‘Trek’ parks at Dodger Stadium

The decision to film two key scenes from “Star Trek” in the Dodger Stadium parking lot may not seem the logical choice, but that’s just what visual effects supervisor Roger Guyett and director J.J. Abrams did. The drill platform scene with Kirk and Sulu battling Romulans high above planet Vulcan and the Delta Vega ice planet sequences were filmed there, on side-by-side sets over two weeks. “From a visual effects standpoint, you want people to believe that someone is actually standing outside on a drill platform,” said Guyett, visual effects supervisor at Industrial Light & Magic and second unit director. “We were looking for a piece of land that had as clean of a horizon as possible.” The drill platform was a circular set 60 feet in diameter. Raising it 10 to 15 feet made it possible to shoot those hanging-off-the-edge moments. It also gave cinematographer Daniel Mindel mostly clear sky in his scope of vision. A green screen filled the bottom of the set.

-- Liesl Bradner