Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/610353
Five other stages were used to build and shoot a variety of other sets: the Hermes, NASA's interplanetary ship, was conceived as a series of prefabricated modular elements built on Earth and then assembled while in orbit to support the film's Mars Ares missions. Its design was developed from information provided from NASA engineers working on the actual Orion program which is planned to launch a manned mission to Mars around 2025. It incorporated all the latest concepts for space travel: nuclear-powered ion plasma propulsion engines, artificial gravity crew quarters for six astronauts, and solar-powered life-support and navigation systems. Initial concept designs evolved further into preliminary scale drawings for the interiors of the crew flight deck, main hull corridor, various pressurized air locks and a rotating gravity wheel. These sets all had to be physically built, both interior and exterior, to accommodate stunts, wirework, and special and visual effects in combination to simulate zero gravity weightlessness of space. Foam core sketch models of every set were built for interdepartmental discussions with Ridley and Dariusz and proved essential to the process of figuring out the most effective and efficient way to shoot these sequences, and to what extent the sets would be built in combination with green screens. After these models, pre-vis animations were done for the major scenes of the storm, ascent vehicle launch and rescue operations to further refine the elements needed to shoot and light them. The most challenging of all the sets was the 65-foot diameter gravity wheel with its four individual modules, each of which accommodated a different function. The script specified interior scenes within both a crew recreation room with kitchen and a gym room as segments of the wheel. Our approach was to link the flight deck to the main hull corridor set and add with a partially built hub section at the end of the corridor. This hub revolved through 180 degrees and seemed to be joined with the interior of the rec room and gym sets by matching partial sections of tubular ladder shafts. Far left, top to bottom: A drawing by Concept Artist Kamen Anev of the interior of the gym pod, part of the gravity wheel of the Hermes spacecraft. The finished set with its tubular ladder shaft connecting to the hub section at the end of the hull corridor. The rec room and gym sets could rotate through 60-degrees on a massive steel gimbal. Below: Kamen Anev's illustration of the rec room pod, another section of the rotating gravity wheel. Bottom, left to right: A production still of the completed rec room set on stage; and a reverse view showing the kitchen end of the rotating rec room.