‘Star Trek: Section 31’ VFX Supe Jason Zimmerman Guides Us Back to the 23rd Century

This article was written for the April ’25 issue of Animation Magazine (No. 349).

Sci-fi fans were happy to visit the 23rd century again in the recent Paramount+ feature Star Trek: Section 31, which stars Michelle Yeoh as Empress Philippa Georgiou. The franchise’s first feature since Beyond nine years ago finds the heroine haunted by the genocidal actions of the Terran Empire’s tyrannical leader. To prevent the device known as the Godsend from being deployed by a mysterious buyer, Georgiou agrees to join a covert group of Star Fleet misfits and discovers that she is not isn’t the only member well versed in treachery.

Directed by Star Trek: Discovery veteran Olatunde Osunsanmi, the project features numerous visual effects highlights, all of which were overseen by Jason Zimmerman, who has been involved with every Star Trek series since Star Trek: Discovery. Any project that features intergalactic travel demands fantastic spaceships. That was also the case here with the film’s Garbage Scow and space station known as the Baraam Lounge.

Innovative Ship-Building

“We spent time on texturing the Baraam Lounge and making sure it had a lot of panel detail and lights so we could give it some big scale,” says Zimmerman, Section 31’s supervising producer & lead VFX supervisor. “Over time, we started populating the lounge with ships so it always looked like a busy hub. The Garbage Scow was a unique ship for us in the Star Trek world because the shape was something that had not been done before. For the massive Terran vessel, we had to play with the size of the lights, texture, framing and lenses to make sure it had the proper heft and scale.”

The trash field from the Garbage Scow plays a significant role in the narrative. “We wanted to showcase that there were multiple tractor beams that were pulling into the trash field, so the Garbage Scow had this surrounding bubble,” says Zimmerman. “It became a big moment for us to have the Garbage Scow tethered to the Terran vessel.”

The detonated Godsend causes a huge cosmic explosion, which was also a visual effects challenge. “This was a unique explosion because it was the joining together of these two portals to create this other opening, as well as having the energy of an ion storm and the force that would generate. Visually, it was so important [that] there was a ton of detail and to pay a lot of attention to speed and scale, because that is going to tell you so much about how big that explosion is.”

The legendary marital arts talents of actor Michelle Yeoh were accentuated by “Phaser Fighting,” which is marked by a contraption called a phase pod that allows the wearer to alter their phase in relation to reality, thereby providing the ability to go through walls or avoid getting hit. “We tested the effect on some plates from previous seasons of Star Trek: Discovery to see what it would look like,” explains Zimmerman.

“We had an idea that the edges would vibrate and be partially transparent. The interesting part came once we shot it and applied the effect. We realized quickly [that] because of the speed of the camera and the movement of the actors, there were certain moments that worked better than others. We dialed in on a couple of shots to establish what it would look like in a wide, medium and close-up, and then began to apply it through the whole scene. Then, we had to go back and turn it down or up for this moment. There were other things in play. Are they contacting each other? How do you show that’s happening when they’re both out of phase? It evolved over time. A lot of credit [goes] to our in-house team for coming up that effect, R&D-ing it and driving it to get to final.”

“The Garbage Scow was a unique ship for us in the Star Trek world because the shape was something that had not been done before. For the massive Terran vessel, we had to play with the size of the lights, texture, framing and lenses to make sure it had the proper heft and scale.”

— VFX supervisor Jason Zimmerman

Not everything in the project was cosmic-sized: One of the alien species that plays a prominent role is the microscopic Nanokins, with one acting as the mecha pilot for the robotic Vulcan named Fuzz.

“We play so much in Star Trek with scale, and it’s usually grandiose,” says Zimmerman. “It’s usually about how big are the ships or how big is a nebula! The Nanokin was one of the first times that we had done something that was microscopic. It’s the same thing where you are trying to show how small it is in relation to everything else. We worked a lot with our [director of photography], Glen Keenan, and shot it with these super-wide lenses and looked at different examples of microscopic photography to add blurs and vignettes to sell the scale of how tiny this thing was in relation to the big world. But at the same time, you still have to see it for the story, so we played with the scale throughout the movie.”

One of the film’s most memorable shots involves a trip inside Fuzz’s throat to introduce his microscopic controller. “Once we got into the body, we shifted to the Nanokin scale, which meant everything should feel grandiose. We went to town detailing it and giving it good lighting and ambience, like you would any practical location or set, so it had its own vibe.”

Part of Section 31’s covert unit is the shape-shifting Chameloid called Quasi. “It was important to make sure that when Quasi was transitioning between the different forms that we felt the internal form was completely breaking down,” says Zimmerman. “It wasn’t going from humanoid to humanoid. We played a lot with movement, exterior textures, geometry and the shape of things to make the internal form feel like it was organic, different and creepy. It was also about how does the character look as he transforms into that savior who is grabbing someone and holding onto the edges of the tunnel? Whenever you have a character like that, it’s important to apply rules and ask what does the anatomy do to get to this point? You have to show the character breaking down into a form that could be anything, so that way when you see it later in the tunnel, you go, ‘That body was able to do so many different things we have never seen before, but it makes sense visually.’”

Luminous Lounge Effects

Over 700 visual effects shots were produced by Ghost VFX, Cause and FX, Crafty Apes, AB VFX, Pixomondo, FX3X and an in-house team. “There was a significant amount of virtual production such as the interior of the main lounge located in the Baraam Lounge,” reveals Zimmerman. “The main floor and bar were practical, but all of the levels of tables, people and windows are actually virtual production. It’s one of my favorite assets that we’ve done in the sense that it is so well integrated. The other one is the Grav Lift sequence. What was nice about that asset is, on the day, we could do so much with interactive lighting and the actors were able to perform to what they’re seeing.”

Zimmerman admits that the project’s biggest challenge was the rich legacy of the Star Trek franchise. “Fortunately for me, I have another supervisor on my team, Brian Tatosky, who is a phenomenal supervisor and a Star Trek historian as much as anyone I’ve ever met; he always keeps us honest. We have a system of checks and balances to make sure that we’re doing the best we can to honor the Star Trek tradition while at the same time trying to move things forward as we tell these stories.”

Star Trek: Section 31 is currently streaming on Paramount+. It’s also available for rent on Prime Video, Hulu and YouTube.