Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' High-Tech Sets Made The Cast A Little Space Sick
Previously written about in the pages of /Film, the special effects crew on "Star Trek: Discovery" have been employing a special kind of holodeck-like technology to visualize some of the show's larger futuristic interiors. The new technology is called the AR wall (AR for "augmented reality"). In brief: actors are surrounded by a large, circular screen that broadcasts an artificial locale that had been previously pre-rendered on a computer. The images on the screen are then tied into the movements of the show's camera, allowing the perspective on the artificial background to shift slightly. It's like a high-tech backdrop painting, but one that changes angles and adds depth to a shot.
While the actors will still only be able to walk around on their finite soundstage, the AR wall makes for an easier way to create sci-fi environments without having to build any physical sets. This is a far cry from the old-fashioned "Star Trek" monochrome skies and styrofoam rocks. AR walls are perhaps the natural outcropping of greenscreen-heavy sci-fi filmmaking that came into vogue in the early 2000s with the "Star Wars" prequel films. If the set is to be artificial, though, surely it would be better to capture it in-camera and let the photographer move more freely. Locked-down green screen shots are terribly boring to look at.
Of course, standing next to an AR wall might prove to be a little disorienting for an actor. The movements of the artificial environments are tuned to the camera, not the performers, and a sudden shift in the scenery light can make an actor a little dizzy. That was certainly the case with Celia Rose Gooding, from "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds," another show with a brand new AR wall. Gooding recently spoke to TrekMovie about her experiences with the tech.
Augmented Reality
Gooding plays the young Cadet Uhura on "Strange New Worlds," and will be returning for the show's second season. While she cannot yet say what kinds of stories Trekkies can expect from the new season, she did talk about losing her bearings while standing in front of the AR screen. Without being able to look at the camera itself, Gooding had to merely adjust to the fact that her artificial set was going to move and swirl at what seemed like random intervals. It seems that filming "Strange New Worlds" required actors to gain their sea legs. Gooding said:
"I think it was totally a learning experience because of the technology of how it works. The wall moves to make sense for the camera angle. The wall is constantly moving and there are constantly things happening. And at first, it was about having to like gain your bearings of understanding that while the world may move around, you are standing very still. It was almost trying to remember not to get dizzy or if there are grand movements it's best to not try and follow it because you will confuse your brain."
A common way to alleviate or prevent actual seasickness is to avoid looking out at the horizon or looking out windows where the pitch of the sea can be seen. Whether or not this is a tactic that can be employed by AR-surrounded actors is not something Gooding made clear. She did say, however, that she was eventually able to get used to it, remembering to prep for the more dramatic scenery shifts.
She got her sea legs, eventually.
Inside the Matrix
In Gooding's words:
"For me, it was definitely a learning curve. But once you get used to it, it's really, really something special. The work that we do in season 2, it's just fantastic and phenomenal and really, really exciting. I cannot wait for audiences to see what we do with that incredible piece of technology."
But the AR tech is not without its foibles. Melissa Navia, who plays Lieutenant Erica Ortegas on "Strange New Worlds" recalls a few amusing incidents while filming the first season of the show, when the screens glitched out and, for a split second, it felt like all of reality had ended. She said:
"My favorite thing was in season 1 [...] it would occasionally stop working. Like half the screens go black, and then it goes a little green and you feel like you're in the Matrix."
Not all of Gooding's and Navia's co-stars were so amused, but the actress appreciated the sci-fi verisimilitude the screens ultimately provided. She said it helped her as an actor to see the fantasy world in question, rather than know it was going to be keyed into a greenscreen later. In Navia's words:
I would get so excited because it was my first time doing it and everyone else who'd done it before, like Rebecca [Romijn], would be like, 'This means we're going to be here that much longer.' But really when you are on the AR wall, you are a storyteller. So much of what you're doing is you're creating a world that might not necessarily exist in front of you, but on the AR wall, you really do see it. That makes it slightly easier for us [...] Yeah, we have some fun times coming up in AR wall in season 2."
"Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" season 2 is due to air on June 15, 2023.