About the New KITT Design
Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 6:44 am
(See the various photos of the new KITT for reference, too many to repost here)
I want to make it very clear that I am not against them using a Ford Mustang as the choice of the new KITT for the NBCU backdoor pilot.
I think Mustangs have a sleek look to them that fits in some ways with the style of the Trans Am, especially the older models.
Honestly they could use any car they wanted but the devil will always, ALWAYS be in the details.
My problem is that there is nothing about these cars that makes them unique from other cars out there. Nothing here says that this car is ahead of it's time although granted the shifting abilities will better display the advanced abilities through the use of CG effects.
Yes you have a few additional options added, which you could get done at any customizer shop. What here looks like effort was taken into designing it?
Where is the heart? Where is the spirit? Why did they just settle for the quick and easy route? The beauty of Michael Scheffe's work on the original KITT is yes, the car was for the most part a stock 82 Trans Am but the way he modified the nose cone to fit the curves of the body with the scanner and just create this visual flow avoiding the use of straight lines...
It's just a work of art. Art of that calibur that's a great deal of thought and consideration. Scheffe made KITT look like nothing else out there and kept a less is more approach that worked.
Sleek and black, he made the Trans Am look like it could go 200 MPH just standing still. Just the little details he took to make it stealthy without being overly angular or bulky.
Then there's the interior...I mean honestly there is no other show out there that had a dash with the high tech brilliance Scheffe invisioned.
He used to work for Mattel, he knew how to make a dash that would make even the kid in us would want to play with. He paid attention to bright attractive lights that capture your attention and made sure everything in the dash looked futuristic. He didn't need HUD and holographic technologies to sell the idea of futuristic invention.
You could argue that HUD and holographic technology wasn't availible at the time but really the key word here is tangible. Even with a lower tech vector graphics screen we still bought into the idea KITT could do what he was designed to do and at that time, was able to do things that were far ahead of what cars were meant to do that that time.
You believed that when you pushed those buttons, something would happen and when the car accelerated, the digital readout was accuratly displaying how fast the car moved. When you open the door to your replica KITT's you believe that the dash inside really controls the car, not just the gull wing steering wheel but that every button in there can do some sort of function be it fictional or realistic.
He did it with sleek artistically scuplted curves, sexy elegance that made the exterior of the car flow with the interior. Press buttons, LED lights, bright white labeled text and lines...all things that could not only be believable but tangible...everything in KITT has a physical and visual interaction with the driver.
Michael still pressed the buttons to turbo boost or activate his functions. He still pressed buttons to send messages and engage features. Everything about the original design work put into the original Trans Am is just a beautiful work of art that DID NOT feel stock or slapped together.
Michael looked to KITT's voice box as if it was KITT's face, especially in times of great danger. The magic of design meeting personality and creative storytelling (for the most part) and yes David's uncanny ability to make it feel as if him and KITT were actually talking back and forth to one another.
From the futuristic, symphonic theme music, to the car, to the relationship of the characters, Glen put so much effort into making sure as executive producer and creator of Knight Rider he was giving the world something it had never seen before.
Glen had pride in what he was doing and he gave his all to make this impossible probability into a probable one and he's in the process of trying to focus that creative energy into the feature film.
You believed just by looking at the car and the time put into it's design that this car was unique and together Michael and KITT could make a difference.
Not just a talking car but a whole new level of unique artistic flair that could not easily be recaptured or duplicated. Even a little detail like the front end scanner light and voice box made you believe KITT was a living entity that could see, hear, touch, smell.
A soul of sleek metal and transistors, circuit boards, and leds but a living character who was given just as much attention as Michael Knight himself.
Michael even dressed the same as KITT, both had a sleek outer appearance (Michael with his black leather coat, KITT with his MBS) and both were more then they appeared on the outside.
In the pilot there is a reason why Michael wears a red shirt. He's mimicing through dress the same black/red motif that mirrors KITT.
They both strived to do what was right and help those in need. Michael and KITT were made for one another not just in appearence but by their very design influences.
These are the details that make KITT work. I just don't feel that any real time was taken to address that if this show is a continuation of the original series while the Knight Industries 3000 just doesn't have any trace of the unique design so brilliantly captured long ago.
How can they just toss all of this away? Turbo boost, ski mode, push buttons, even the signature KITT voice box isn't here. Maybe it appears in a HUD but is that really tangible? Does that really give you a sense this car has a life of it's own?
Remote control that's a gimmick to be quite honest, the same effects were used in the original by keeping Jack Gill concealed from view. That's not something that makes this KITT "better" it just makes the effects easier.
Call me old fashioned but as an artist and a fan of art, I will always stand by the work Michael Scheffe did and I will go out of my way to make sure in the feature film, our KITT does not dismiss the roots of it's original design elements.
I would gladly risk a few people calling push buttons in a new KITT with LED screens "cheesy" and "old fashioned" then completely destroy what made Knight Rider unique from a design standpoint to every other show out there.
We can't get Scheffe back but we can make it a mission to honor him by taking what he has done and push it to the next level, keeping not just the spirit of the Trans Am alive externally but Scheffe's influences on the internal/external details as well.
If you try to dismiss the interior as something you can add on to in CG, CG is just not tangible, even externally you lose the believability factor.
Take a long hard look at what is being done before you rush to accept what's been given to you or buying into the marketing hype that's been designed to influence your acceptance to something you know just isn't what the spirit of Knight Rider is all about.
We hear you and we are listening.
=VK=
I want to make it very clear that I am not against them using a Ford Mustang as the choice of the new KITT for the NBCU backdoor pilot.
I think Mustangs have a sleek look to them that fits in some ways with the style of the Trans Am, especially the older models.
Honestly they could use any car they wanted but the devil will always, ALWAYS be in the details.
My problem is that there is nothing about these cars that makes them unique from other cars out there. Nothing here says that this car is ahead of it's time although granted the shifting abilities will better display the advanced abilities through the use of CG effects.
Yes you have a few additional options added, which you could get done at any customizer shop. What here looks like effort was taken into designing it?
Where is the heart? Where is the spirit? Why did they just settle for the quick and easy route? The beauty of Michael Scheffe's work on the original KITT is yes, the car was for the most part a stock 82 Trans Am but the way he modified the nose cone to fit the curves of the body with the scanner and just create this visual flow avoiding the use of straight lines...
It's just a work of art. Art of that calibur that's a great deal of thought and consideration. Scheffe made KITT look like nothing else out there and kept a less is more approach that worked.
Sleek and black, he made the Trans Am look like it could go 200 MPH just standing still. Just the little details he took to make it stealthy without being overly angular or bulky.
Then there's the interior...I mean honestly there is no other show out there that had a dash with the high tech brilliance Scheffe invisioned.
He used to work for Mattel, he knew how to make a dash that would make even the kid in us would want to play with. He paid attention to bright attractive lights that capture your attention and made sure everything in the dash looked futuristic. He didn't need HUD and holographic technologies to sell the idea of futuristic invention.
You could argue that HUD and holographic technology wasn't availible at the time but really the key word here is tangible. Even with a lower tech vector graphics screen we still bought into the idea KITT could do what he was designed to do and at that time, was able to do things that were far ahead of what cars were meant to do that that time.
You believed that when you pushed those buttons, something would happen and when the car accelerated, the digital readout was accuratly displaying how fast the car moved. When you open the door to your replica KITT's you believe that the dash inside really controls the car, not just the gull wing steering wheel but that every button in there can do some sort of function be it fictional or realistic.
He did it with sleek artistically scuplted curves, sexy elegance that made the exterior of the car flow with the interior. Press buttons, LED lights, bright white labeled text and lines...all things that could not only be believable but tangible...everything in KITT has a physical and visual interaction with the driver.
Michael still pressed the buttons to turbo boost or activate his functions. He still pressed buttons to send messages and engage features. Everything about the original design work put into the original Trans Am is just a beautiful work of art that DID NOT feel stock or slapped together.
Michael looked to KITT's voice box as if it was KITT's face, especially in times of great danger. The magic of design meeting personality and creative storytelling (for the most part) and yes David's uncanny ability to make it feel as if him and KITT were actually talking back and forth to one another.
From the futuristic, symphonic theme music, to the car, to the relationship of the characters, Glen put so much effort into making sure as executive producer and creator of Knight Rider he was giving the world something it had never seen before.
Glen had pride in what he was doing and he gave his all to make this impossible probability into a probable one and he's in the process of trying to focus that creative energy into the feature film.
You believed just by looking at the car and the time put into it's design that this car was unique and together Michael and KITT could make a difference.
Not just a talking car but a whole new level of unique artistic flair that could not easily be recaptured or duplicated. Even a little detail like the front end scanner light and voice box made you believe KITT was a living entity that could see, hear, touch, smell.
A soul of sleek metal and transistors, circuit boards, and leds but a living character who was given just as much attention as Michael Knight himself.
Michael even dressed the same as KITT, both had a sleek outer appearance (Michael with his black leather coat, KITT with his MBS) and both were more then they appeared on the outside.
In the pilot there is a reason why Michael wears a red shirt. He's mimicing through dress the same black/red motif that mirrors KITT.
They both strived to do what was right and help those in need. Michael and KITT were made for one another not just in appearence but by their very design influences.
These are the details that make KITT work. I just don't feel that any real time was taken to address that if this show is a continuation of the original series while the Knight Industries 3000 just doesn't have any trace of the unique design so brilliantly captured long ago.
How can they just toss all of this away? Turbo boost, ski mode, push buttons, even the signature KITT voice box isn't here. Maybe it appears in a HUD but is that really tangible? Does that really give you a sense this car has a life of it's own?
Remote control that's a gimmick to be quite honest, the same effects were used in the original by keeping Jack Gill concealed from view. That's not something that makes this KITT "better" it just makes the effects easier.
Call me old fashioned but as an artist and a fan of art, I will always stand by the work Michael Scheffe did and I will go out of my way to make sure in the feature film, our KITT does not dismiss the roots of it's original design elements.
I would gladly risk a few people calling push buttons in a new KITT with LED screens "cheesy" and "old fashioned" then completely destroy what made Knight Rider unique from a design standpoint to every other show out there.
We can't get Scheffe back but we can make it a mission to honor him by taking what he has done and push it to the next level, keeping not just the spirit of the Trans Am alive externally but Scheffe's influences on the internal/external details as well.
If you try to dismiss the interior as something you can add on to in CG, CG is just not tangible, even externally you lose the believability factor.
Take a long hard look at what is being done before you rush to accept what's been given to you or buying into the marketing hype that's been designed to influence your acceptance to something you know just isn't what the spirit of Knight Rider is all about.
We hear you and we are listening.
=VK=