“Every element of the Enterprise was remarkable…when the cast and crew come onto a set that’s so beautifully designed, it helps them believe in this place. It elevates everything...”
—Director J.J. Abrams
Director J.J. Abrams, Production Designer Scott Chambliss, Set Decorator Karen Manthey SDSA, and their teams, once again boldly took us into the STAR TREK universe with the gigantic hit STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS. The second chapter of their retro-fresh re-imagining of the iconic series into 3-D IMAX has brought kudos from both Trekkies and those newly introduced to the ST world.
Abrams talks about the sets for both films…
… “Obviously, you can’t do a movie called ‘STAR TREK’ and not have green screen elements, but one of the things we’ve continued from the first movie is the idea of finding locations or building sets whenever we could to create a world that isn’t synthetic or sterile, but feels very, very real.”
Re: The Enterprise…
… “We wanted to show audiences far more of the ship, and to give it more depth.”
…STAR TREK: “On the first film, we worked hard to make the ship feel real and epically large, and for the most part, it worked. The problem, though, was that the Bridge was on one set, the Transporter Room on another, the Med Bay on another, etcetera. You could never do any kind of continuity.”
…STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS: “We had the opportunity this time to build a set that was contiguous so that we were able to go from the Bridge down a hallway, into the Turbo Plaza area and go around a corner into the Med Bay. It gives the ship a sense not only of scale, which is a fun by-product, but a real sense of being interconnected.”
“Every element of The Enterprise was remarkable. Everywhere I looked, I was amazed…when the cast and crew come onto a set that’s so beautifully designed, it helps them believe in this place. It elevates everything – the performances, the lighting, the camera work. It was helpful in every way; and it gives people a bigger view into this world that we love so much.”
Editor’s note: For more of Director J.J. Abrams’ takes on the film…and for Set Decorator Karen Manthey’s responses, her inside info about the set decoration and the making of the films, go to: film decor: star trek into darkness
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