Forced perspective, painted backdrops and the refit Enterprise

[137th Gebirg]

I guess I would have expected a little more "creativity" than what we got in that scene then.

Leave off the secondary hull and glue the two warp engines under the neck to make a fast destroyer type. Or maybe leave the secondary hull and attach the warp engines to the primary hull, either above or below - doesn't matter. Something that demonstrates a little more inventiveness than what appears to be nothing more than a lazy and a mucked-up refit build...

Maybe not incompetent - a little harsh, yes - but I would never assign the word "creative" to that mess.

 

[Christopher]

Personally I've always thought leaving out the window pieces to create "shuttlebays" or whatever was a rather clever touch, a nice way to take advantage of an accidental potential of the kit. Naturally the production was rushed, so not everything can be a work of art, but I think it was at least intentional.

 

[Rick Sternbach]

That's ridiculous. The TNG art department consisted of some of the most devoted Trekkies you'll ever find. The model was probably put together by someone like Rick Sternbach or Greg Jein or Doug Drexler, all of whom are rabid Trek fans and technical experts (and Rick actually contributed to the design of the Connie refit!). So the variations must have been intentional.

I can't speak intelligently about some of the models used as decoration on TNG, like the silver refit, except that I do know it was placed in Picard's ready room when the Stargazer model was off getting measured for her 4-foot version. Some of the set decoration bits seemed to appear out of nowhere, and maybe they were put together by the folks in the decorator department. I'm pretty certain I didn't put any together beyond the Stargazer, which was a special fun case. One other clarification; I didn't contribute anything to the exterior of the Refit, though I did help out with a bunch of set-type things.

 

[B.J.]

Thanks for the info Rick! I hadn't even considered the decorator department in all of this. Didn't even know they existed, to be honest.

 

[Shat Happens]

Just dropping a note on the original topic:

I dont like the theory of the painted corridors being some kind of hologram meant to give crew the illusion of more space.

BUT this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd3-eiid-Uw

shows some technology that could be related.

Thought it'd be cool to mention.

 

[Christopher]

Err, if they were holograms, wouldn't they appear 3-dimensional?

 

[Robert Comsol]

^^ I'm not sure I understood correctly. Since TMP is a 2-D film, a holographic panel's appearance would equally be limited to 2-D.

Bob

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Holograms photograph in 3-D.

By which I mean, you can photograph them from every angle you can see them from.

 

[blssdwlf]

I would imagine if something was portrayed as holographic it should appear "correct" regardless of what angle you're viewing it from and from the camera's POV, the angles should appear normal. To be "holographic" VFX usually has to do something to let the viewer know that it isn't real, like artificial scan lines, stuff passing through it, etc.

 

[Shat Happens]

Well the paintings were not meant to portray holograms. But since they weren't a perfect special effect, another explanation must be found to, let's say, save the illusion.

Since they don't look like holograms (as we came to suppose they look like), they can "be" some other tech. Like a limited 2D simulation of a 3D corridor as in the last part of that video above.

 

[Maurice]

Just accept the damned backgrounds for what they were intended to be. Next thing some of you will be trying to justify the wood texture visible is some set pieces that are clearly intended to be metal or some exotic material.

 

[JarodRussell]

And they actually have an orchestra playing music for them. Any time.

 

[Maurice]

And they actually have an orchestra playing music for them. Any time.

^^^

 

[trekshark]

^No, it's likely that they made those modifications on purpose to suggest a variant class. After all, these are skilled artists, so they want to bring some creativity to their work rather than just slavishly following directions.

agreed. He was in the holodeck recreation of a warp propulsion design lab after all. Maybe experiments were done with horizontal nacells

edit: sorry, didn't realize this was an old thread, it was linked to in a more recent thread and I didn't notice the post dates before I replied

 

[LMFAOschwarz]

And they actually have an orchestra playing music for them. Any time.

Thanks, guys. Now I'm going to be wondering where the orchestra pit off the side of the bridge is!

 

[Robert Comsol]

Back to the original topic, the other thread revealed, that the artist who created several forced (or fake) perspectives for TMP had been Benjamin Resella. The other thread has some interesting behind-the-scenes images featuring TMP work of Mr. Resella.

Bob

 

[Mytran]

Thanks Bob, you beat me too it! :-)

I think it's also worth putting up the link to the photos as they are definitely of interest:

http://missionlogpodcast.com/discovereddocuments/091/

 

[blssdwlf]

Nice.

 

[Lora4October]

I knew some of the stages did. Do all of them?

When I was on the soundstage researching Mr. Scott's Guide, there was a foot-long tear in the backdrop painting at the base of the vertical intermix shaft, as if someone had dropped a hammer or wrench or something. Through it, I could see dirt just a few inches below, which was the ground. The vertical intermix stopped right at the level of the painting.

Lora

 

[Mytran]

Thanks for this input. The floor painting was a wonderful piece of scenery, although I imagine a nightmare for the camera operators to get the angles just right! I would have thought that it was carefully rolled up and stored away when not in use but sadly, it seems not