Synopsis:

Skyline (2010) and Battle Los Angeles (2011), both about aliens who come to Earth and attack Los Angeles, were released within 4 months of each other. When these two films came out so close together I thought they’d not only make a great double bill but actually benefit by being cut together to make one Strause Brothers-centric aliens-attack-LA film.

Intentions:

Skyline was released in 2010, an alien-invasion film focusing on a group of civilians stuck in a Los Angeles high-rise, directed and with special effects designed by Colin and Greg Strause. Four months later Battle Los Angeles was released, an alien-invasion film focusing on marine units fighting on the Los Angeles streets with special effects by Colin and Greg Strause. (It started production before Skyline and Columbia considered suing for infringement, but ultimately settled.) By merging these two films we get the best of both films and extra alien footage and carnage. I also added deleted scenes and scenes from other sources to fill out the backstories, especially of the women. I cut lots of the talking, planning, worrying, extended geographical set-up ("we're going down Olympic to Sepulveda and then turn left" - show them on Sepulveda turning left) and sought to fill each films’ weaknesses with the other’s strengths. Skyline's somewhat claustrophobic set-up (stuck in a high-rise) is "opened up" by intercutting Battle: Los Angeles's US Marines street fighting against the aliens.

Change List:

Editing Details: Recognizing both films are about an alien invasion of Los Angeles, I emphasized the (inadvertent?) structural similarities, including day/night/day structures, parallel plot turns and building escapes (police station/parking garage), first-missiles-didn’t-work twist, wind chimes adjacent with dog jump-scares, someone’s pregnant, etc. The claustrophobic chamber piece feeling of Skyline enhanced by intercutting BLA scenes running “concurrently” on the ground while downplaying its overly jingoistic beats; cut details of unnecessary backstories while preserving hints of them of both original films (no giant sections gone). Many minor cuts of unneeded talk, shots, point-a-to-point-b set-ups. I added other source material to fill in backstories, with a target of having total running time under 2 hours (which I managed by 1 second!) I preserved nearly all the alien and spaceship footage which we all were here for in the first place. Cuts and Additions: I sourced extra footage from: - Beyond Skyline (2017) a “sequel” but takes place on the same night as the original Skyline; - S.W.A.T. (2013) for more Michelle Rodriguez footage (and a helicopter crash because there can never be enough helicopters crashing); - Rampage: The Hillside Strangler Murders (2006) for more Brittany Daniel footage; - various tracks from Battle Los Angeles and Skyline CD soundtracks for underscore patches; - dub mix of CJ Catalizer for party scene and occasional background music.

Additional Notes:

The alien and vehicle designs don’t quite visually match but in the text of the film it’s a multi-city, multi-pronged attack so anything’s possible.

Other Sources:

-Skyline (2010) blu-ray - Battle: Los Angeles (2011) blu-ray - Beyond Skyline (2017) blu-ray - S.W.A.T. (2013) blu-ray - Rampage: The Hillside Strangler Murders (2006) dvd - Battle: Los Angeles and Skyline CD soundtracks - PsyChamber's Psychill mix of CJ Catalizer's Life Origin (2013) (youtube download)

Special Thanks:

A fistful of hearty handclasps to WXM who told me if I didn't complete this edit it was at least a great learning experience to shove one film inside another as best as possible; to Bruce Fletcher who assisted in trying to make this alien invasion film more logical; to ArtisDead who gave continuing support.