CBS VFX

Real world article
(written from a Production point of view)

CBS Digital (commonly abbreviated as CBSD, and not to be confused with the original CBS Digital Media Group) is a group that belongs to CBS Corporation. It was founded by Craig Weiss, among others, in the early 1990s, and is responsible for the visual effects (VFX) for a variety of television shows, including Jericho and 24.

More recently, they have been involved in the remastering of Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Star Trek: Enterprise under the project supervision of Michael Okuda. It is run by department director Craig Weiss and is located at CBS Television City in Los Angeles. For the newly created digital VFX – otherwise known as "CGI" – used in the remastered Original Series, CBS Digital made use of the Autodesk Maya CGI software, (Sci-fi & fantasy modeller, Vol. 26, p. 49) but has switched to the more ubiquitous LightWave 3D software, for their subsequent remastering projects. (source)

Though still in existence, CBS Digital has in recent years shifted its focus to the creation of "Virtual Reality" (VR) environments, predominantly for the CBS television productions, but has been passed over by its parent company for the creation of the digital VFX for Star Trek: Discovery, launched in 2017, in favor of Pixomondo, as they were for every other subsequent Kurtzman-era Star Trek production. This was a case of Star Trek history repeating itself as predecessor Paramount Pictures had in 1981 passed over its VFX subsidiary FGC – which had co-provided the VFX for Star Trek: The Motion Picture – in favor of ILM for the Star Trek films from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan onward.

In 2018 though, CBS Digital became shortly reacquainted with Star Trek when it gained permission from CBS Consumer Products to remaster the selected Star Trek: Deep Space Nine scenes that became featured in the documentary What We Left Behind, released the next year. Paid for by the documentary makers' fundraising campaign, the remastering was again overseen by Mike Okuda. [1] The VFX heavy battle sequence from "Sacrifice of Angels" constituted the highlight of the remastered scenes, and was featured twice in the documentary. [2]

Shortly after its contribution to What We Left Behind, the company changed its name to CBS VFX, effective 2019, in order to better reflect its focus shift. In the process the company moved its operations from the CBS premises in Los Angeles to those situated in Studio City. [3]

Staff

• TOS Remastered staff
  • Ryan Adams – CBS Television Mastering
  • Howard A. Anderson, Jr. – Original Visual Effects
  • Chris Barsamian – Animator
  • Alena Bejenarou
  • Javier Bello – Lighting Technical Director
  • Jimmy Berndt – Lead Effects Animator
  • Melissa Berryann – Assistant to Mr. LaFountaine
  • Loren Bivens – Animator
  • Petri Blomqvist – Technical Consultant
  • Deane Boeka – Compositor
  • Shoghi Castel de Oro – Animator
  • Jiyeon Cho – Matte Artist
  • Sun Chung – Matte Artist
  • Chris DeCristo – 2D Supervisor
  • Doug Drexler – Technical Consultant
  • Eric Ehemann – Lead Animator
  • Max Gabl – Lead Matte Artist
  • George Garcia – Digital Artist
  • David Grant – Director of Marketing Services
  • Harvey Holt – VP CBS Stage Operations
  • James Holt – Compositor
  • Jena Huynh – Visual Effects Coordinator
  • Robert H. Justman – Technical Consultant
  • Peter H. Kane – Senior VP Business Affairs
  • Gary Kerr – Technical Consultant
  • Apollo Kim – Digital Modeler
  • Raymond King – Lighting Technical Director
  • Michael Klausman – President CBS Studio Center
  • Nicki Kreitzman – Compositor
  • David LaFountaine – Executive Producer
  • Dawn Meredith – Matte Artist
  • Peter Molnar – Director of Broadcast Services
  • John Nogawski – President of CBS Television Distribution
  • Denise Okuda – Producer
  • Michael Okuda – Producer, Digital Artist
  • Masao Okazaki – Technical Consultant
  • Toni Pace – Visual Effects Producer
  • Mike Parker – Effects Animator
  • Luis Pazos – Production Assistant
  • Erik Press
  • Ryan Reeb – Matte Artist
  • David Rossi – Producer
  • Betty Rothenberg – Quality Control
  • Wendy Ruiz – Visual Effects Coordinator, I/O Coordinator
  • Heekyung Shin – Lighting Technical Director
  • John Small – Systems Support Engineer
  • Ryan Swanno – Compositor
  • Chris Tezber – Visual Effects Coordinator, Digital Artist
  • Brian Vogt – Lead Lighting Technical Director
  • Craig Weiss – Director of Visual Effects
  • Cliff Welsh – Compositor
  • Niel Wray – Visual Effects Supervisor
• TNG Remastered staff
  • Mesrop Abrahamian – Rotoscope Artist
  • Ryan Adams – Director, Multimedia, CBS Television Distribution
  • Jimmy Berndt – Lead Effects Animator
  • Jasper Bivens – Artist
  • Loren Bivens – VFX Supervisor
  • Michael Brown – Executive Producer/Creative Director
  • Eric Bruno – Lead Compositor
  • Doug Drexler – Technical Consultant
  • Maureen Doyle – Artist
  • Joe Espina – Editor
  • Greg Faust – Re-Recording Mixer, Chace Audio
  • Wade Felker – Film transfer
  • Todd Frey – DRS Artist
  • Max Gabl – Lead Digital Matte Painter
  • Demitre Garza – Flame Artist
  • Tony Graf – Compositor
  • David S. Grant – Vice President Multimedia CBS Television Distribution
  • Douglas E. Graves – Digital Modeler
  • Don Greenberg – Senior Flame Artist
  • Jon Grinsberg – Editor
  • Hilary Groner – Technical Operations
  • Marvin Hildebrandt – Colorist
  • James Holt – Digital Compositor/Flame Artist
  • Dylan Hucklesby – Digital Restoration
  • Nicki Kreitzman – Compositor/Editor
  • Kelly Kroells – Artist
  • Janice Lee – Compositor
  • Michelle Liu – Graphic Designer
  • Mary Joy Macalintal – VFX Coordinator
  • Eric McClain – Film transfer
  • Steven Miller – Flame Artist
  • Kiki Morris – Editor
  • Paul Nesmith – Editor
  • Denise Okuda – Project Consultant
  • Michael Okuda – Project Consultant
  • Sarah Paul – Project Manager
  • Chris Payne – Flame Artist
  • Tobias Richter – Subcontracted Digital Modeler
  • Wendy Ruiz – Head of Mastering & Restoration
  • Keven Scotti – Operations Manager
  • Sean Sweeney – Media Coordinator
  • Chris Tezber – VFX Coordinator, Digital Artist
  • Amanda Vackrinos – Coordinator
  • Brian Vogt – Manager of Lighting-Mental Ray & Comp TD
  • Deron Warner – Editor
  • Craig Weiss – Director of Visual Effects
  • Jayme Wing – Digital Compositor
  • Niel Wray – 3D Supervisor

Documentary

• CBS Digital & Star Trek TNG

External links

• CBSVFX – current official site (formerly cbsdigital.com)
• CBS VFX at the Internet Movie Database
• 2006 "Behind the Scenes at CBS Digital" feature at TrekMovie.com
• 2012 five part interview with the staff of CBS Digital at TrekCore