For space shots of the Auriga and the Betty, special consideration to shooting the miniature elements had to be taken. The first of three major issues to be dealt with was the fact that first unit DP Darius Khondji was using the Technicolor ENR process. The ENR process (named after the process' originators, Ernesto, Novelli and Rymond) is a post-production system where a series of photographic baths bring out the film's contrast. It crunches the blacks, leading to rich shadows and detailed dark regions.

The Auriga in space. The lighting setup on the miniatures mimicked the first unit photography, with rich blacks and detailed shadows.

Whenever a post-production technique such as ENR is used on prinicpal footage, it places a great deal of concern onto the minds of visual effects crews whose duty it is to match their effects photography with the first unit.

Lighting the Auriga was especially complicated for this reason. Erik Henry noted, "We had to have some kind of envelope of light around the ship, rather than the traditional hard key light." Ian Hunter added, "We made strong efforts not to light the models like just about every other spaceship has been lit in the past, with a very strong key light, giving everything an even fill. It's great for exposure purposes, when shooting against a bluescreen, but it doesn't really look like space."

As for matching the first unit photography, Henry said that going for that deep, dark, detailed look "made shoot times go way up, because of the special way we had to light the ships. Getting enough light on the ships was always a trick, because there's only so much light you can throw on the miniature before it starts to melt. It was always a problem with our situation, since we were always overexposing to accomodate the ENR process."

When describing the results of their efforts, Henry remarks that "It's a really beautiful process, it's probably what makes the miniature composites look as gritty and dirty as they appear, which is what we were going for."

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All text Copyright © 1998 Todd Vaziri, unless otherwise noted