Independence Day is a
film about the earth being invaded by Aliens on July 3, 1996.
The Aliens are like locusts. They travel from planet to planet
sapping the energy from the surface and completely destroying
its inhabitants.
Steve is a Marine
flight officer getting ready to celebrate the Fourth of July
with Jasmine, his girlfriend, and Dylan, her son, when they
wake up to find an Alien space craft hovering over Los
Angeles. Steve finds himself being called back to the base as
the armed forces are put on red alert. When he leaves for the
base he can see that Jasmine is scared, so he tells her to
pack up Dylan and Boomer, the dog, and come out to the base
and stay.
Meanwhile, in New
York a similar space craft is hovering over that city. David
Martin, a computer wizard, is a cable technician in charge of
the largest cable company in New York. Upon arrival to his
office, David finds all of his technicians in an uproar
because of the loss of reception from the satellites. When
David trys to switch the satellites direction, he is surprised
to find that all control has been lost. On closer inspection,
he finds a signal that is being transmitted to the satellites
from the alien space craft. David figures out that the signal
is some sort of timer and within a few hours New York City,
Los Angeles, and Washington D.C. will be destroyed. He
immediately goes to pick up his father and head for
Washington, where Constance, his ex-wife, is an aide to the
President.
After arriving in
Washington, David contacts Constance and she sets up a meeting
for him with the President. He has to convince the President
and his advisors that they have only a matter of minutes to
get out of Washington and evacuate the other cities before
everyone is destroyed. The President and his entourage on Air
Force One just make it out of the city before the aliens
simultaneously strike all three cities. At the same time,
Steve is flying over the desert on a mission to try and
destroy the alien ships. After failing to break through the
aliens defense shields, Steve, the only fighter pilot to make
it back safely, arrives at the base where the President and
David are presently trying to find a solution.
David finally
figures out a way to break the aliens shields. It takes the
courage of a young president, an air force pilot and a
computer genius to break through the Alien's shields and save
the world.
Animal Action:
Boomer, the dog, is
seen throughout the film. We first see Boomer at Jasmine's
house when he jumps on her bed to bring Steve his tennis
shoes. The trainer using verbal and hand commands cued the dog
to move towards the bed and pick up the tennis shoes. Then he
cued the dog to jump onto the bed, drop the shoes, and lay
down. When the actor stands and walks out of the room, the dog
merely followed him.
In another scene,
Boomer is seen in the car with Jasmine and Dylan as they are
leaving the city for the Marine base. While they are on the
freeway, the aliens attack, scattering debris everywhere.
Jasmine looks at her rear view mirror and sees a ball of fire
quickly descending on the car. She gets out of the car with
Dylan and Boomer and they make their way towards a tunnel,
reaching the interior. As they walk through the debris,
Jasmine sees the ball of fire rapidly getting closer. She sees
a maintenance alcove in the tunnel and dives inside with
Dylan. Jasmine frantically calls to Boomer as he jumps onto
the trunk of a car, barks, then leaps into the alcove to
safety. This scene was shot in cuts. For the A to B shots of
the dog walking towards and through the tunnel, trainer #1
placed the dog on his mark and released him while trainer #2
called the dog to him. The segment of the dog jumping on and
off of the car was filmed before a blue screen and later
inserted during post-production with the fire and debris. When
the dog leaps into the alcove, trainer #1 held the dog at the
base of a ramp and then released him while trainer #2 cued the
dog to jump. Later the two shots were spliced together to make
it appear as though the dog jumped from the car into the
alcove.
Later, Jasmine,
Dylan, and Boomer are seen approaching a downed helicopter.
Boomer runs over to a woman lying on the ground, wounded from
the crash. In a few other scenes, Boomer is seen at the marine
base with Dylan sitting on the floor or being walked on his
leash. For theses scenes the trainer placed the dog on his
mark and cued him with verbal and hand commands.
Other animal action
consists of a policeman on horseback in New York City in the
middle of stalled traffic and of a camel seen in the desert
for a brief moment.