Marvin V. Rush

## External Links

Wikipedia

**Marvin V. Rush** is a cinematographer and director of photography on *The Orville*.

## Background

Rush started his career as a camera operator in the early 1980s before landing a job on *Star Trek: The Next Generation* as its director of photography for Season 3. Rush quickly established himself as one of the most enduring directors of photography in the franchise, later working on *Deep Space Nine*, *Voyager*, *Enterprise* and the video game *Borg*. He directed six episodes in the long-running series as well. Rush won two Emmy awards for his work as cinematographer.

## The Orville

Creator Seth MacFarlane recruited Marvin V. Rush early into development of the show. After MacFarlane hired Brannon Braga and David A. Goodman as executive producers and assembled a writing staff, MacFarlane hired Rush alongside other heads of departments. Rush later said that MacFarlane hired him explicitly to recreate the feeling of The Next Generation.

Director Jonathan Frakes hailed MacFarlane's decision to hire him:

> *Seth wisely went after him because it is one thing to have Brannon and another to have Robbie [Duncan MacNeill], Jim Conway and myself [as directors], but in terms of the look of the show, the idea of hiring Marvin has paid off. In Orville the cutting style and shooting style are much more like Next Gen and Voyager, that sort of ’90s television era which didn’t have wildly moving camera moves. ...*
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> *And Seth ... in his incredible renaissance mind of his he has a picture and a sound of how everything he has written should look, and the rhythm. So, with the framing, if I try to do something different than what he has envisioned, he’ll whisper “that’s not what I am looking for.” So, Marvin and I shoot the show the way Seth envisions the show.*
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Rush was part of the group that designed and built a small physical model of the Orville for most of their shots. Working with the visual effects producer Natasha Francis, visual effects supervisor Luke McDonald, and Rob Legato, the group created a motion-control miniature photography lab capable of shooting a model of the USS *Orville*. The process was largely ignored since the 1990s, but revived by McDonald to film scenes of the Orville flying through space. Jon Favreau, director of the series premiere *Old Wounds*, preferred non-computer graphics effects and loved the idea of an "old school" shoot.

All lights of the ship were installed by Rush, who designed them to be controlled remotely to emit any color light in any pattern. Lighting was specifically tailored for the quarters of each character to reflect their personalities.

## Trivia

* Other Star Trek alumni working on The Orville, like James L. Conway and Jonathan Frakes, frequently say they were delighted to discover Marvin Rush working on the set, making Rush one of the most praised crewmembers after Seth MacFarlane.
* Frakes often joined Rush at the crafts services table to reminisce about their days on *Star Trek: The Next Generation*. He describes Rush as a "very sweet and emotional man."

## References

1. ↑ Bond, Jeff. *The World of the Orville*. Titan Books. 2018. Pg. 11.
2. ↑ Pascale, Anthony. "6 Takeaways From A Set Visit To ‘The Orville’". *TrekMovie.com*. Aug. 31, 2017.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Pascale, Anthony. "Interview: Jonathan Frakes On Casting Marina Sirtis And What ‘The Orville’ And ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Share". *TrekMovie*. April 10, 2019.
4. ↑ Martin, Kevin H. "VFX for a Better, Brighter Future in Fox’s The Orville". *Studio Daily*. Feb. 9, 2018.
5. ↑ "The Orville Fan Podcast w/ Jason Roberts (The Orville Unit Production Manager)". Planetary Union Network. April 19, 2018.
6. ↑ "Supplemental 10: Interview with James L. Conway". *Spocklight*. June 3, 2018.
7. ↑ "The Orville Fan Podcast w/ Jonathan Frakes (05)". Planetary Union Network. Oct. 8, 2017.