In the film and television industy, time is money. On Star Trek, most of the action is filmed by the first (or main) shooting unit which consists of over 80 people - hairdressers, carpenters, make-up artists, electricians, boom operators (extendable, maneuverable micropphones), first assistants, camera operators, lighting cameramen, assistant cameramen, and oh yes, not forgetting the director and the actors!. All these people will be needed in the course of a day's filming but just having them there costs a fortune. It takes time to move the camera, adjust the lights, etc., and and while that is happening a lot of people are waiting. Therefore, the rule is that first unit does not shoot anything it does not have to. And that is what the second unit is for.

Originally the second unit was only used to film complicated effects shots, but the unit is so useful that on Star Trek it takes on several other duties. Every fortnight or so the second unit, which is much smaller than the first unit, revisits the studio's sound stages to pick up shots that were too time-consuming to be filmed on the day, or which do not require the principal actors.

Most of the time the second unit is directed by visual effects producer Dan Curry, though his boss Peter Lauritson also takes turns. The rest of the crew are drawn from the first unit, but step up a level to do their bosses' jobs.

"We cover bluescreen and greenscreen work. [Bluescreens and greenscreens are blue and green plain-coloured backdrops against which action is filmed. Later the backdrops are digitally removed and a special effect inserted. Blue and green are the easiest colours to remove.] We might shoot an insert of a viewscreen they didn't have time for on first unit. We cover stunts. If for some reaon when the show is cut together the producers want to change the tone of a performance, we might reshoot that. Or we might shoot added scenes. We also cover things that are very time-consuming, for example, if we have a very complicated bluescreen shot that entails matching two pieces of film it might take 4 or 5 hours to do one shot. We do anything that was impractical to do during first unit because of the number of people involved. Sometimes we do things that could be dangerous."

Typically there are about a dozen people on second unit, but that number can swell if there are extras involved.

The second unit works for about 30 days a year. On some episodes they are needed for 2 or 3 days. On other days they are not needed at all.

the 2nd unit; Dan Curry, the show's visual effects producer, is to the far right (looking at the photo) of the front row

The work atmosphere is relaxed, with people talking and joking as they move quickly from one setup to another, apparently without waiting for instructions. "I try to keep things a little bit more relaxed, but everyone approaches the work on second unit with the same dedicated professionalism they do on first unit. This work requires precision. It looks like we're just being very relaxed here, but we've done this so many times that it's second nature to us all."

The second unit may be cheaper than first unit, but it still costs money. Therefore the day's work is meticulously planned out. By the time Dan Curry arrives at work, a rough edit of the episode (or episodes) concerned has already been cut together and the editors, the VFX (visual special effects) team and the producers have all examined it to work out exactly what will be needed.

Usually in the film industry there is no time to wait for a rough cut before filming pick-up shots, so the director has to guess what will be needed, and because it is expensive to come back after a set has been struck (taken down) she or he tends to be cautious and asks for every shot they could possibly need, and therefore end up with more material than is finally used. But because [Star Trek: Voyager] is a series, most of the sets and the actors are always available so the producers can afford to wait until they know exactly which shots they want.

Cutaways One of the simplest types of shot Dan Curry finds himself picking up is a brief shot (known as a cutaway) that shows a viewscreen displaying graphics or computer-generated shots of spaceships, and does not involve actors. On the stage, the crew line the camera up in front of the screen and record a minute or so of film. The shot needs to blend in perfectly with the film that has already been shot, so Dan Curry has to make sure that the camera is positioned at the right angle to give the impression that we are seeing exactly what the ship's crew would see.

Hand doubles Another major part of the second unit's work involves picking up shots of hands pressing buttons on consoles or tricorders. If you do not see a person's face you do not have to be the principal actor, so a stand-in is used [Janet says: however, sometimes fans notice; I myself have noticed on occasion and I am sure others do too, probably more than I do. Hands are _not_ anonymous!] You will see actors who look unnervingly like the stars, wearing their clothes and sitting in their seats, but the camera focuses on their hands as they enter a command on a keypad. "It seems strange, but it's absolutely critical that they give a genuine performance. Frank Capra once said that for whatever number of seconds somebody's hand is on the screen it is the star of the show. The rhythm, the pace, the energy, all have to be there. It sounds like it would be a really simple thing to do, but sometimes it's not."

filming [Natural Law]

filming [Natural Law]

Typically, the first unit will have filmed a wide shot (known as a master shot) showing the action, leaving the close-up of the hand for second unit to film. Dan Curry has to make sure that his close-up shot will cut in seamlessly with that master shot, so the hand has to start and finish in the right place, and the angle he uses will have be one that can be cut together with the existing footage. In order to make sure that everything is perfect, he has a video monitor on the stage, which he can use to look back at the original shot.

First unit experience In most shots the biggest challenge is getting the lighting perfect, and this is where Star Trek's policy of 'borrowing' people from the first unit pays off. The main advantage is that it is easier to replicate lighting and photography conditions if one of the people involved in creating the first shot is involved in the pick-up shot. "The lights crew and the grips are all people who are normally on first unit, so they were involved in the lighting too."

In addition, the shots also have to match the style of the show's director. "In some ways matching something is more difficult than doing your own thing. It's like going into a painting done by someone else and doing a section that perfectly matches the style of the artist who did most of the work. You really have to look at this person s style. How do they favor camera angles? What kind of moves do they to do? What's the normal way they would cover a scene? All so that what we do fits seamlessly into another person's show. In a way it can be frustrating because you have to put a lot of creative energy into this and then it doesn't look like your work!"

Visual effects The second unit also covers a large part of show's effects work. These shots often involve shooting against the bluescreen, which is set up on one of the sound stages. The screen actually consists of a large blue curtain which hangs from the ceiling, and an area of floor painted the same colour. In production, the blue can be removed easily and replaced with another image.

In [#153 Body and Soul] there is a scene that has Tuvok in a holographic cave with a holographic version of his wife, T'Pel. Most of the action was shot by the first unit, but at the end of the sequence, the cave disappears and is replaced by the familiar hologrid. This shot was left for the second unit for film. This time, Tuvok's face is in shot, so there can be no question of using a body double. But most things can be set up before actor Tim Russ is needed. First, the camera angle is set up, which can be done easily as the camera and lens height were measured when the first shot was taken. The trick to doing this shot is that the thing must change from the lighting in the cave to the normal hologrid lighting. Once the camera angles are exactly the same, a member of the crew takes up position and everyone concentrates on getting the lighting right. This shot is more complicated than the viewscreen, because they have to set the lighting up for two different environments and move between them at the right moment. When all this has been worked out, Dan Curry sends for Tim Russ. In this case, he is ready, but Dan Curry explains that sometimes the second unit has to wait for an actor to finish their scenes on first unit before they can work with them. Tim Russ moves into position and gives Tuvok's reaction to his holo-wife's disappearance. After a few takes they have everything they need, and Tim Russ is free to go. Now the crew move over to the hologrid set, where they will reproduce the camera angles again. This time, though, they only need to film the background, since Tuvok will be put into the scene digitally. Although it involved some very precise work, this shot was relatively straightforward. On something more complicated, the visual effects supervisor who is responsible for the shot might join Dan Curry to make sure everything runs smoothly.

The holoprogram containing a hologram of Tuvok's wife is deactivated. (pop-up window) [#153 Body and Soul]

The second unit is so skilled and experienced that they can and do actually take on work that would normally be handled by the first unit. This provides the show's producers with the kind of flexibility that can rescue the shooting schedules from potential disaster. For example, when one of the episodes in Season 7 was edited together it ended up short, so the producers decided to add another scene. In itself this is not unusual, and second unit regularly films short conversations between characters as they walk down a corridor, but this time the scene was more complicated, and they wanted it to be shot by the first unit. In order to accomplish this, they juggled the work around. The second unit took on some of the simpler scenes first unit was originally going to tackle, creating a space in the first unit's schedule that could accommodate the new material. In this case, the first unit director joined Dan Curry when the scenes were filmed to make sure he got exactly what he wanted.