Star Trek (film)/Background information/Production

Principal photography began and wrapped 141 shoot days later on . Second unit and VFX plate shots continued until , under the direction of Visual Effects Supervisor Roger Guyett. Since it was the principal photography that had been reportedly scheduled to wrap in April, writer and executive producer Roberto Orci stated:
:"Well we always add a few weeks for the studio, just in case. This is a lesson we learned from Scotty… this way we can appear like miracle workers." 
Shooting was once set to start summer 2007 before the filmmakers made clear it could actually begin in April. Shooting would have started on 5 November but was postponed two days. 
This was the first film in the Star Trek franchise which Paramount Pictures made in collaboration with a production partner, let alone two (Bad Robot Productions and Spyglass Entertainment). This was also the first Star Trek project which writer/director Rick Berman has not been involved with in over twenty years, and the first Trek film since made without his involvement. In addition, this was the first film since Star Trek Generations that the soundtrack was not composed by Jerry Goldsmith, who passed away in .
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|-| Crew notes=Many of the crew members whom Abrams selected to work on this film are those he had worked with in the past, most notably writers/executive producers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, producer Damon Lindelof, executive producer Bryan Burk, composer Michael Giacchino, cinematographer Dan Mindel, production designer Scott Chambliss, editors Maryann Brandon and Mary Jo Markey, and casting directors April Webster and Alyssa Weisberg.
Stratton Leopold, a collaborator of Abrams' on Mission: Impossible III, was initially unit production manager and an executive producer for the film. Before filming began, however, Leopold left the production and was replaced as executive producer by Jeffrey Chernov and as unit production manager by David Witz. 
Originally, Vic Armstrong was to coordinate the stunts for Star Trek. He was looking forward to working with Abrams again, having served as stunt coordinator on Mission: Impossible III (2006), but Joey Box was ultimately given the job. (source: Vic Armstrong)
The first three months of shooting on Star Trek took place during the . None of the filmmakers could make any changes to the film's script during the strike period, meaning the common practice of revising the script during production was not possible. Although Abrams complained about not being able to add new dialogue, the strike for the most part did not affect the film's production. Since it was one of the studio's "high priority" films, Paramount strove to help it despite the writing stoppage. Writers Kurtzman and Orci were able to stay on set without strikebreaking as they were also executive producers on the film. While they could not change any lines themselves, they could "make funny eyes and faces at the actors whenever they had a problem with the line and sort of nod when they had something better." 
|-| Secrecy and security=Security on the set was very tight in order to keep aspects of the production a secret from the general public. Cast and crew members on location were not allowed to leave the set for cigarette breaks, and actors could not walk in public in their costume – they were driven to and from set in golf carts, hidden behind black canvas. Some actors, including Jennifer Morrison and Sonita Henry, were only given the part of the script containing their scenes, which they had to return at the end of the day. The script was also protected with members of the main cast, including Simon Pegg, who had to read the script with a security guard nearby. 
During its production process, the film was codenamed "Corporate Headquarters". This was the official fake title chosen by Bad Robot, although various other fake titles were also used throughout the production. Each of the Key Assistant Location Managers was allowed to choose an additional fake title for paperwork, permits, and signage in an effort to thwart paparazzi and to protect the secrecy of the movie: Kathy McCurdy named the movie "Untitled Walter Lace Project" after her grandfather; Rob Swenson used "Christa & Christan's Big Adventure" after his twin step-daughters; Scott Trimble used "The Ernest Castelhun Chronicles" after his great-granduncle who drowned in beer at the Anheuser-Busch factory in 1937; and Steve Woroniecki named it "Untitled Blake Allen Project" after his son.
TOS stars Nichelle Nichols and Walter Koenig, TNG star Jonathan Frakes, and veteran Trek writer and producer Ronald D. Moore were among the few who were permitted to visit the Star Trek set. Other celebrities who visited the set include , , , , and . Ford dropped by the set during the last week of shooting; Spielberg was on set during filming on the Enterprise and assisted Abrams with the action of one of the scenes. (Abrams states that Koenig came when filming the space dive – since Pine and Cho had actually been standing on a mirror on top of a building, Koenig thought the film would be a flop.)
The wrap party was held on 18 April 2008 at Hangar 8 at the Santa Monica Airport between 7:00 pm and midnight. The invitation featured the note, "Please note that due to heightened security, you must R.S.V.P. in order to have your name placed on the guest list. Your photo I.D. will be required at the entrance." (Source: Jon Donahue via Facebook)
|-| Sets and locations=The production used a total of eleven sound stages. Most filming took place on the studio lot, specifically on stages 8, 9, 11, 14, 15, and 18. These are stages where Star Trek has filmed in the past. Plans also reportedly included use of a Universal Studios stage for "planetary" shots needing more room, but that location was never used.
A source told TrekMovie.com that more ship interiors were created for this film than any other Trek film. There was also a minimal amount of redressing used. 
Abrams has stated that his goal with this film is to make Star Trek "real." As such, he used live sets and location shooting rather than green- and blue-screen sets wherever possible. The first days of shooting occurred on location in a Long Beach building. California's Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park was used for a birthing scene involving a number of Vulcans. Vasquez Rocks has appeared in past Trek shoots, including the original series episode . ) 
Approximately four weeks out of the twenty weeks of shooting took place on the bridge of the USS Enterprise. The last day of shooting on the set of the Enterprise bridge was . Scenes filmed included the intended final scene of the movie. During filming on that day, TrekMovie.com hosted a live chat in which J.J. Abrams, other crewmembers, and some of the cast answered fan-submitted questions from the bridge set. A transcript of this chat included a brief glimpse of the set – the first such on-set image – showing Abrams using his laptop at one of the stations. 
In addition to the bridge, other areas aboard the Enterprise seen in the movie are sickbay, crew quarters, corridors, engineering, and the transporter room. All of these sets were built at Paramount Studios, with the exception of engineering, which was done on a redressed industrial location. That location was later revealed to be the Budweiser beer plant in Van Nuys, California. (Production notes at )
The bridge of the USS Kelvin reflects an earlier design than the Enterprise and is described as "a lot busier." This bridge set was redressed for use as the mock-up starship bridge in a scene depicting the . Other areas we see on the Kelvin include sickbay, engineering, and some corridors. The Romulan ship, the Narada, utilizes an interior design that is different from previously seen Romulan ships and is described as "surreal." Scenes were also filmed on sets built to represent a medical shuttle and a transport shuttle. 
Some scenes were shot in a large Orange County hangar. Production later returned to Long Beach for scenes at its city hall. Filming there wrapped on , with several city staffers invited to the shoot, all of whom signed nondisclosure pacts. 
During the week of , parts of the film were shot at California State University, Northridge (CSUN), with the university's Oviatt Library standing in as the lower levels of Starfleet Academy. Although blue screens were placed on the sides of the lawn, light fixtures were modified, and banners sporting the Starfleet emblem were hung on streetlights, little else was modified for the film. Although it never appeared in the film, the lobby of the library was dressed with NASA and other space-related images and the main doors were emblazoned with the Starfleet emblem. There was also a "futuristic kiosk" placed in the lawn. Photos of the filming at CSUN feature dozens of extras dressed in red cadet uniforms (as well as some in more militaristic gray uniforms) as well as a futuristic-looking, functional vehicle called the Aptera. 
Also in March of 2008, filming took place at the Pastoria Energy Facility to the east of Interstate 5 at the bottom of "the grapevine," a stretch of Interstate 5 that drops out of the mountains north of Lebec, California, and south of Bakersfield. This location served as the Riverside Shipyards where the starship Enterprise was being constructed. This is where James T. Kirk rode his motorcycle into the shipyards, gave his bike to a shipyard worker, and boarded the shuttle headed to Starfleet Academy.
Four of the filmmakers, including production designer Scott Chambliss, first assistant director Tommy Gormley, then executive producer Stratton Leopold, and eventual second unit director Roger Guyett, scouted locations in Iceland during early Summer 2007. Despite some reports, J.J. Abrams never actually visited Iceland himself. Companies such as Pegasus-Panarctica Pictures (run by Snorri Þórisson), Sagafilm (Kjartan Thor Thordarson), Labrador (Pétur Hafsteinn Bjarnason), and Truenorth Productions (Leifur B. Dagfinnsson) vied for the opportunity to provide local production services. This would have been the first time a Star Trek movie was filmed outside of the United States. The plan was that two weeks of filming would take place there during Spring 2008, but, as it turned out, no filming whatsoever was ever done in Iceland. A location scout was also sent to British Columbia, Canada, but, in the end, the movie was filmed entirely in the United States. 
Many of the scenes featuring interior locations on Vulcan were filmed at the SkyRose Chapel in Whittier, California. These included the conversation between young Spock and Sarek, as well as Spock's confrontation with the Vulcan committee. 
In early April, some second unit work took place on location in Bakersfield, California, which stood in for Iowa (the birthplace of James T. Kirk). While shooting in Bakersfield – near Highway 119 – on , an automobile accident occurred in front of the set in which a car being driven by the location's site manager (a local official in charge of the site) crashed head-on into a truck. A passenger in the car and the driver of the truck were injured but survived, and the crash did not disrupt filming. 
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