F/A-18 instead of the biplane. Devlin preferred the alteration because the viewer now witnesses Russell ultimately making the decision to sacrifice his life.<ref name="dvd"/>

===Music===
{{Main|Independence Day (soundtrack)}}
The [[Grammy Awards|Grammy Award]]-winning<ref name="NYTimesGrammy">{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/02/28/arts/winners-of-the-1997-grammy-awards.html | title=Winners of the 1997 Grammy Awards | newspaper=The New York Times | date=February 28, 1997 | access-date=April 16, 2016 | archive-date=February 16, 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170216075940/http://www.nytimes.com/1997/02/28/arts/winners-of-the-1997-grammy-awards.html | url-status=live }}</ref> score for the film was composed by [[David Arnold]] and recorded with an orchestra of 90, a choir of 46, "and every last ounce of stereotypical Americana he could muster for the occasion".<ref name="Filmtracks1997">{{cite web | url=http://www.filmtracks.com/titles/id4.html | title=Independence Day | publisher=Filmtracks | date=September 24, 1996 | access-date=April 16, 2016 | archive-date=April 17, 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160417135651/http://www.filmtracks.com/titles/id4.html | url-status=live }}</ref> The film's producer Dean Devlin commented that "you can leave it up to a Brit to write some of the most rousing and patriotic music in the history of American cinema."<ref name="Filmtracks1997"/> The soundtrack has received two official CD releases. [[RCA]] released a 50-minute album at the time of the film's release, then in 2010, La-La Land Records and [[Fox Music]] released a limited-edition, two-disc CD set that comprised the complete score plus 12 alternate cues.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://lalalandrecords.com/Site/IndependenceDay.html|title=film music - movie music- film score - Independence Day - David Arnold - Limited Edition|access-date=September 29, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141027002220/http://www.lalalandrecords.com/Site/IndependenceDay.html|archive-date=October 27, 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> The premiere of ''Independence Day'' live took place at the [[Royal Albert Hall]] in September 2016, with the film's score performed live for a screening of the film.<ref name="RAHID4live">{{cite web | url=http://www.royalalberthall.com/tickets/events/2016/independence-day/ | title=Independence Day Live at the Royal Albert Hall | publisher=Royal Albert Hall | access-date=April 16, 2016 | archive-date=April 13, 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160413171058/http://www.royalalberthall.com/tickets/events/2016/independence-day/ | url-status=live }}</ref> This celebrated the twentieth anniversary of the film's release, and the event also featured a pre-film talk by David Arnold.