Star Trek (film)/Background information/Post-production

Industrial Light & Magic provided the special visual effects for the film. This was the company's seventh film project for the Star Trek franchise, the last being 1996's . Santa Barbara Studios did the VFX for and Digital Domain provided the effects for . Visual Effects Supervisor Roger Guyett anticipated that Star Trek would use about 1,000 visual effects shots, though the number had increased to over 1,300 by August. 
The first cut of the film was completed in July 2008. This cut was screened for studio executives at Paramount Pictures sometime in the last week of July and received a very positive response. 
Post-production on Star Trek was completed on . The film spent just under nine months in the post-production process, the second longest in the franchise behind . The final step in the process was sound editing, provided by Academy Award-winning sound designer Ben Burtt (best known for his work on the Star Wars films) and supervising sound editor Mark Stoeckinger. 
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:See also: Star Trek (soundtrack)
The film's score was written by Academy Award-winning composer Michael Giacchino. He created a new version of the original theme by Alexander Courage in the score, along with new themes he created for the film. The original theme made a comeback for the ending credits. Giacchino admitted personal pressure in scoring the film, stating "I grew up listening to all of that great [Trek] music, and that's part of what inspired me to do what I'm doing… You just go in scared. You just hope you do your best. It's one of those things where the film will tell me what to do." 
Finding a new musical direction for Star Trek proved challenging. "I wrote maybe 20 or so versions of the main theme and all of them sounded like Star Trek music – like big space opera music. And every time JJ and I would sit and listen to it JJ would say 'it just doesn't sound like our movie." Lindelof suggested Giacchino concentrate more on Kirk and Spock's friendship, and the main theme, specifically the Kirk/Enterprise theme came out of that. Spock's theme developed out of a variation of the main theme that the producers liked. 
The score was recorded at the Sony Pictures Scoring Stage in Culver City, California. The scoring session was comprised of a 107-piece orchestra and forty-person choir. Giacchino composed new themes for the film, some of which were stylistically created as subtle homages to past Star Trek composers, Jerry Goldsmith and James Horner. An erhu was used to create Spock's theme; the same instrument was used for the Romulans, except in their case, the sound was processed and distorted. Several members of the music department wore clothing resembling Starfleet uniforms during the scoring session. The score was released by Varèse Sarabande Records on .
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