Memory Alpha
Register
Advertisement
Memory Alpha
Real world article
(written from a Production point of view)
Coming of age live action plate

A blue screen in place of the USS Enterprise-D's viewscreen during production

The Vulcan Hello greenscreen

Sonequa Martin-Green filmed in front of a green screen

Chroma key, also known as blue screen or green screen, was a colored backdrop used for shooting scenes whose backgrounds would later be filled in with CGI scenery.

One typical application of the technique was using it to film footage that would be inserted into the main viewscreen in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Ops set. "Although we do call it a blue screen, it's actually green because we're using blue neon surrounding the screen," explained Production Designer Herman Zimmerman. "We use a green saturated color, but you can key off of any saturated color." (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages, p. 16)

Green screens were used in several episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise, such as the first season episodes "Terra Nova", "Breaking the Ice", and "Civilization". They were also used for the scenes involving the dimensional shifts of the Meridian inhabitants and Jadzia Dax in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine third season episode "Meridian" as listed on the call sheet.

Archer shows Nadet Enterprise

The cockpit window with a later-added CGI image of Enterprise

For "Terra Nova", a green screen was used for the scene in which Captain Archer and Nadet watch Enterprise NX-01 through the window of the Shuttlepod 1 cockpit, as noted on the call sheet.

T'Pol and Phlox in the mess hall, June of 2151

A scene from "The Andorian Incident" where a green screen was used before a moving starfield was added

The call sheet for the episode "The Andorian Incident" listed a green screen in the mess hall scenes, replaced later in post-production by a moving starfield. Another green screen was used during filming of this episode and raised on a platform for a view through a metallic door in a Vulcan reliquary, depicting later a CGI-created matte painting of a Vulcan listening post. ("The Andorian Incident" call sheet)

A green screen was also used and placed on the monitor in Archer's quarters at the beginning of the first season episode "Fortunate Son". Later, the monitor was "filled" with a recorded message from Admiral Maxwell Forrest. ("Fortunate Son" call sheet)

Star Trek: Discovery used green screens to film Michael Burnham's spacewalk scenes in DIS: "The Vulcan Hello", as well as scenes aboard the USS Shenzhou's damaged brig. [1]

External link[]

Advertisement