Multi-pass photography of miniature spaceships for Star Trek

For Star Trek, the original series, the model of the Enterprise was shot in one pass at live action speed over blue screen.  Live filming and blue screen exposure requirements necessitated a more open f/stop so focus was shallow when close to small models.

The TOS Enterprise model was huge at about eleven feet long.

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Night of the Creeps on DVD finally.

Finally, after years of waiting, “Night of the Creeps” has made it to DVD release. The 1986 horror / sci fi film, written and directed by Fred Dekker, has been a somewhat hidden away cult classic. My son, Nathan, and I found it at Wal-Mart for about $15.00. It has the cemetery ending Dekker originally planned for the film.

DVD cover art.

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Digital vs. physical Jem’Hadar

In the last posting I shared images of the Jem’Hadar cruiser model. RKW asked for some comparison shots between the physical model and the CGI model used on DS-9.

Physical model from episode, "Ties of Blood and Water" (Gary Hutzel, vis efx supervisor)

As you could see from the photo above and next below, the physical model was pretty good looking and would have been used as long as possible on the series.

Physical model from episode, "Call to Arms"

With season 6 episode  #546,  “Valiant,”  we were forced to create a CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) version of a Jem’Hadar ‘Battleship.’  The main reason was compelled by the story. If possible we would have used the physical model for both the cruiser and the Battleship, with the scale of the model being the only difference. Read the rest of this entry »

“The Emperor’s New Cloak” vfx

John Eaves has published drawings of the portable cloaking device for Star Trek Deep Space-Nine episode, “The Emperor’s New Cloak” on his blog, Eavesdropping with Johnny at: http://johneaves.wordpress.com/2009/05/27/klingon-cloaking-device/

When this episode was photographed I was on set as the vis efx supervisor.  It was decided that since the cloaking device was “cloaked” or invisible, we didn’t need to do any visual effects. I wondered if the pantomime was going to really sell that they had a mechanical device they were stealing. I kept asking if the producers were sure there would not be an effect; that they didn’t want me to take camera measurements and documentation of the set up just in case.  I was repeatedly reassured there would be no visual effects.

We did set up a rectangle of string that the actors playing Rom and Quark held in their hands. This enabled them to keep some semblance of size and distance between their hands and each other as they moved along.  After all, they were supposed to be carrying a rigid heavy device of a specific size together.  I am so glad we did that.

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