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Visual Effects: On-Set Exclusive

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 10:02:00 -0500

A few weeks back when we visited the set of Knight Rider, one of the things we wanted to be sure to do was to meet the people worked on the special effects for each episode. We feel strongly that they have a huge responsibility for that final product you see on the screen - cause without them, KITT would just be another car. Fortunately for us we were given the chance to meet the folks behind the 3D and 2D effects that make up this show.

On two seperate occasions, they have shown us some alternates from the KITT to Attack KITT transformations, but this was our first time to see some of these other effects before anyone else. There are over 400 effects in the premier episode alone.

In a generic office complex across from the sounds stage that houses the KITTCave, you will find the offices for the special effects team. Elan Dassani and Rajeev Dassani, identical twins, run the group in charge of the effects for Knight Rider. Together, back in February, the two worked on the back door pilot episode and built KITTs panel inteface for that movie. Since then they have started to branch their team out as more of the effects (practically all) are done in house. Soon after the series was given a green light, they hired Stephan Fleet who became the 2D lead. They have continuted to grow, and outgrow their current space where now 1-2 dozen employees are working dillegently.

Knight Rider Visual Effects from knight rider online on Vimeo.

In talking about the transformations themselves we asked about the differences with going to series. Stephan told us that "In the backdoor pilot it was much more of a nanobot thing, and now we're going for it's a machine." Rajeev contined "More mechnical, but still kinda sexy." But don't worry the nano effects isn't gone completely. "There is still nano everything. There is something in the third episode where he is hit by bullets we kind of see the skin break apart and reform in a gelatinous way. There is an element of that but we found the mechanical cooler and people seem to respond to it more."

While we are shown that the original KITTs voice modulator has inspired the final design of the Knight 3000 modulator, we asked about the transformations and the visual key of KITTs scanner. "That's a general rule that anything that KITT turns into will always have, the lights we are treating as if it's kind of like eye."

While in the original series alot of the effects, specifically for Turbo Boost, were practical but it's a mix of the real and CG that make Turbo Boost come alive now. "The actual landing is a live shot. We actually drove KITT of a ramp essentially. This is also what we try to do, we mix real with digital and that way it will hopefully look seamless." The mysteries of the Turbo Boost were never really considered 26 years ago, but they are trying hard to bring logic to the jumps. "Given that the show is filled with alot of crazy effects we try as hard as we can to apply logic to situations. OK it says he jumps from a parked position, but lets figure out how that is actually viable."

For the crown jewel of the interior dash, the team had to work specially hard to make the heads up display (or HUD) to be convincing and envelope pushing. "At first we were going to have it on the window but when you think of a car there is the slope of the window and everything would just look dented, so we kind of have it on this imaginary plane behind the rear view mirror and coming down. Stuff can even come out in space, and it's very interactive." It goes without saying that they are always working very hard to continue to push the design forward. "Gary words were that KITT can think a million times faster than any human, so twenty things could be happening at a time from a creative perspective"

All of this is done under the eye of Gary Scott Thompson, the showrunner and executive producer. "Gary actually goes through every shot and tells us the speed that kitt should be going - if the dial is in the shot we make it the correct speed." Everyone is really appreciative of this support. "We've been given carblanch by Gary - his response is always make it cooler, make it cool. We'll do something and he will give us notes. He wants us to push the envelope and concept something out that might be more interesting."

The team understands the importance of there work. "We're not old guys, we're practically kids. They definately are putting a lot of faith in us, and we are definately throwing down to deliver." And it's the scripts that help drive them to push even further. "We will get an episode and litterally our eyes will pop out 'he does what now?'"

Our huge thanks to NBCUniversal Pubicity, Gary Scott Thomspon, Elan Dassani, Rajeev Dassani, Stephan Fleet and everyone working on their teams for allowing us to have this behind the scenes look!

KITT Bytes of the Week

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 16:39:04 -0500

NBC's media site is reporting that the last two Knight Rider episodes "A Knight in Shining Armor" and "Journey to the End of Knight" will be airing on NBC back to back starting at 8. However, TV Guide reports that only "Journey to the End of Knight" will air at 8pm followed by a repeat of Chuck. Viewer be advised.
Justin Bruening, Deanna Russo and Sydney Tamiia Poitier speak with People about their roles and who's the biggest Hoff fan.
Discover magazine speaks about the science behind 3D printing: "OK, so I'm impressed a little bit, too. I mean, a 3-D printer in the car may seem a tad gratuitous, but it could be handy when you run out of quarters for the meter. But this is technology we have here and now"
MarionStar speaks with the people at RobotWorx about Katie and Lisa, the cool robots in the KITTCave: "A lot of what you're going to see in any type of television show or feature film is going to kind of delve into the realm of science fiction," Hall said, but added, "The scanning is not too far from the truth. There are robots in the automotive industry that do scan auto parts. Some of it is not really as far removed from reality as we think."
NBC's blog for the character of Billy saw an update, where he talks about trust and his bucket list: "You can't trust anyone these days. I mean, if you can't trust a guy dishonorably discharged from the military, who spent time in prison, and now runs a bar that caters to an underground racing circuit that's actually a front for black market weapons merchants -- who can you trust?"
Due to the success of the two hour movie airing in Australia, Channel 7 beings this weekend airing the series. The first episode airs Saturday at 9pm. [herald sun]
We've posted the description for Knight of the Hunter as well as the title for the Halloween episode Knight of the Living Dead
io9 wrote an article on how Knight Rider Teaches You How To Be A Man
film.com talks about theme parties watching tv - for Knight Rider it's "Hot Wheels; traffic cones; a GPS (which is as close as we will get to our own KITT); and for nostalgia purposes, you must have this David Hasselhoff poster."
This week marked the 24th anniversary of the third season premier "Knight of the Drones" This was also the return of Patricia McPherson, who was forced out of her roll as Bonnie the year before. Knight Watch has a special on it. [Knight Rider Archive]

Journey To The End Of Knight: Ratings

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 23:25:37 -0500

We hinted earlier in the day about the ratings for last nights episode - and now we're able to bring you a complete summary.

Once again, Knight Rider won all male demographics (men 18-34, men 18-49 and men 25-54) and was #2 in the adult 18-49 demographic. It beat the premier of Pushing Daises on ABC and increased total viewers by 6% (from 7.8 million vs. 7.3 million). Additionally, they increased it's 18-49 rating by 13% from the first half hour to the second.

Time	Net	Show	Viewers (Millons)	18-49 Rating/Share	18-34 Rating/Share
8:00	FOX	Bones	9.82	3.2/9	2.4/6
	NBC	Knight Rider	7.8	2.4/7	2.1/7
	CBS	The New Adventures of Old Christine	6.86	2.0/6	1.1/4
	ABC	Pushing Daisies	6.32	2.0/6	1.7/6
	UNI	Cuidado con el Angel	4.16	1.7/5	1.9/6
	CW	America's Next Top Model	4.01	1.8/5	2.1/7

8:30	CBS	Gary Unmarried	6.98	2.2/6	1.3/4

[Source TV by the Numbers]

Deanna Russo on Hollywood TV

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 23:17:48 -0500

It's great to finally see Deanna Russo in a one on one interview (sorry Justin)! In this interview with Hollywood TV for the TV Guide Channel, Deanna talks about Comic Con, her roll as Sarah, Justin Bruening, Val Kilmer and of course - kicking ass for a living.

25th Anniversary of Goliath

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 23:05:09 -0500

Knight Rider Archive is quick to remind us that today is the 25th anniversary of the episode Goliath, where we are introduced to Garthe Knight. It is an episode that is thought to many as one of the best.

Above we have a Knight Watch episode looking back, check it out!

Next Week: Knight of the Iguana

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 10:07:30 -0500

Wow, what a great episode! We're busy discussing away last nights episode, feel free to join in!

We'll post the overnight results as soon as they are fully processed, but in the mean time, check out the teaser for next weeks episode: Knight of the Iguana

[Watch on YouTube]

Two Clips from Journey to the End of Knight

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 14:08:28 -0500

NBC gave us access to these promo clips from tonights episode. In the first one we see Mike trying to work his magic undercover. In the second we see KITT racing for pinks and a good 'ol Turbo Boost which is after the "jump"!

Tonight: Journey To The End Of Knight

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 07:29:27 -0500

Tonight at 8pm/7pm Central is a new episode of Knight Rider! The episode is called "Journey to the End of Knight"

MIKE MUST INFILTRATE A RACING GANG WITH THE HELP OF AN OLD ARMY BUDDY Mike reunites with a former Army buddy to bring down a drag racing gang that is smuggling weapons overseas. Sarah joins Mike and KITT on this dangerous undercover mission, much to her father's dismay.

You can find more information including the trailer for tonights episode as well as photo galleries for this episode on it's episode guide page.

During and after the episode airs, we encourage you to visit our forum new Knight Rider area and discuss tonight's episode in the live discussion thread. Additionally, our chat room is always packed on episode nights.

This is the story of a car...

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 23:36:30 -0500

We aren't quite sure what to say about today's commercial. They're trying awfully hard to push the relationship between Michael and KITT - for a series that we've only seen one episode on. Check it out and let us know what you think.

[Watch on YouTube]

More enjoyable is this clip talking about the need for speed - but that's after the jump!

We wonder though - why we haven't seen the full teaser commercial for tomorrows episode replayed after the premier.

Official Episode Images Posted

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 10:48:45 -0500

We've just posted the official publicity images from the next two episodes of Knight Rider: Journey to the End of Knight and Knight of the Iguana. Click on the titles or the images to see the complete galleries.

Knight Rider Event Report

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 22:19:38 -0500

On Saturday September 13th in Denver Colorado, the Knight Rider event was held. Hosted at the Forney Museum of Transportation it drew a crowd of over 2000 people to check out the vehicles on display. An auction with signed photos from the cast of the new series graciously donated were auctioned off to help raise money for the Museum, with one lot alone that raised $400.00.

Congrats to John putting an amazing event together! We have some photos from the event and a video of John being interviewed about it after the jump.

KITT does Fireball Run

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 22:00:24 -0500

The Fireball Run Transcontinental Rally, took off this weekend from Baton Rouge, Lousiana. Now in it's second year, this 3500 mile 9 day journey features over 100 teams on their way to their final destination of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

The race is played like a 'game' where drivers receive clues along the way to get to their next destination. The cars are sponsored by different groups but also carry a more important message of trying to help finding missing children, as each vehicle carries the image of someone who is lost.

This year's theme focuses on an 1980 theme, and carries none other than a KITT in it's midst. Darrin Cooper of Innovative Auto Design has entered his KITT that he has rebuilt from the ground up and is sporting a 383 hp engine. Joining him in his journey is David Lousiell who has helped Darrin in building his vehicle.

You can find out more about Team Innovative Auto Design from the Fireball Run website. Additionally you can follow their progress via the Foundation message boards (with additional photos) or Fireball's official tracker.

Knight Rider on the Soup

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 21:48:53 -0500

We've been pointed to this video from the Soup this weekend. Pretty funny that it talks about Hoff being the only Michael Knight as well as the attitude of the new KITT.

[Original Thread]

Knight Rider twenty-six years young today

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 12:32:33 -0500

Twenty six years ago tonight, NBC premiered the original pilot of Knight Rider. The two hour pilot writen by series creator Glen Larson, told the story of Michael Long and his fall to rebirth as Michael Knight, leading the quest of one man making a difference against criminals who opperate above the law.

TVGuide had this to say way back then:

Knight is like the movie cowboy who would leave the girl and go off with his horse. The meaningful relationship here is between the hero and his car. It not only talks but thinks, and it has a peevish personality. They bicker constantly. Actually it's more of a marriage than a romance.

In the present day, we've lived through a few failed attempts to revive Knight Rider, but now the future looks promising with the new series premiered, and the hopes of a Motion Picture in the future.

Watch the original commercial for the premier episode (thanks to Joe Huth!) after the jump!

NBC launches online iniatives

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 12:05:49 -0500

In an effort to continue to build online fan support for the new series, with the premier of Knight Rider NBC has launched three online initiatives that we had previously mentioned. Check them out and let us know what you think about them in the comments.

Billy's Notes from the Underground: Knight Industries resident techie Billy blogs about - well, anything and everything.
Knight Writers: Writers from the series will post on this behind the scenes blog. First post from Gary Scott Thompson is up.
Knight Industries Research: To log onto your Employee Computer at Knight Industries Reseach, click here