In the last week, several behind-the-scene details, images, and videos from both Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard have come to light. We have gathered some of the highlights to take you inside the making of Star Trek television today.
Making aliens on Picard and Discovery
CBS has released some shots of the Star Trek makeup teams at work, including a video showing the intricate work that went into creating the Romulans for Star Trek: Picard.
Every hair of every eyebrow was individually threaded. Check out how the #StarTrekPicard make-up team created the look of the Romulans. pic.twitter.com/EPbhyCKMQl
— Star Trek on Paramount+ (@StarTrekOnPPlus) April 15, 2020
And today brought some images showing how the team put together Mr. Vup, the Beta Annari from the Picard episode “Stardust City Rag.”
The Menacing Mr. Vup. #StarTrekPicard pic.twitter.com/0pCHA3XDcS
— Star Trek on CBS All Access (@startrekcbs) April 18, 2020
They also posted some shots showing how Saru’s makeup is maintained during location shooting for Star Trek: Discovery.
Between take touch-ups. #StarTrekDiscovery pic.twitter.com/aWqnOH8B3a
— Star Trek on CBS All Access (@startrekcbs) April 10, 2020
Making a tracking shot for Picard finale
The final moments of the season finale of Star Trek: Picard featured an extended tracking shot that moved around La Sirena, stopping periodically to focus on various characters. Cinematographer Philip Lanyon posted a video on Instagram showing how the crane shot was done.
Making the USS Discovery
The official Star Trek channel on YouTube has posted a time-lapse video showing the creation of the main U.S.S. Discovery sets.
Making the sounds for Picard
Picard sound designer Tim Farrell and supervising sound editor Matt Taylor talked to A Sound Effect about their work on the show, where Farrell explained how they built on the sounds from Star Trek: The Next Generation:
We looked a lot into The Next Generation and dissected the sound of that show. It’s obviously very different from the sound of the original series, but they also paid homage to it, so we tried to do something similar. As I did with Discovery, when something would come up that was established sonically, I’d research the original sound and use that as a jumping-off point. But I would also try to give my own unique take on it while still staying true to the original sound.
All the classic sounds, like the transporter and replicator, we put in as our base layer and then we’d build on them as the VFX changed and the image became more complex. We sprinkled in colors and details but it’s mainly grounded in the sound of The Next Generation.
Making Picard look and feel different
Speaking to Gold Derby, director Hanelle Culpepper detailed how she approached setting the tone and look of Star Trek: Picard in the first three episodes:
I really wanted Picard to feel different than Discovery. Discovery is more space and more action. Picard is a more character-driven piece. He is a character that we love. He is older, but he still has all that authority that he has always had, and still has that compassion. So, I went for a look that moved a little slower than Discovery and had a warmer color palette. I felt inspired by the varying colors of the vineyard, so I went with more reds, and golds, and yellows, and greens for the show.
And also TV audiences have come to expect more cinematic viewing experiences. So, when you look back at The Next Generation you see how just the style of TV from then and how it has changed now. So, I definitely wanted Picard to feel cinematic and my motto with it was to blend the epic with the intimate. So, bring you really cool, epic, cinematic shots, but always remember the character is still the most important thing with this series and to get into his head and get into the heads of the people he is interacting with.
Keep up with all the Star Trek: Picard news, analysis, and reviews at TrekMovie.com.
The make-up teams are miracle workers. It’s nice to see how the alien make-up came together.
Saru is my favorite alien from the new Star Trek shows. Mr. Vup is a really cool dude. I’ve never seen a Beta Annari before.
The Picard finale was a work of art. It did have some plot holes here and there but that will work itself out. The behind the scenes aspect of Star Trek is fun to watch.
I will give the Picard finale a 7/10. The overall season of Picard gets a 8/10.
We had the Annari on Voyager, IIRC, although Mr. Vup is a particularly massive specimen when compared to those we’ve met before…it is a big galaxy, after all.
I’ve always loved Trek’s aliens but I LOVE the current makeup team! They do a fantastic job and the way they brought in TOS Romulans and TNG Romulans and even the variation of Romulans we see from the 2009 film (who are from the Prime timeline). It was just great. It further goes to show that these guys aren’t responsible for the Klingons we got in Discovery – meaning the decision to go further ‘alien’ wasn’t a choice they made. The most menacing Klingon I’ve seen is the one on the bridge of L’Rel’s ship at the tactical station. He looked recognizably Klingon but with a bigger budget. The fact that they got to add him in to the mix shows that they get it.
Why are so few commenting on this? Say whatever you like about whatever beefs you carry into watching Pocard and Discovery…the artism on the shows is irreproachable