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[HOPE AND FEAR] : BEHIND-THE-SCENESShooting the episode |
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Additional commentary by production staff and cast is in this colour.
9th March is the seventh day of shooting. The day schedules seventeen scenes comprising eight and three-eighths pages of the script, all taking place on the Dauntless' engineering set.
Red alert: The picture below is 138Kb.
The call sheet.
Actresses Kate Mulgrew and Jeri Ryan are the first cast members to arrive this morning. Wearing their street clothes, they join the show's crew members for a 7.30 a.m. safety meeting and lighting rehearsal. The rest of the cast have calls of 10.30 a.m. or later. The lighting rehearsal confirms two anticipated problems:
- The problem of shadows being cast onto the muslin from off-set is dealt with.
- The sound problem is not so easy to solve. The noise from the bubbles and the neon generator intrude upon the actors' dialogue, and the metal catwalk resonates with the sound of the actors' footsteps. Rick Kolbe rejects a suggestion to lay carpet as he wants to be able to shoot through the holes in the floor.
A screenshot from the tv episode - the low-level shot shows the floor.Kate Mulgrew: "We obviously will be looping this whole scene. The minute I heard my footsteps, I knew we were dead. Looping is quite easy, but for me it's a bad transition. Much is lost in the translation, so I like to get it on the soundstage if possible. I feel that sound is often relegated to a secondary role. If a take is good for camera, they like to print it and move on. So I've been asking for a certain discipline regarding sound all season."
Filming begins on Scene 92 at 9.05 a.m. By 9.44 a.m., the scene, a wide "master" shot and a close-up of each of the actresses, is complete. Kate Mulgrew leaves the stage to give an interview with a Canadian tv crew. Jeri Ryan is alone on the Dauntless engineering set for Scene 97.
97 INT. DAUNTLESS - ENGINEERING (OPTICAL)
Seven of Nine working a console ... when a VIOLENT
ENERGY DISCHARGE CRACKLES around the entire console!
A section of the panel BLOWS OUT in a SHOWER OF SPARKS!
Seven of Nine recoils.
This short scene contains two shots. In the first shot, the console will light up. In the second shot, sparks will fly. For safety purposes, the second shot in the scene will be filmed first. Dick Brownfield: "This is an optical because the visual-effects people will enhance the sparks that I shoot over the console. I'm a pyrotechnician by trade, and I personally handle the sparks." He creates the sparks out of 3F black powder and titanium metal, along with a sparkling compound and some iron filings that he places into a mortar that he builds himself. "I ignite it with a little Z16 squib. The mortar is very directional. It puts the sparks right where I want them to go."
Director Rick Kolbe has the angle of his shots thoroughly planned as well. Now he is lying on his back on the floor under the catwalk with a viewfinder. "If we stand topside, we will just see the core bubbling. But I want to see the power system of the ship, and visually the most exciting part is actually underneath it."
At 10.07 a.m. the camera is in place, the lights are set, and the mortar charge is prepared. Jeri Ryan is called back to the set. When she arrives, Adele Simmons calls the crew to attention for another safety meeting. She tells one of her production assistants: "Call the studio hospital and alert them we are about to have pyrotechnics on Stage 9." This is a standard precautionary procedure for all production. Marvin Rush has mounted the camera on a stationary dolly for stability. Since the sparks will be enhanced by visual-effects, the camera must be "locked down." The slightest motion will render the later computer work worthless.
Rick Kolbe huddles with Dick Brownfield and Jeri Ryan, giving each a cue. "Action, fritz, fritz," Kolbe says. For the filmmakers, the term fritz is a verbal representation of the electrical flashes they will create in just a few moments for this shot. Dick Brownfield's cue to fire his mortar is the second fritz. Paramount's fire marshal steps up to the edge of the set, waiting just out of the camera's frame. Kolbe recites the sequence of cues again. "Is everybody comfortable with this?" Adele Simmons asks loudly. "Yes," is the resounding response. "Final touches," she says, and Jeri Ryan's make-up and wardrobe are given a quick see-to. Rick Kolbe goes through the fritz sequence with Jeri Ryan one more time. Then, "Action. Fritz. Fritz." The explosion of sparks is bright, fast, shooting six feet high over the actress's shoulders, and is over in seconds. Everyone remains silent for a moment until Adele Simmons calls, "Cut."
"Jeri, are you all right?" Kolbe asks.
"That was an explosion," replies Jeri Ryan. "It wasn't just sparks."
"Okay, let's do it again," jokes Kolbe. The take was fine.
Several grips carry in two large mounted fans to blow the smoke and smell away from the set.
Now the camera is lifted off of the dolly and carried up to the warp core's catwalk for the first part of the scene. The camera is balanced on two apple boxes with the lens resting on a sandbag. Although it was once exactly what it sounds like (a fruit crate), "apple box" refers to a wooden box that happens to be the same size as an original apple box. The explosion will be enhanced by "a flashbulb tree" hidden under the console below Jeri Ryan's face. Dick Brownfield screws five "number two" flashbulbs into the plastic unit. Marvin Rush calls out some instructions, and several grips appear with two light bounce cards on c-stands. He positions the 3 ft. by 3 ft. cards near the camera, where they will most effectively enhance the bounce of the strobes. He asks for a heavy metal plate to be placed on the boxes under the camera, providing a sturdy, stable base.
At 11.00 a.m. Jeri Ryan returns to the set. They rehearse. After three takes of this shot, the scene is in the can. Jeri Ryan leaves the soundstage, passing the other cast members, who are on their way in for the next scene.
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