COOL STUFF

Check These Out: Panoramic Photos of the USS Enterprise

by Alex Billington
April 21, 2009
Source: Official Website

I probably should have featured these photos when they first popped up on the official website for Star Trek, but I didn't, and because they're so damn cool, I'm going to feature them today anyway. Found one of the best movie websites of the last few years (startrekmovie.com) are four different panoramic photos from the new USS Enterprise seen in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek. If you're a Trek geek, movie geek, photography geek, or any kind of geek, you need to see these in all of their full glory (with the ability to control the pan and zoom). It's exhilarating to see how much detail went into designing this iteration of the USS Enterprise.

Star Trek is unquestionably the movie I am most excited for this summer, and hopefully I'll have the chance to see it this week. And speaking of this design, I've included a brief quote from cinematographer Daniel Mindel beneath these photos as well. Click either of them to head over to the official website, then click on [Nav] in the upper left corner, then click on Panoramas to see all of them in their high res full glory.

From the latest issue of Wired, edited by J.J. Abrams, a quote about the cinematography: "Here on the Enterprise set, little pinpoints of light are facing the camera. Without them, contrast levels in this scene would be virtually flat. To liven things up, every time the camera moves around, the lights halate to give us this great halo effect... We felt that gave us a very realistic feel to an otherwise static scene. We have this motif working throughout the movie and if you're looking for it, you'll see it. It adds a lot of kineticism."

Star Trek is directed by J.J. Abrams, of "Lost", "Alias", and Mission: Impossible III previously. The screenplay was written by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, of The Island, Mission: Impossible III, Transformers, and the upcoming Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. This is the 11th movie in the Star Trek universe, following most recently Star Trek: Nemesis in 2002. The original "Star Trek" TV series first aired in 1966. Paramount will debut Star Trek in theaters everywhere on May 8th this summer!

Filed under Cool Stuff, Hype, Photos

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