Conference Table and Independent Display Screens

[LMFAOschwarz]

Regarding the matte shots, sometimes when a tabletop monitor is in use, you can see the plain white screen reflected in the table. The most glaring example is in

I wish they had fixed it in TOS-R, but it would have been difficult on their tight schedule.

I'm sorry but I'm calling BS on this one
What was required is laughably easy. I did it in 14 minutes in Sony Vegas (HD video editor software) You simply cut out a mask of the screen, put in a track above, flip it upside down, blur it, and you're done. I added 2 extra blur tracks to finesse it. The initial space/ pull away shot would have been easy with the tracking effects you can find in After Effects or Mocha. Perhaps another 15 minutes?

The answer is obvious: they had to use their valuable time to instead turn the red storm clouds in The Apple to an earthly shade of gray, in order to completely ruin the continuity with the red sky of the planet set.

I'm a forgiving fellow, and I know I mentioned it elsewhere, too...but I cut the production team no slack on that one.

 

[Metryq]

I've got it! The video screen in that episode is a vampire! (Blah!) The crew found out about it and drove a stake through its electronics—which is why we never saw that big screen again.

EDIT: No—Kelso was the vampire, because the screen was reflected in the tabletop.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

I've got it! The video screen in that episode is a vampire! (Blah!) The crew found out about it and drove a stake through its electronics—which is why we never saw that big screen again.

EDIT: No—Kelso was the vampire, because the screen was reflected in the tabletop.

It would be pretty spooky if you looked down at the table top and saw the helm console reflected, but Kelso was invisible. And then you hastily look back up and meet his eyes, and he knows that you know.

A competing but less trendy theory is that the monitor image has no reflection as a result of 23rd century copy protection. The image "works" on human retinas but not reflective surfaces or camera doodads (charge-coupled devices, etc.). So you can't sit there with a tricorder and pirate a movie.

 

[Maurice]

^^^An even less trendy theory holds that some members theories were informed by a little too much LDS.

 

[Timo]

...Low-reflection Display Screens?

Timo Saloniemi