Howard Anderson Company The Howard Anderson Company ( also referred to as Anderson Co . or as Howard A . Anderson Co . ) is a ( VFX – in the 1960s still referred to as either " " , " photographic effects " or " opticals " ) , founded in by Howard A . Anderson , which was the first company that catered to the VFX needs for the very first " Star Trek " production , . The Anderson Company was run by his sons Howard A . Anderson , Jr . and Darrell Anderson in the 1960s , when " The Original Series " was being produced . The Anderson Company rented its facilities on the Desilu lot . They had a close working relationship with Desilu since the early 1950s , when they did the titles of " I Love Lucy " and " Our Miss Brooks " . ( " " , p . 33 ) So their involvement was quite a natural one when they were contracted to do the VFX for the very first " Star Trek " pilot , in 1964 , something that was not lost on Executive Producer Gene Roddenberry , as he wrote , elated , in a memo to the head of Desilu Business Affairs , Argyle Nelson , on 24 August 1964 , " " I am delighted Anderson and others find the project interesting and fascinating . It will take a lot of corporation and creative thinking to bring this in exciting and on budget . " " ( " The Making of Star Trek " , p . 89 ) Most importantly , the Anderson Company produced the exterior VFX shots of the , involving the two differently scaled studio model s , and which included the starfield backdrops and planet s , for the first , , and second , , pilot episodes of " The Original Series " , as well as for the first regular series ' production episode . They also created various other special effects , such as phaser beams and the transporter effect . However , the extensive effects work required week - by - week on " Star Trek " ( the most effects laden television show up until that time ) , was deemed too much to handle for just the one company , so Associate Producer Robert Justman and Post - production Supervisor Edward K . Milkis hired several other effect houses , such as The Westheimer Company , Van der Veer Photo Effects and the by Linwood G . Dunn headed Film Effects of Hollywood , virtually every other independent special effects house in existence in Hollywood at the time , to work on the series , besides the Andersons . ( " " , p . 262 ) Film Effects of Hollywood took over the exterior starship effects shots for the regular series ' seasons one and two , which was just as well , as far as Anderson ' s staffers were concerned , as the latter ' s studio was more spacious and better suited to handle , in particular , the large eleven - foot " Enterprise " model . The somewhat cramped conditions of Anderson ' s studio caused some problems in shooting the larger model , as Howard Anderson recalled , " " We had to constantly stop shooting after a short while because the lights would heat up the ship . We ' d turn the lights on and get our exposure levels and balance our arc lights to illuminate the main body of the ship and then we ' d turn the ship ' s lights off until they cooled down . Then we ' d turn them on and shoot some shots all in one pass . It wasn ' t until later that someone developed fiber optics and ' cold - lights ' and other useful miniature lighting tools that are common today . " " ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 27 , No . 11 / 12 , p . 67 ) Several photographs have turned up afterwards , among others in the reference book " " , showing Anderson employees , their shirts unbuttoned , suffering under the heat of the lighting . Due to budget cuts , Film Effects of Hollywood was removed from the production roster for the third season , and all new exterior starship shots reverted to Anderson ' s , including those of the new Klingon D7 class model . Yet , no new " Enterprise " footage was shot for that season . For the studio model photography , Anderson employed a subsidiary facility , located on nearby Fairfax Avenue , as their offices on the Desilu lot were too small , though it too , as stated , proved to be on the small side for the large " Enterprise " model . ( " " , p . 261 ) During their involvement with the series , Post - production Supervisor Milkis , served as the primary liaison between the company and the studio , succeeding Desilu ' s Post Production Executive Bill Heath who had done so for the first two pilots . ( " Star Trek Memories " , pp . 238 - 240 ) The Anderson Company ' s work on " Star Trek " was nominated for an Emmy Award twice ( both times together with other companies providing effects for " Star Trek " ) : In 1967 Darrell Anderson was nominated for " Individual Achievements in Cinematography " , together with Dunn and Joseph Westheimer and in 1969 the company was nominated for " Special Classification Achievements " together with the Westheimer Company , Van der Veer Photo Effects and Cinema Research . In the summer of 1977 the company was approached for the VFX for the planned " " television project by its Co - producer Robert Goodwin , and negotiations were in a fairly advanced state , as a progress memo from Goodwin , dated 3 August 1977 , indicated , " Discussions have taken place with Howard Anderson and other optical effects houses in preparation for the new look of Star Trek . All possibilities are being considered , including computer - controlled stop - action model photography " [ note : better known under its later denominator ] " , front screen projection , the use of helicopter mounts , etc . Jon Povill is coordinating research with Anderson Company into new optical techniques that have been developed , so when the times arises we will have all of them at our disposal to use or not use as we see fit . " ( " " , p . 37 ) However , the company was at the start of the subsequent month passed over in favor of Paramount Pictures ' own VFX company , Magicam , who managed to outbid Anderson . ( " " , issue 27 , p . 26 ) Still , as it turned out , the company was yet called in to provide some services the following year after " Phase II " was turned into , as Graphic Designer Lee Cole explained , " Howard Anderson had designed a whole new type of animation that was all done in the camera , and Mike " [ Minor ] " and I had thought up some tricks of our own . So , every night , we sat up all night long at Howard Anderson with a very clever guy , Howard Anderson , Jr . We designed a really quick type of animation that I haven ' t seen done too much . Instead of having the artwork " move " by drawing frame after frame of visuals , we had kind of a targeting film devise where we just moved the camera down frame by frame for a close - up of the art . This would produce a movie of a big oval , or little squares or whatever , coming toward you . There was no drawn animation , it was just the camera moving . We kept very careful notes and superimposed a whole bunch of things through double exposures in the camera . We did double , triple and quadruple passes . We must have made thousands of these overlapping exposures , frame by frame . Then , when all this was done , I ' d have to do special distortions of these films in the lab to enhance them and make them even crazier . We ' d print them in different colors and experiment with printing extra - fast , or extra - slow , stop - frame devices . . . I really got into filmmaking techniques . " ( " " , pp . 127 - 128 ) While having remained uncredited for these animated bridge console graphics , the Howard Anderson Company , now under the auspices of Howard A . Anderson III , son of Howard A . Anderson , Jr . , " did " some credited additional effects work on in , nearly 35 years after the original series . General history . Founded in 1927 , a mere sixteen years after the very first motion picture studio was established in Hollywood and therefore one of the very oldest specialized VFX companies ever , the company has provided opticals for numerous motion picture productions since then , though it was not until 1954 when the company ' s first credits were recorded for the movies " The Golden Mistress " , and " Target Earth " . This was due to the fact that , prior to mid - 1950s , it was not customary to mention effects vendors , among others , in the end - credit roll of a motion picture production . The extent of the company ' s motion picture contributions for the 1920s - 1940s period is therefore hard to ascertain . Some of the later feature films for which the Howard Anderson Company has provided VFX include " X - 15 " ( 1961 , featuring James Gregory and Kenneth Tobey , with art direction by Rolland M . Brooks ) , " The Manchurian Candidate " ( 1962 , also featuring James Gregory as well as Whit Bissell , Reggie Nalder , and Leslie Parrish ) , and " The Caretakers " ( 1963 , featuring Susan Oliver , with art direction by Rolland M . Brooks ) . Later effects credits include " Night of the Lepus " ( 1972 , starring DeForest Kelley and Paul Fix ) , " Superman II " ( 1980 ) , " Predator " ( 1987 , with production design by John Vallone ) , " Predator 2 " ( 1990 ) , " The Shadow " ( 1994 , featuring Larry Hankin and Ethan Phillips , with music by Jerry Goldsmith , art direction by Jack Johnson , costumes by Bob Ringwood ) , " Lara Croft : Tomb Raider " ( 2001 , executive produced by Stuart Baird , with editing by Baird and Dallas Puett ) , and " Collateral " ( 2004 , featuring Bruce McGill ) . The company has also supplied titles and / or opticals for films like " Airplane ! " ( 1980 ) , " Fire with Fire " ( 1986 , featuring Virginia Madsen and Tim Russ , produced by Gary Nardino and edited by Peter E . Berger ) , " The ' burbs " ( 1989 , featuring Henry Gibson , Dick Miller , Robert Picardo , and Wendy Schaal , with music by Jerry Goldsmith ) , " Tombstone " ( 1993 , featuring Paula Malcomson and Terry O ' Quinn ) , " The Mask " ( 1994 , featuring Reg E . Cathey , Christopher Darga , Robert O ' Reilly , and Jeremy Roberts , with cinematography by John Leonetti ) , " Godzilla " ( 1998 , featuring Clyde Kusatsu and Glenn Morshower ) , " Vertical Limit " ( 2000 , featuring Alexander Siddig ) , " Jurassic Park III " ( 2001 , featuring Linda Park and Bruce French ) , " Life as a House " ( 2001 , featuring Scott Bakula and Art Chudabala ) , " Spider - Man " ( 2002 , starring Kirsten Dunst ) , " The Master of Disguise " ( 2002 , starring Brent Spiner ) , " Terminator 3 : Rise of the Machines " ( 2003 ) , " Out of Time " ( 2003 , starring John Billingsley ) , " Finding Neverland " ( 2004 ) , and the " Rush Hour " and " Legally Blonde " films . Redefining the company . While the 2005 movie " Shopgirl " is the company ' s last recorded motion picture credit , the old and venerable company is as of 2014 still in existence , though it has redefined its company mission in 2010 . Renamed Anderson Digital Studios , the company , now located on 100 Universal City Plaza , Universal City , CA , has entirely pulled away from producing VFX and opticals for actual use in motion picture productions , due to the severely increased competition from ( digital ) VFX companies overseas , most notably those located on the Indian subcontinent and in the Far East . Instead , the company currently provides several services in the fringes of the motion picture industry , such as providing inserts , location shots , commercials , videos , and 2nd unit , last minute shots . To this end the company employs their own editing bay and camera team . Current CEO Karyn Anderson , granddaughter of Howard , Jr . , has given an example of what their services entail , " " What we do – Stars hate interviews because they are so scared it will be edited badly making them look BAD . What we do is take control we do interview in our studio and WE edit it . They don ' t have a chance to make you look BAD ! ! FORGET THAT ! ! Like as a star you don ' t have enough to worry about . WE take control of the situation . If the interviewer doesn ' t want to do it your way THEN DON ' T DO IT ! ! ! " " By concentrating on a niche - market , Karyn Anderson has , at least for the time being , insured the continuing existence of the company . The very first company that has ever worked on a regular basis as VFX vendor on any of the " Star Trek " prime universe live - action productions , it is currently also one of the very few such companies still in existence today . As of 2014 , out of approximately four dozen VFX companies to have worked on " Star Trek " during its 1964 - 2005 prime universe production run , Industrial Light & Magic , Eden FX , Digital Domain , Image G and WonderWorks Inc . were the only other companies known to be still in existence in one format or another , by the time the franchise restarted its live - action run in 2009 with the alternate reality . Eden FX and Digital Domain however , have also become defunct since then . Staff . Staffers involved at the time of the production of " Star Trek " were among others ,