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DoP Benji Bakshi shares his experience with the Anamorphic/i Full-Frame Plus Special Flare Lenses on the set of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
The spin-off of Star Trek: Discovery and prequel to Star Trek: The Original Series, the second season of the Paramount+ franchise has been described by showrunners Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers as ‘Lawrence of Arabia in Space’.
While Captain Christopher Pike and the crew of the USS Enterprise continue their mission to seek out new planets and alien cultures, the production crew were responsible for creating new environments for each story while maintaining a look that harks back to the classic 1970s series.
“We approach each episode almost from scratch, if you will. The continuity is in the look and in the lenses,” explains Bakshi (Dragged Across Concrete, Bone Tomahawk).
He shot four of the 10-episode run with the rest shared with DP Glen Keenan, CSC (Star Trek: Discovery) and Ian Anderson, who shot second unit in Season 1 and two episodes as DP in S2.
While the second series finale ends on a climax to be continued into season 3, the other nine episodes are treated standalone, almost as mini-movies. There’s an understanding that each new episode is going to be part of the 60-year-old Star Trek canon yet within that there is a lot scope to create different looks and moods.
“Each episode tends to be told in different genres and have a different energy to them,” Bakshi says. “One could be a thriller, one could be a comedy, one could be a courtroom drama.”
This was Bakshi’s first Star Trek production as it was for some of the directors on the series including Valerie Weiss who was recommended by Bakshi to co-executive producer Chris Fisher. Bakshi and Weiss had worked together on shows ‘The Rookie’ and ‘Prodigal Son’ and teamed for the second episode, ‘Ad Astra Per Aspera’, a take on the traditional courtroom drama finding Commander Una Chin-Riley (Rebecca Romijn) on trial after being arrested by the Federation for lying about her genetic modifications.
Bakshi and Weiss may have been Trek Rookies but the underlying look of the show remained constant from the S1 pilot established by Keenan. This includes pairing ARRI Alexa LF with a set of Cooke Optics Anamorphic/i Full Frame Plus Special Flare lenses.
As Keenan explained, “For Star Trek, there’s a studio, but no reality. I want to convince the audience that we are in a real space with a lens that would add more organic qualities to the image.”
The show’s go-to lens is the 85mm Macro particularly for close-up work. “The 85mm Macro is a wonderful lens”, says Bakshi whose first full-frame anamorphic show this was. “It’s very clean, beautiful lens. We all fell in love with it. Of course, it still has the character, but the close focus is just lovely. And because of the close focus nature we found ourselves just leaning on it. It became our workhorse.”
“With the full Alexa LF bodies you really have to shoot like traditional cinema and honour the size and complexity of this capture device. We lean on it and find ourselves, especially with the field of view of these lenses, putting more things in frame and so that means we can get more story in each frame.”
Aside from Keenan, another key to continuity are the show’s gaffers (Dan Whitton and Hugh McJanet) who alternate the prep for each episode, and lighting designer Alida Keenleyside. “The team is really cohesive and has a lot of experience and great eyes,” says Bakshi.
The Cooke anamorphic special flares have the right amount of aberrations and flare for the signature Star Trek blue streak flare.
“Flare can be hard to manage, but I found the SFs to be very refreshing in this regard. You can dim flaring lights down beyond a point where they won’t flare but you can see them glowing because the ship has this sort of sci-fi constant dimming effect. And if you really don’t want it to pop, you just make the maximum 40% and you’re good. But if you take it to 80%, then it starts to bloom.”
Just as the DPs have the freedom to create mood and look using the Alexa LF and Cooke SF, they can also refine each episode from the base show LUT.
“That just gives you a base palette to work from and then you can veer off according to the story world we are entering. We basically perform live grading in conjunction with DIT Ron Schlueter, enabling us to go in and tweak the image before it gets sent to post. We sometimes go pretty far with the LUT versus what’s on set including changing the overall colour balance.”
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds may boldly go into distance galaxies but its cast and crew remain at home in Vancouver Toronto, albeit on one of the largest virtual sound stages in the world.
“We are so heavy into the volume. The whole show revolves around it. We wish we had five volumes. The wall is constantly in use from day one of production to the end. We have some, recurring sets, but given that the show is called Strange New Worlds, the audience expect to see them!”
The cinematographers work with the production designer, lighting designer and showrunners months before the shoot to advise on the Virtual Art Department (VAD) on the build of the digital worlds in Unreal Engine.
“All the creatives are involved in the process of being able to make and digest the decisions based on the story. As cinematographers we’re empowered to see our vision fulfilled in camera.
“Previously, shooting green screen it was really difficult to hand shots off to VFX and hope for the best. There’s always going to be a disconnect in that process. Now that work is being front-loaded. The photography is like back to the days of matte paintings. You’re collaborating together and you see your work and everyone’s high-fiving and celebrating because it’s actually there in front of you.
“In the end, it’s all captured in camera. You are building worlds through the lens. I can’t tell you how refreshing it is that we’re doing essentially heavy VFX using the Volume – in camera. And I can use Anamorphics. There’s no issue with the lenses’ individual characteristics and the camera tracking. Each lens is handmade. So they have individual character and it’s embraced. I love it.”
