See how visual effects enhance this scene from CSI. Photo courtesy of Stargate Digital © CBS.

Stargate Digital creates effects for a diverse slate of shows such as CSI, Jake 2.0 and the new anti-terrorism series Threat Matrix. Stargate head Sam Nicholson recently used an HD high-speed camera to shoot at more than 1,000 frames-per-second an exploding vehicle for an upcoming show. Nicholson maintains close relationships with vendors of high-end imaging equipment including Arri, Lockheed, Clairmont and other makers, sometimes making custom “hot-rod” upgrades to the equipment. “We were one of the first to work with Avid DS [Avid’s latest HD nonlinear editing system], we expanded it from four hours memory capability through different striping and other tweaks to 84 hours of memory.” Nicholson just finished with shooting key locations in Washington, D.C. for the nanotechnology action drama Jake 2.0 using a proprietary HD camera rig.

Zoic Studios has partnered with motion control house Image G for CSI: Miami at a level unprecedented for television. Long considered too ponderous and expensive a technology for all but the most well-funded shows, motion control works on nearly every episode of CSI: Miami. Orloff and the Image G team have developed new software to make motion control work in a television production environment. “The cool thing that we have set up with Image G is a way to have Maya and the moco camera rig talk to each other.” Orloff creates an animatic, gets the director’s sign off, then uses the animatic data to get the exact motion control passes that they need to deliver the previsualized shot. According to Orloff, “We can even run a moco move and feed the data back to Maya in realtime.”

On CSI: Miami, the high seas are rough on the ship Galleon. Photo courtesy of Zoic Studios. © CBS.