Filming Medium used for Trek XI?

[Swarles Barkley]

Anyone know offhand whether or not Trek XI was shot with digital film/cameras? Having experienced a couple of movies now on digital projectors at the local megaplex, I have to say I'm pretty impressed. It's nice not to have any scratches showing up on the screen as nasty green lines and what-have-you. Is JJ an analog buff?

 

[SalvorHardin]

I don't think I've heard anything about what cameras they used.

I've only heard about IMAX and that they did not use any IMAX equipment for the shooting, so they will be doing a conversion for it to be shown in that format.

 

[Tom]

I'm sure it all digital, just makes sense for a scifi movie these days. it makes it a bit easier for the VFX to be intergrated more seamlessly into the film during post.

 

[22 Stars]

I'm 99% sure that it was 'filmed' and not shot digitally. I do not know the film stock they used, but Paramount still shoots and distributes primarily on film stock, not digital prints.

 

[trevanian]

I'm 99% sure that it was 'filmed' and not shot digitally. I do not know the film stock they used, but Paramount still shoots and distributes primarily on film stock, not digital prints.

Yeah, it was originated principally on 35mm film, though they may have done some digital capture of backgrounds like QUANTUM OF SOLACE did.

Considering the rich look of film, it'd be stupid to go with digital, but then again, I'd resist shooting digital for just about everything, just because it still has such a long way to go in dynamic range emulation.

The worst part of this business of scanning and tricking out the movies via digital intermediate is that you wind up with movies that look like 2K digital, even when they are shot on film (which is closer to 4k or high in quality), because very few folks do their scans and DI at a high enough resolution. Most movies this century only look like they've got half a color palette, and I think this will cause our 'era' to be the most dated-looking in the last five or six decades (even more than all those smoked up looking MTV/ET turds in the 1980s.)

 

[Procutus]

I'm 99% sure that it was 'filmed' and not shot digitally. I do not know the film stock they used, but Paramount still shoots and distributes primarily on film stock, not digital prints.

Thanks for the info, 22. I know we've been discussing various aspects of the movie via e-mail, but this was one of the things I'd forgotten to ask you.

Film stock works for me. It was certainly good enough in '79 for TMP, the one Trek movie I've used as a measuring stick against this one (or at least, what we know about this one so far).

 

[shapeshifter]

Oh! A Digital 3-D version would have been a nice visual touch. Don't know what was used, though...

 

[Jon1701]

Each individual frame of this movie has been hand sketched on a large legal pad by J.J. Abrams.

In May 2008, Trek Alumni (including Marina Sirtis, Garrett Wang and Max Grodenchick) will stand at the front of the theatre - showing you the movie flick-book style, whilst providing space sound effects via a comb and a piece of paper....

 

[Woulfe]

Each individual frame of this movie has been hand sketched on a large legal pad by J.J. Abrams.

In May 2008, Trek Alumni (including Marina Sirtis, Garrett Wang and Max Grodenchick) will stand at the front of the theatre - showing you the movie flick-book style, whilst providing space sound effects via a comb and a piece of paper....

Nope....
The entire film will be preformed by PUPPETS !

 

[Procutus]

^

With Kermit as Kirk and Miss Piggy as Uhura!

 

[22 Stars]

Piiiigs iiiiiiiiinnnnnnnn SPAAAAAAAAAACE

 

[Outpost4]

Miss Piggy: Cram it, Spockboy.

I'm glad to hear they used film. It is still one of the only three archival mediums we have right now, the other two being paper and vinyl records.

 

[trevanian]

Miss Piggy: Cram it, Spockboy.

I'm glad to hear they used film. It is still one of the only three archival mediums we have right now, the other two being paper and vinyl records.

Nice to see somebody else who knows that.

Trouble is, once they scan the negative for manipulation and compositing, a lot of the value of the film is lost (maybe half?) Work on movies is almost always done at 2k instead of 4k, so when they go back out to film to release (or stay digital for dlp), you're only getting an image that is marginalized.

Archiving on film is great, but unless they go back to the original prescanned film to do it, in the future they will still be working from that marginalized final.

 

[cooleddie74]

I heard its been shot in an all-digital format like the last two STAR WARS prequels were. But that was never confirmed for me.

 

[Andiamo]

No one here checked imdb? According to that site:

Camera

Panavision Cameras and Lenses

Film negative format (mm/video inches)

35 mm

Cinematographic process

Panavision (anamorphic)

Printed film format

35 mm
D-Cinema

Aspect ratio

2.35 : 1

Here's another fun fact: every single incarnation of Star Trek, whether film or TV series, has been filmed entirely in the US, focusing on the SW (California for the vast majority with some filming in Arizona, Nevada, etc.). The only time the franchise has ever left this area was for Alaska for the Rura Penthe scenes in Star Trek VI. Personally, I'd like them to branch out a bit. There's a big world out there!

 

[cooleddie74]

That sort of sucks. I was hoping for all-digital. Oh well. As long as it looks clean and incredible.