A new behind-the-scenes featurette offers a look at the “real-life holodeck,” which is how the Star Trek: Discovery cast and crew refer to the AR wall installed at the show’s Toronto studio when production began on the series’ fourth season. The AR wall, built by effects house Pixomondo, is a massive 30-foot-by-70-foot LED screen wrapped around a studio set. VFX artists can project landscapes and objects onto the screen and have them react to camera focus. The Mandalorian made the technology famous as an upgrade to green screen, the industry standard for large VFX shots. As some of Star Trek: Discovery’s actors explain in the video, actors seeing the environment while filming can make a world of difference in the performance. The absence of any green spill makes for a more straightforward post-production process and fewer on-location shots, both of which were boons during the pandemic when Discovery began filming its fourth season.
