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sand. [22] Spock's death was shot over three days, during which no visitors |
were allowed on set. [9] Spock's death was to be irrevocable, but Nimoy had |
such a positive experience during filming that he asked if he could add a way |
for Spock to return in a later film. The mind meld sequence was initially |
filmed without Kelley's prior knowledge of what was going on. [12] : 248 |
Shatner disagreed with having a clear glass separation between Spock and Kirk |
during the death scene; he instead wanted a translucent divider allowing |
viewers to see only Spock's silhouette, but his objection was overruled. |
During Spock's funeral sequence Meyer wanted the camera to track the torpedo |
that served as Spock's coffin as it was placed in a long trough and slid into |
the launcher. The camera crew thought the entire set would have to be rebuilt |
to accommodate the shot, but Sallin suggested putting a dolly into the trough |
and controlling it from above with an offset arm. [10] Scott's rendition of " |
Amazing Grace " on the bagpipes was James Doohan 's idea. [16] : 251 Spock's |
death in the film was widely reported during production. " Trekkies " wrote |
letters to protest, one paid for trade press advertisements urging Paramount |
to change the plot, and Nimoy even received death threats. [33] [34] Test |
audiences reacted badly to Spock's death and the film's ending's dark tone, |
[10] so it was made more uplifting by Bennett. The scene of Spock's casket on |
the planet and Nimoy's closing monologue were added; Meyer objected, but did |
not stand in the way of the modifications. [12] : 249 Nimoy did not know about |
the scene until he saw the film, [35] but before it opened, the media |
reassured fans that "Spock will live" again. [34] Due to time constraints, the |
casket scene was filmed in an overgrown corner of San Francisco's Golden Gate |
Park , using smoke machines to add a primal atmosphere. The shoot lasted from |
midday to evening, as the team was well aware there would be no time for |
reshoots. [36] Special consideration was given during filming to allow for |
integration of the planned special effects. Television monitors standing in |
for computer displays were specially calibrated so that their refresh rate did |
not result in banding on film. [13] Due to a loss of resolution and quality |
resulting from rephotographing an element in an optical printer, live action |
sequences for effects were shot in 65mm or VistaVision formats to compensate. |
When the larger prints were reduced through an anamorphic lens on the printer, |
the result was a Panavision composite. [37] : 1055 Effects [ edit ] With a |
short timeframe to complete The Wrath of Khan ' s special effects sequences, |
effects supervisor Jim Veilleux, Meyer, Jennings, Sallin and Minor worked to |
transform the written ideas for the script into concrete storyboards and |
visuals. The detailed sequences were essential to keep the film's effects from |
spiraling out of control and driving up costs, as had occurred with The Motion |
Picture . [22] Each special and optical effect, and the duration of the |
sequences, was listed. [22] By the end of six weeks, the producers determined |
the basic look and construction of nearly all the effects; the resulting shots |
were combined with film footage five months later. [37] : 1032 Industrial |
Light & Magic (ILM) produced many of the effects, and created the new models; |
the Reliant was the first non- Constitution -class Federation starship seen in |
the series. Originally, the Reliant was conceived as a Constitution -class |
starship identical to the Enterprise , but it was felt audiences would have |
difficulty distinguishing between two alike ships. [21] As the script called |
for the Reliant and Enterprise to inflict significant damage on each other, |
ILM developed techniques to illustrate the damage without physically harming |
the models. [21] Rather than move the models on a bluescreen during shooting, |
the VistaVision camera was panned and tracked to give the illusion of |
movement. [10] Damage to the Enterprise was cosmetic, and simulated with |
pieces of aluminum that were colored or peeled off. Phaser damage was created |
using stop motion . The script called for large-scale damage to the Reliant , |
so larger versions of the ship's model were created to be blown up. [21] The |
Enterprise (left) maneuvers away from the severely damaged Reliant in the |
Mutara nebula. The sparks coming off the Reliant 's nacelle were hand |
animated, frame by frame. The battle in the nebula was a difficult sequence to |
accomplish without the aid of computer-generated models. The swirling nebula |
was created by injecting a latex rubber and ammonia mixture into a cloud tank |
filled with fresh and salt water. [36] All the footage was shot at two frames |
per second to give the illusion of faster movement. The vibrant abstract |
colors of the nebula were simulated by lighting the tank using colored gels . |
Additional light effects such as auroras were created by the ILM animation |
department. [36] The ships were combined with the nebula background plates via |
bluescreen mattes to complete the shot. [10] The destruction of the Reliant ' |
s engine nacelle was created by superimposing shots of the engine blowing |
apart and explosions over the model. [10] The scene in which Terrell kills |
Jedda, a Regula scientist, by vaporizing him with a phaser was filmed in two |
takes. Winfield and the related actors first played out the scene; this |
footage became the background plate. A blue screen was wheeled onto the set |
and actor John Vargas , the recipient of the phaser blast, acted out his |
response to being hit with the energy weapon. A phaser beam element was placed |
on top of the background plate, and Vargas' shots were optically dissolved |
into an airbrushed disintegration effect which matched Vargas' position in |
every frame. [37] : 1034 The Ceti eel shots used several models, overseen by |
visual effects supervisor Ken Ralston , who had just finished creature design |
for Return of the Jedi . He tied a string to the eels to inch the models |
across the actors' faces before they entered the ear canal. [10] The scene of |
a more mature eel leaving Chekov's ear was simulated by threading a |
microfilament through the floor of the set up to Koenig's ear. The scene was |
filmed with three variations, which Ralston described as "a dry shot, one with |
some blood, and the Fangoria shot, with a lot of gore." [22] Footage of a |
giant model of Koenig's ear was discarded from the theatrical release due to |
the visceral reaction it elicited in test audiences. [13] Additional optical |
effects were provided by Visual Concept Engineering (VCE), a small effects |
company headed by Peter Kuran; Kuran had previously worked at ILM and left |
after finishing The Empire Strikes Back . [22] VCE provided effects including |
phaser beams, the Enterprise reactor, additional sand on Ceti Alpha V, and an |
updated transporter effect. Meyer and the production staff were adamant about |
not using freeze frames for the transporter, as had been done in the original |
television series. Scenes were shot so that conversations would continue while |
characters were in mid-transport, [13] although much of the matte work VCE |
created was discarded when the production decided not to have as much action |
during transports. [22] Computer graphics company Evans & Sutherland used the |
computer graphics-based Digistar planetarium system to generate the fields of |
stars, based on a database of real stars . [38] [39] : 1038 The models of the |
ships were composited atop the star fields. [40] The Evans & Sutherland team |
also produced the vector graphics tactical displays seen on the Enterprise and |
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