Friday, September 01, 2023
"Each Episode is Like Its Own Movie": DP Benji Bakshi on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
Filmmaker Magazine: In December of 1964, principal photography finished on the pilot of Star Trek, featuring captain Christopher Pike (played by The Searchers’ Jeffrey Hunter) as the commander of the Enterprise. When the show’s first episode finally aired almost two years later, Pike was nowhere to be found. The initial pilot had been scrapped and re-shot, with William Shatner’s James T. Kirk taking the helm and a different crew boldly going where no man had gone before.
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As both a Star Trek fan and aspiring scenic designer, it’s so interesting to me how a new addition to a preexisting franchise is devised. What aspects of the set would you change, or alter for each situation, and how do you make the scenery familiar for the fans but also new for this show? I remember watching behind-the-scenes for JJ-Abrams’ films, and (if I remember correctly) they used some sort of dish-rack and painted it white to create techy-looking-ridges in the walls for a scene. And reading this article, about the cinematography of the show, I learned how intricate and precise the process is. How in one scene that is more emotionally charged might have different camera motion than another, and how one comes up with new and interesting shots that still capture the scene and don’t ‘take the audience out of the action’ seems incredibly difficult. I thought it was so fascinating that in several shots instead of lighting the actors from behind the cameras, they used the screens and ‘high-tech’ aspects of the ships to create the lighted atmosphere in which to shoot the actors. It was such a creative way to get around a possible hurdle or question during production.
I chose to write about this article because I am a reporter for Daily Star Trek News and as part of my job I worked on an interview with Benji Bakshi. I got to meet him briefly over Zoom, he’s a super fun and chill guy. I learned a lot from this article that I actually didn’t already know. For instance, the bridge of the Enterprise in Strange New Worlds is actually a repurposed set which is super cool. Benji talks a lot about the lighting that is integrated into the set itself and how he uses that. I think that’s awesome and it shows a lot about just how much collaboration goes into making a show like Strange New Worlds. They also talk a lot about their use of LED walls in conjunction with the set. That’s something we’re seeing more and more in film these days and I think it’s the coolest thing ever. It really immerses the actors in the set. I also just think it makes the set photos look really cool. Benji says, “It takes about three to four months of lead time to prepare [those virtual sets before you shoot them]. That’s in conjunction with designing physical sets that need to be built that will seamlessly blend into the virtual ones.” This again shows just how much thought and collaboration goes into creating just one episode of this show. It’s so cool and makes me so excited about the film world. Working on a star trek set is on my bucket list and something I will work my hardest to cross off.
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