Starfield material?
- Thread starter Sketcher
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It's always been described as black cloth. There was one type which was merely a stationary black drape. The moving-stars version was a cloth-covered barrel that rotated.
I have a "star" from one of those curtains (from the set of "Encounter at Farpoint"). It's a rectangular piece of silvery metal that was glued to the drape. When hit by a strong spotlight, it glints like a star.
I was under the impression that for the most part, they used chroma-key compositing...
They used chroma key whenever they were showing warp, or anything else animated, such as spacial anomalies, but for a generic starfield, they always used a practical implementation to save on effects.
The starfields were actually done with half inch squares of reflective mylar (shiny thin plastic) glued randomly all over a black velvet curtain. Lighting spots were directed at the drape from various angles off camera and the mylar reflected the light at the camera giving the appearance of distant stars. Black velvet was used because it absorbs the excess light from the spots and appears as a flat black on film.
As Therin pointed out, production created moving starfields with a rotating drum covered in the mylar/black velvet. But this trick was only used outside small single windows. Larger windows were outfitted with a curtain on a motorized track. Production started using the moving starfields in the second season of TNG.
Which brings me to another bit of trivia. The starfield curtains used in TNG's first season were to heavy for the motorized tracks and had to be redone for season two. The newer versions had fewer stars and used mylar instead of sequins. This style of curtain was used through ENT.
And one last bit of trivia... Starting with the third season of Enterprise, production started using projection techniques to do the warp stars outside of the windows rather than an expensive special effect. At the end, all of the window shots were being done practical.
As Therin pointed out, production created moving starfields with a rotating drum covered in the mylar/black velvet. But this trick was only used outside small single windows. Larger windows were outfitted with a curtain on a motorized track. Production started using the moving starfields in the second season of TNG.
Which brings me to another bit of trivia. The starfield curtains used in TNG's first season were to heavy for the motorized tracks and had to be redone for season two. The newer versions had fewer stars and used mylar instead of sequins. This style of curtain was used through ENT.
And one last bit of trivia... Starting with the third season of Enterprise, production started using projection techniques to do the warp stars outside of the windows rather than an expensive special effect. At the end, all of the window shots were being done practical.
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On a side-note. Does anyone know how they did the reflection of the stars/warp streaks on the conference table THAT flawlessly?
I noticed it on my latest rewatch of the early episodes.
That is an effect that has to be put in in post. But I really couldn't tell it apart from the real reflections of the cast and the room and although I'm not sure I think they even had it work with a moving camera.
I noticed it on my latest rewatch of the early episodes.
That is an effect that has to be put in in post. But I really couldn't tell it apart from the real reflections of the cast and the room and although I'm not sure I think they even had it work with a moving camera.
As I mentioned, I have a single rectangular star from the set of TNG's pilot episode. I certainly wouldn't call it a "sequin". More like it's been cut from a thin piece of silvery metal with tin snips. (I don't recall it being mylar, but it's been a while since I handled it.)
I love learning something new
Although of the cgi generation and know how to create cgi, I love practical effects as cheaper (if done right) and think so much better for actors as have something to respond to.Similar threads
