Results tagged “onset”

It would appear that there are not too many dull moments on the Knight Rider set. We arrived just after some four or five thousand rounds of ammunition had been shot off. Throughout the rest of the night the bullet casings clinked underfoot. We knew we were going to be in for a treat at the end of the night because periodically the props department would set off a test of some of the pyrotechnics they had in store. Watch our relatively spoiler free video and stay tuned for more to come.

Here are some behind the scenes images, click on the thumbnails to enlarge.

We were lucky enough to have the opportunity to probe staff writers Rachel Mellon and Teresa Huang, the writers for "I Wanna Rock & Roll All Knight". They discuss what secrets the writers room might have in the works for us after the Holidays. We also compare notes on the Hasselhoff rumors. Check out the video below.

Back in September, we were very thrilled to be given the chance to go behind the scenes to the Knight Rider set. The problem however was that what we saw filming would not air till a couple months later, because doing so would reveal details of upcoming plots. The teaser for this episode that is now airing has shown her costume, so we can now put up our video.

Our interview with Smith Cho was shot while she was in character for next weeks episode "Knight of the Living Dead." Smith Cho plays Zoe Chae - assistant to Torres she is well versed in multiple languages and although she comes off as ditzy, Zoe is very intelligent.

We conducted this interview before any of us got to see footage of the show, so Ms. Cho is understandably hesitant with some questions. We didn't know then that Zoe would be quite a polarizing character, as fan reaction was initially very negative of the character based on the premier episode alone.

However as fans continue to watch the series, and are exposed to more of Zoe (and specifically Zoe and Billy's relationship) the support continues to grow, as too does our enjoyment of Smith Cho.

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!

The responsibility of much of the light hearted comedy, as well as helping KITT save the day, falls to Billy Morgan (played by Paul Campbell) who is the head research technician at Knight Industries. We spoke with Paul a bit about his roll, and got quite a few chuckles out of our time with him.

Note that some of this interview, as well as Smith Cho's interview, has been held to a later date due to revealing information about a future episode.

[Watch our interview on YouTube]

Many thanks to Paul, Smith, Bruce, Yancey and Sydney for spending some of their limited time with us! We still have more to come, so check back!

During our time on set - we saw four different KITTs. A green screen KITT called a buck that has interchangable parts (which we'll post about later), a KITT we didn't see, and these two KITTs here.

The one at the top is used in the KITTCave, and if you look closely - you can see it's missing an engine. We were told on set that the removed engine from the KITT that they use on the gymbal because when they would spin KITT, the fluids would come out.

The other KITT we saw them photographing to shoot the plates for the transformation process to Attack KITT.

Also - check out that old school signage on a production trailer!

As one of the four cast members from the original February pilot, Sydney Tamiia Poitier is back as FBI Agent Carrie Rivai. We had the pleasure of interviewing Sydney before the two hour pilot, so we were able to talk to her more now about where her character has come from since then - and why she's in the SSC.

[Watch our interview on YouTube]

Tomorrow we will have our interview with Paul Campbell!, but for now - here is a preview after the jump!

Yancey Arias comes to Knight Rider very eager to play the role of Alex Torres. His character is in charge of the Satellite Surveillance Center (SSC) or what everyone else likes to call the KITTCave.

In real life, Yancey created a charity called Lives to Save Foundation. Started in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the foundation gives donations to those families in need.

[Watch our interview on YouTube]

Tomorrow we will have our interview with Sydney Tamiia Poitier, but for now - here is a preview after the jump!

When walking around the KITTCave (Satellite Surveillance Center) there is alot to see and undoubtably there is things that you wont be able to catch on TV. When we could, we tried to capture these things, which you can checkout in our gallery below.

The ever talented Bruce Davison was the first of many kind actors to speak with us on set. Bruce is one of four actors that are carrying over from the pilot in February. In this interview, Bruce discusses how he memorizes all the technobable he needs to sprout - and the changes from the pilot to now for his character.

We first got the chance to finally speak with Bruce back at the Comic Con in July - but this time the location was a lot more inspiring.

What we enjoyed most with talking with Bruce was the many off camera stories he had to tell from his many years as an actor. He was also extremely kind to us and walked us around the set pointing out alot of fun detail - some of which we will post in a few days. It will be one of our favorite memories of our time on set.

[Watch our interview on YouTube]

Tomorrow we will have our interview with Yancey Arias, but for now - here is a preview after the jump!

We were recently welcomed to the Santa Clarita studios hosting the filming of Knight Rider. This was a very exciting and revealing experience for us, one that we soon wont forget. Over the coming days (and weeks for stuff that we just can't reveal just yet) we will be showing you what we saw. First off are some images of the majority of the cast filming a scene in the KITTCave - or Satellite Surveillance Center. While we can't reveal just yet what scene is taking place, we can say that it is a critical reveal of life or death for our heros.