franchise-star-trek-tng-technical-manual1

1.3.10 USS Enterprise forward dorsal perspectiveThe very nature of Star Trek frequently requires new types of visuals, so our people are constantly pressed to inventingenious new effects. The catch is, of course, that they have to be ingenious, new, and achievable in the time and within thebudget allocated for a particular episode.Such innovation often takes unexpected forms. Dan Curry once created a phaser hit effect using a Mylar pom-pom. Thatinfamous pom-pom also saw use as a nebula and as the mysterious forcefield that imprisoned Riker in "Arsenal of Freedom."(Dan, like mostTrek staff members, often tries to help out in areas beyond his normal job responsibilities. One of his moreunusual projects was the Klingon "bat'telh" bladed weapon from the episode "Reunion." A martial arts enthusiast, Dan consultedwith our prop makers on the design of the weapon, then assisted actor Michael Dorn to develop the ritual danceiikemovements associated with its use.) Rob Legato, faced with the daunting task of creating the end of the universe ("Where NoOne Has Gone Before"), made use of the shimmering reflection patterns from a pan of water. Visual effects associate DavidTakemura often helps supply similarly mundane items with equally exotic results. Some of these have included pumicelikerocks from the Balboa Brick Company, used for asteroids in such episodes as "Galaxy's Child," and an ordinary garden hose,used to create a water spray that became another forcefield effect.One dramatic example of Star Trek technical innovation is a new ultraviolet light matting process used for modelphotography. This technique was proposed by Don Lee of CIS and developed by Gary Hutzel and the staff of Image "G." Itinvolves the use of a fluorescent orange backdrop instead of the traditional bluescreen used for model photography. Thistechnique makes it much easier to generate "holdout mattes," which allow the image of the model to be combined with abackground of stars and planets. It is such a big improvement over "normal" methods that it allows Star Trek's effects teamto produce literally four times as many ship shots in the same amount of time. (And since time is money, it means that we getto see a lot more new spaceship scenes than we would otherwise.)Less obvious but equally important is the logistic and organizational wizardry of visual effects coordinator Ron B. Moore.Ron developed systems to help organize the massive numbers of projects, jobs, contractors, and other elements needed toproduce each week's visual effects. Such coordination is essential to enable our people to get the most "bang" for their visualeffects bucks on the most ambitious weekly science-fiction television series ever produced. (One of the greatest illusions thatour people create every week is the impression that they have a whole lot more money to spend than they really do!)