Time-Slice Films, a visual effects and motion graphics company, recently used Grass Valley’s Infinity Digital Media Camcorder (DMC) to help pull off a tricky chroma key in connection with placing actor Justin Lee Collins on the bridge of the USS Enterprise.
The action was recorded as part of a "Bring Back…" series of television programs in which comedian Collins tries to reunite cast members from classic television series. In his latest installment, "Bring Back Star Trek," Collins wanted to feature some key scenes from "Star Trek" without going to the expense of constructing a real Enterprise set and called on Time-Slice to make it happen with computer generated graphics.
Collins was captured with the GV DMC operating at 1080i 4:2:2 HD for capturing detail and precise color rendering.
"The end results pleased both us and the production team," said Graham Clarkin of Time-Slice Films. "The footage from the Infinity camcorder was an absolute pleasure to work with, not least due to the clarity and crispness of the 1080i HD which was very easy to key, left little or no artifacts when using just a simple Keylight effect in After Effects, and was a very quick process to achieve a working cutout of Justin, even with his big bouncy hair, which keyed beautifully."
"Bring Back Star Trek" was aired on British television on May 8.
