David Livingston, who has directed some fifty nine episodes of Trek, believes the switch from film to digital recording won't be noticed by the audience, but has numerous advantages for the production team.

Livingston told Trekweb that shooting in digital allowed the director to see more detail. "Instead of looking at an NTSC channel you’re actually seeing what is being recorded, it’s what the camera’s actually seeing," he noted. "The cost factor is much lower because you’re not having to pay for film stock. Film stock and processing is a huge number relative to tapes that run for an hour."

In addition to the costs going down, Livingston also believes the process of filming an episode has been speeded up. "[T]hings go faster with the HD than it did with film, things are moving along quicker," he said. "You don’t have to reload magazines all the time, instead of having thousands of mags that ran for 10 minutes you have an hour tape that you have to slam in the machine. Production values are so high that it’s still incredibly difficult, it’s a good thing they’re on digital because you need every second. They’re attempting to have so much prod that you need every second."

While the advantages are many, Livingston doesn't think the audience will notice any difference in the quality from film to digital. "There are differences but I think the audience, they’re not going to notice anything," he said.

Livingston is currently filming "Borderland", the first of three episodes featuring Brent Spiner (Data) as Dr. Arik Soong. Livingston believes Spiner's appearance will please long-time Trek fans. "They wanted to do something about biologically engineered people and Dr. Soong made Data, so having Dr. Soong’s ancestor was a great choice. Why not? It’s a throwback to a previous series which I think the fans will take delight in," he said.

To read the complete article, in which Livingston also discusses his photography, please visit TrekWeb.

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