David Takemura is the Visual Effects Supervisor on "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" and "Star Trek: Voyager."
Question: How would you recommend someone get into the visual effects business?
Jonathan
DT: It's different for everyone. For me, I was a Production Assistant on the pilot for "Star Trek: The Next Generation." I worked in the office -- photocopied scripts and made coffee for the producers. I did that for one year, and then became an assistant to Visual Effects Supervisors during the second through fifth seasons. In the sixth year of that show, I got promoted to Visual Effects Coordinator, and then after that I moved on to Visual Effects Supervisor on "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" and on "Star Trek: First Contact." That's how I did it. We have some Supervisors who worked in feature film visual effects and some that came from commercials.
If you're interested in a career in visual effects, I would recommend photography courses or cinema classes and I would definitely recommend computer graphics courses. Also, see a lot of movies! And subscribe to Cinefex magazine and American Cinematographer.
Q: What exactly is the difference between a visual effect and a special effect?
freyja
DT: A special effect is an explosion or rain effects or anything that is a practical, on-set effect. Visual effects, on the other hand, are effects that cannot be created in reality -- or usually can't, anyway. They are composited usually weeks after those shots are filmed. On "Star Trek," visual effects shots include Voyager or Deep Space Nine in space, phasers, transporters, viewscreens, and such.
Q: What kinds of processes do you go through when deciding how to film a certain sequence?
Jonathan
DT: Normally, we get a script usually a few days before shooting that episode. Each episode takes seven days to film. During our production meetings, we meet with the director and producers to get an idea of what we need to convey in a shot. I usually draw storyboards and, if it's a ship shot or a battle scene in space, I'll usually render Lightwave animatics at home. Animatics are animated sequences of how the ships are moving and what they're doing within the frame.
Q: How do you manage to do all those incredible explosions on the shows?
Antonia
DT: We work with our Special Effects technicians, who can rig a ship miniature with pyrotechnic materials -- primer cord -- and we film that at high speed. Sometimes as high as 240 frames a second, which is ten times our normal speed.
Q: Why do you do that?
DT: We do that because the explosion occurs so quickly at the scale of the miniature that it would not be photo-realistic.
Q: I think that one of the most fascinating visual effects on Deep Space Nine is when a changeling is shape shifting. How is that effect accomplished?
Freyja
DT: The "Odo morphs" are computer-generated and are a transitional element used between two filmed shots. There was a shot where Odo morphed from a crate in the cargo bay. We shot a plate of the empty cargo bay, and then shot a second plate of Odo standing in place of the crate. The "Odo goo" was started in the shape of the crate. Then the goo was directed into humanoid shape and finally blended with Odo's shot. The goo is entirely computer-generated. It's very finicky and doesn't take direction well.
Q: Do you implement computer generated images in place of real backgrounds or sets or do you merge both? How many hours are spent to produce the special effects for each episode?
Roland
DT: We use both computer-generated backgrounds and we also use photographic backgrounds in addition to actual sets at the studio. The time it takes to do the effects for one episode depends on the number of shots for that episode. We generally have about 40 to 50 shots for one episode. That number does not include what we call "stock shots" of Voyager at warp or orbiting a planet or ships docked at DS9.
Q: Are Matte Paintings a part of this equation?
DT: Yes, matte paintings are an example of placing an artificial background in back of real people. For example, in the DS9 episode "Honor Among Thieves," we created a gritty New York-type of alien world and added bluescreened people walking on the sidewalks and near the subways.
Q: Hello, I think the Visual Effects on DS9 and Voyager are the best on TV and are better than most films I see. What software and computer platforms do you use to create them? Thanks!
Jim
DT: Thanks for the compliment. We use several platforms. Ship shots are composited with Lightwave software on DEC Alphas. "Odo morphs" are done using Prisms software on SGI workstations. We also use Inferno platforms and Quantel Henry paintboxes. I also use my Power Mac 8500 for the animatics I do at home.
Q: Do you have a team of visual effects specialists that work with you to create the ideas for the models and images used? What kind of background does it take to work in this area?
Te-lun
DT: Yes, we work with very talented modelmakers such as the one who did the engine room in the movie "Titanic." His name is Tony Meininger. He also built Deep Space Nine. We also work with Greg Jein, who built the Enterprise-D and many ship models for us. We also have a very talented Art Department -- one for each show. If you're interested in production or post-production, you should take photography and cinema courses and also classes in art and design. In the time I've worked on the show, computer graphics have become more and more a part of the visual effects on both shows. Most ship shots that you see on "Voyager" and "Deep Space Nine" are now COMPLETELY computer-generated.
Q: I've noticed the sudden increase of good visual effects at the end of the third season (VOY) Is that because you are now using different programs like Lightwave or something?? Thank you very much!!!
Rico
DT: I think the scripts have provided us with many, many challenging visual effects shots. I think the technology has basically remained the same in the past few years. Computer-generated effects HAVE allowed us more creative freedom now than five years ago. Species 8472 is a good example of that. A few years ago, creating a creature which interacts with actors would have been impossible -- or too costly for us to do in a television schedule.
Q: Will we be seeing any more temporal rifts or slipstream technology or that thing Kes put Voyager into in the next season? Those were great. They looked about as "real" as they could get. Thanks for the good work so far.
Ensign Tim
DT: Thank you. Currently, I'm working on an ion storm -- Paris, Tuvok, and Ensign Wildman are flying the Delta Flyer and the storm forces them to crash land.
Q: David, I have always wondered two things. 1) was i named after you? and 2) how long did it take to design the model for ds9?
DeKalbDavidMoore
DT: It's possible. I can tell you that my last name means "bamboo village." It took months to design DS9 and months to build it. Check out the book "The Making of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" and you'll see some of the early designs for the station.
Q: What was the most challenging visual effect you had to come up with in each show?
Wendy
DT: In "Star Trek: First Contact," one of the more challenging sequences involved the Vulcan ship landing on Earth. (The Vulcan ship was computer-generated.) On "Deep Space Nine," I had an episode that established hundreds of Federation ships that were massing to fight the Dominion. And then on "Voyager," I'm currently working on a show that has a magical creature made completely out of water.
Q: How did they make the worm hole effects for the intro on DS9?
oni
DT: The wormhole effect was supervised by Rob Legato, who won an Oscar for the visual effects on "Titanic." It was composed of several layers of computer-generated particles and and done at a company called Rhythm & Hues. Right now they're working on "Babe Part II."
Q: We have heard the rumor that on the series finale DS9 will be destroyed. Is that true?
Ben and Syl
DT: That's news to me. I haven't heard anything.
Q: We know this is DS9's last season. Have they told you how many more seasons of Voyager there are? By the way,the visual effects are terrific.
# 1 fan
DT: Thank you again for the compliments. No, they haven't told me how much longer "Voyager" will be on, though I think at least another two years is a safe guess.
Q: What was the worst effect in your opinion that you ever created on Star Trek?
Norwegian Bajoran
DT: That's a good question. I guess they all can't be winners. I would say Kes's last episode on "Voyager" -- "The Gift" -- was one I wish I had had more time to work on. I wanted more time to develop Kes's shimmering and her final disappearance.
Q: What sort of budget do you run on?
weow
DT: The budget for each shot depends on the complexity of that shot. A simple Voyager-orbiting-a-planet ship shot is usually budgeted at around $5,000. Ship-to-ship battles which involve multiple ships and phaser blasts can make that figure skyrocket.
Q: Hi David just a question about if you visualize in your mind what you see for a set or location before you put it on video?
ltleah
DT: Yes, usually when I read the script for the first time, I'll draw a rough design in pencil on the edges of the script page. And usually I'll stick with my first impression of what the shot is going to be.
Q: LeVar Burton said on a show he used to do, that the way you do the transporter effect is to stir glitter around in water and put that image over whatever was being transported. Do you do it this way now?
Brandon
DT: The transporter element that was created for "Star Trek: The Next Generaton" is basically the same effect that we use today. Voyager's transporter was modified from that sparkle effect, but it's basically the same.
Q: David, with all the new technology, is it still hard to create special effects that will 'WOW' the audience?
Jake
DT: Yes, it IS difficult, especially now. We are competing with multi-million-dollar movies like "Armageddon" and "Godzilla" that have some incredible visual effects shots. We put ourselves up to a standard of "wow"-ing the television audience and it gets tougher all the time.
Q: How much were you influenced by Matt Jeffries original ideas, and have you tried to stick to his innovation?
Mark
DT: Well, for the most part, the transporter effect and the design of the phaser beams are all related to what was done on the original show. The current shows have their own unique technology used to create their own worlds, so we've come up with our own innovations to convey that.
Q: If you could have any of the technology on Star Trek become a reality (that hasn't already) what would it be?
Lesley
DT: I would like to have my own personal cloaking device.
Q: What was the scariest effect you've had in a script that turned out not to be so bad?
Jamaica
DT: Geordi's eyeball shot from "Star Trek: First Contact" I thought was going to be very complex, but wound up to be quite simple. In that shot, we had to see Geordi's bionic eyeball dilate. How I did this was, I bought I crystal shower faucet handle from Builder's Emporium. It was circular and had facets. I thought it was good luck because it had a "Star Trek"-type insignia on it. I shot a still image of it with my Nikon and composited it with a live-action macro plate of LeVar Burton's eyeball. And that was it.
Q: Have you done any visual effects outside of the science fiction genre? Do you have a favorite genre in which you like to work?
Jill
DT: I'm currently working on my own short film, which is a futuristic love story, and it does have visual effects in it. I shot it during the summer, on my vacation, and hope to have it done by the end of the year.
I don't have a favorite genre that I like to work in, but science fiction has been doing a nice job of paying my bills.
David, thank you very much for joining us here tonight.
DT: Thanks to everyone for all the kind words. Take care, everybody.
