Animatronic Anaconda

'Anaconda' is a creepy B-Movie crawler with spectacular animatronic effects work by Walti Conti and 
his progressive Edge Innovations shop.
The Story insignificant, the actors exchangeable, but the mighty state-of-the-art 40 feet 120-axis robotic Snake is 
a technical marvel you will never forget!
To achieve that characteristic sinous movement of the Snake was an extaordinary achievement in engineering!
Many companies outside the film industry were interested in the innovative technics developed by Walt Conti for 'Anaconda'.
His mechanized Anaconda is one of the most sophisticated animatronic animals ever built!
A highly complex, custom designed serially linked robot of a thousand parts.
Danger! - Please do not feed!

The little imaginative story is set in the Amazon rain forest. 
With a crew of 200 people a big part of the movie was shot outside of the Amazon Metropolis Manaus.
With all the typical problems that crop up in the jungle: transport, moisture, light, ...

'Anaconda' was not the first film Luis Llosa (left) directed in the Amazon rain forest.
He paddled around on the amazon river for 'Fire on the Amazon' and 'Eight Hundred Leagues Down the Amazon' in the early 90s.
On the right a portrait (35mm slide) of John Voight. He is quite good as unscrupulously anaconda hunter.
The only real Star in the movie is this little baby. The film's main instrument of terror.
The bone-crushing animatronic robot of Walt Conti.
Edge Innovations built two giant snakes, a forty-foot Queen and a twenty-five-foot long male Anaconda (Warrior). 
The heavy mechanized snakes (1500/3000 pounds) were powered by very effective 250 horsepower hydraulics.
When the Queen moves it could easily develop a torque of 8-10 tons! Wow! What a monster.
On location the snake had to be mounted to something extremely solid, otherwise the monster would crush 
the whole Set to pieces.
The Kodachrome 35mm slide shows the Anaconda anchored in the midsection.
Full body motion, like slithering across the Set, was not possible, but due to the clever camerawork the possible movements 
are very close to that.
The Queen on location at the Los Angeles Arboretum - Queen's Lair - The abandoned mill in the rain forest.
The final configuration of the Queen Anaconda included 60 custom-made dual-axis hydraulically powered (serially linked) joints,
all hooked up to a capable computer system.
The enormous effort was needed to immitate the snake's movements as realistically as possible.
To control all the mechnical parts, hydraulic fittings, cylinders, servos ...the Conti Crew designed a special performance package.
Incredibly many mechanical processes have to be synchronized to represent a fluid movement, 
which was impossible to do with puppeteers. 
The snake is a 120 axes robot! Space engineers were certainly jealous of these tricky developments.
The Edge Innovations crew built a real-time computer control system from the ground.
Some kind of hybrid computer-puppeteering system.
All software was written from scratch.
Puppeteers were mainly needed for the head of the snake, eye and mouth movements, to enhance the interaction of the 
snake with the players.
The eyes, tongue, the lips all moved independently.
The skin looks pretty real, first-class made.
Look at this! The guts of a hydraulic anaconda.
This is not a standard product from the hardware store - This monster is full of customized handwork and innovations!
And all the high quality valuable interior of the snake had to be waterproof as much of the film's action 
takes place in the water.
For more informations, especially on all the interesting technical specs, I recommend the website of Walt Conti:
www.waltconti.com
Walt Conti on Set at the Los Angeles Arboretum.
Preparing a scene in the Water. 
From the technical side this is always a challenge.
Even a little penetrating water can mean much trouble and additional effort.
Funny pic.
There's something lurking in the green broth ...and it's hungry!
For the scene with Ice Cube the Conti crew anchored the snake underwater.
The raging animatronic beast is in attack modus.
Filming of the scene in the pool with the twenty-five-foot Warrior snake.
A great scene, perfectly staged.
The death-defying J.Lo desperately tries to pull Ice Cube out of the water.
But after enjoying a bucket of hydraulic oil, the mechanical monster is full of power...
This is the Conti snake and not CGI.
The abandoned mill Set - Queen's Liar
Walt Conti (white shirt) is checking his enormous Queen Anaconda. 
It took an awesome amount of time and effort to keep the snakes in the best condition every day and 
to get them prepared for the individual scenes and the daily feedings.
The action in the mill with the Queen is pretty dynamic and powerful.
Best B-Movie entertainment!
John Voight uses J.Lo and Ice Cube as bait for the huge Queen.
The table is set ...and She wraps around the two in lightning fast speed (with the help of CGI).
Preparation of the scene.
The use of the animatronic snake would have been possible, but not advisable.
You do not want to have a sling with a force of several tons around your body.
The crew used this air filled boat fenders which looked a bit like swimming rings when bound together.
Decisive for the credibility of the show is the skin of the anaconda. 
It was cast in urethane and painted on the inside for a perfect effect.
Each snakes skin has up to 60.000 flakes, which were all individually sculpted!
A time-consuming procedure.
The finished composition of the scene with the animatronic Queen.
Some final touches and we are ready for Action!
This snake is a marvelous toy. 
What happened to the snakes? 
The urethane skin is certainly not easy to keep in good condition.
Probably the beasts were dissected ...
Learn more about Walt Conti here: The animatronic whales of Star Trek IV - The Voyage Home.
Director Leonard Nimoy on Walt Conti:
'From the moment Walt Conti took on the task of creating the whales for Star Trek IV, 
the job was done creatively, professionally, and with a sure hand ...he's a genius.'
For some time, one of the snakes was exhibited in the 'lobby' of the California Academy of Science in San Francisco.
A very good place to present this technical marvel.

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