Blockbuster Research - Star Trek into Darkness

Star Trek Into Darkness Research:

Synopsis: After the crew of the Enterprise find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one man weapon of mass destruction. 

Pre- Production: 

• This film is a remake/sequel, there was already a incredibly famous TV series of the same name and this film is also the sequel to the 2009 release from JJ Abrams, who directed this one as well.
• JJ Abrams is the director of this film and also one of the main producers of the film. He is known for being involved in many sci-fi projects such as Super 8 and currently in Pre-Production he is directing the new Star Wars film.
• The production companies involved in making the film was JJ Abrams own Bad Robot and also Paramount Pictures and Skydance Productions were involved as well.
• The estimated budget for this film is $190 million, which is a lot however the special effects in this film were spectacular and you can really see what they spent their money on.
• The main stars that signed up to the project were mainly ones that had been in the previous film such as Chris Pine, Simon Pegg and Zoe Saldana. However there were a few other editions to the cast this time as Benedict Cumberbatch and Alice Eve joined the cast.
• Around 2011 and 2012 did the film get a green light for filming to commence. Paramount Pictures was interested in developing the film right after the first one was made however it took longer than expected to get everybody on board, the five original producers agreed to get the film rolling ( J. J. Abrams, Bryan Burk, Damon Lindelof, Alex Kurtzman, and Roberto Orci) however in January 2011, JJ Abrams still didn't know whether he would direct as he had not seen a script yet. However Principal Photography began on January 12 2012 with Abrams behind the directing wheel

Production:

• Filming was predominantly done in California and in Iceland in the following studios: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory - 7000 East Avenue, Livermore, California, USA, Crystal Cathedral - 12141 Lewis Street, Garden Grove, California, USA, Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA, The Getty Center, Los Angeles, California, USA, and Sony Pictures Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA.
• Around 30 minutes of the film were filmed with IMAX cameras and the film was released in 3D. Edgar Wright (director of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and The World's End) actually directed one shot in the film and the film completed Principal Photography in May 2012.
• There were a lot of delays in the actual start up of the film as the script took a long time to write. Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, the writers of the film, tried to write a preliminary script completed by December 2009 for a 2011 release however the script was more delayed and it was finally finished in March 2011. Also some of the actors crucial to the film had other scheduling arrangements, such as Chris Pine who was scheduled to film 'Jack Ryan' however he decided to film Star Trek first.    

Post-Production: 

• The film does rely on special effects as the majority of the film is set in space, so to create the space environment the Digital Effects team would have to work really hard to make sure this foreign environment would look realistic enough for the audience to believe they are watching something real.
• This film actually had 1,400 CGI effects whereas compared to the previous Star Trek film which had just 1,000 effects. The film was predominantly filmed in IMAX (around 30 - 40 minutes of footage) and this made it harder for the visual effects to be completed because the shots were on such a larger scale so they took longer to create and render. On the website 'ScreenRant.com' they say about Star Trek Into Darkness.

 "For scenes that take place outdoors in the film, they tried to use natural light as much as possible; if there was a way to create an alien landscape outdoors, that was the first choice instead of using a soundstage. When it came to the look of “future Earth,” they tried to make it look more like a natural evolution of a city’s growth as opposed to some completely outrageous take. This was specifically in reference to a shot of London, which still had some recognizable structures."

• The 3D in the film was added after filming because some of it was filmed using IMAX cameras and I'm sure the added cost of using 3D cameras as well would have been to expensive and extra time consuming. It was converted into 3D afterwards.

Marketing:

The film was marketed in many different ways as it was such a high profile film, it needed to be in the limelight as they spent $190 million on it the producers would want there to be some sort of profit. Here are some examples of the marketing methods used:

• JJ Abrams previewed three frames of the film on the Conan O'Brian Show in America on October 4th 2012.
• Two months later the first official poster depicting Benedict Cumberbatch's then unknown Khan character was released, this would have been to spark a early interest in the film.
• Also nine minutes of the film was played before showings of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, which would have sparked crucial interest in fans of the fantasy/sci-fi genre.
• A 30 second teaser of the film was played at the Superbowl on February 3 2013 during the stadium's blackout.
• The same day, Paramount released apps for Android, iPhone and Windows Phone which enabled users to unlock tickets for showtimes two days before the film's release date.
• The film premiered in a lot of places all over the world however the main ones included Tokyo, London and Hollywood.