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<html><head><title>Babylon 5 Behind the Scenes: The Production</title><map name="toplevel"><area shape="RECT" coords="0,0,99,23" href="/lurk/universe/intro.html" alt="Universe"><area shape="RECT" coords="100,0,199,23" href="/lurk/episodes.php" alt="Episodes"><area shape="RECT" coords="200,0,299,23" href="/lurk/making/creators.html" alt="People"><area shape="RECT" coords="300,0,399,23" href="/lurk/resources/online.html" alt="Resources"><area shape="RECT" coords="400,0,499,23" href="/lurk/reference/episodes.html" alt="Encyclopedia"><area shape="RECT" coords="0,24,499,31" nohref></map>
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<p><b>Contents:</b><a href="#general">General</a> -<a href="#scripts">Scripts</a> -<a href="#editing">Editing</a> -<a href="#order">Order</a>
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<h2><a name="general">General production notes</a></h2>
<p>Babylon 5 is filmed in widescreen (16:9) format, so that when HDTV arrives,the show can be remastered for full-screen video release.  The extra picturespace is just a bonus; directors compose scenes to fit entirely in thenormal 4:3 aspect ratio of today's television, at the same time making surethat the edges of the picture can be included later on.
<p>You can see the widescreen film in action during the title sequence, which isshown letterboxed.
<p>Audio is produced in full surround sound.  Background dialogue (known as"walla") was written by Larry DiTillio during seasons one and two.
<p>Alien makeup and such for the series is done by Optic Nerve Studios(Everett Burrell and John Vulich.)
<p>Babylon 5 is produced on a per-episode budget of roughly $800,000, quite lowfor a science-fiction series; "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," by comparison,has a budget of roughly $1.6 million per episode, and Fox's "Space: Above andBeyond" is rumored to cost $2 million.

<h2><a name="scripts">The lifecycle of a script</a></h2>
<em>from series creator J. Michael Straczynski, 22 September 1995</em>
<p>     We don't generally do a lot of revisions.  Once in a great whileyou'll get something that goes through 4 colors (drafts are color coded),but they're rare.  And invariably *all* such drafts after the first aremainly revised to handle set changes or production requirements, notstory, dialogue or other creative stuff.  This season [2], in all but onecase, I write the first draft, clean it up a bit for the second/finaldraft, it goes into production, we adjust for sets ("Can we make thisthe conference room instead of Sheridan's office so we can do it on thesame stage and avoid a camera move to stage in the middle of the day?"),and it's filmed as written.
<p>     There's often a perception [...] thatlots and lots of people have input into the writing of the script.  Notso.  I write it alone.  Nobody sees nothin' until the first draft isfinished.  I then show it only to WB (which hasn't given me a singlescript note since episode 4, year 2), producer John Copeland (who looksat it for any possible production headaches, too many extras or sets,other physical elements), my partner Doug Netter (who doesn't generallygive creative notes, as per our tradition), and if necessary, Ron atFoundation, Optic Nerve, and the director.  A couple of cast memberslike to look at first drafts, just out of curiosity to know what'scoming next, but don't give notes or suggestions.
<p>     Once I have in hand any production hiccups, I clean up the draft abit, adjust the production, EFX or prosthetics elements, make my lastminute personal revisions on the script (dialogue, structure, whatever),then it's published as a Final Draft which goes to everyone in the castand crew.  The various departments then begin work on realizing what'sin the script.  We have meetings to discuss it to make sure everyone'son the same page.  I meet with the director to make the same assurances.Last minute production-oriented changes are made ("Do we have a Ranger inamong the extras here?  Do we need 12 Narns or will 8 do?").
<p>     And then the script hits the stage, and we shoot it.  As written.  Ifan actor has a problem with a particular word, it can be changed afterchecking with me to make sure that word isn't there for a very specialreason (a clue, foreshadowing, whatever).
<p>     The scripts are extremely detailed, with inserts, camera angles,slow-mo indications if necessary, lighting notes, you name it.
<p>     Some scripts I tinker with a lot before issuing that first draft;others blow right out of the printer as though pre-written.  Sometimesthe most important ones are the ones that need or get the least revision,because I see them the most clearly; and often it's the more trivialepisodes that seem to require lots of finessing.
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<p>     The script never technically leaves my hands.  Once the final draftis written, it's given to every department, which breaks it down in termsof set, extra, day-player, EFX, music, sound and other requirements.  Wehave visual effects, art department and other meetings to go over what'sin the script and make sure we all understand what's required.  Any newdesigns for prosthetics, costumes, EFX, ships, or other episode-specificelements are drafted, and shown to me for approval.
<p>     The script department breaks down the script in terms of shootingschedule, timing of scenes, and arranges a production board indicatingwhich scenes will be shot on which days  (Based on which sets are beingused; you don't shoot in sequence...you do all the C&C scenes done on day1, then move into the Zocalo for all those scenes, and so on.)
<p>     The director and I have a tone meeting to go over the script page bypage.  At this time, the director sometimes suggests changes in localesfor production purposes, though this often happens earlier in the process. I make sure we both understand what each scene is about, context andsubtext.  Then there's a production meeting of all departments, where weall go through one last time and break down each scene of the script bywhat's required.
<p>     The director then takes the script to the stage, and shoots what'swritten.  Dailies arrive each day thereafter, and go to post production,where an editor does a preliminary assembly of the episode.  If theepisode appears to be coming in long, we have the option of trimming ascene here or there in shooting...or expanding if it's coming in short.
<p>     After 7 days of shooting, the raw film is complete, and the editorgives the director his assembly.  The director then comes in and takesabout 3-4 days making his or her cut.  The director's cut then goes tome, and John Copeland and I go in to make the producer's cut, oftenre-editing every single frame, though sometimes less, depending on manydifferent factors.  This is done on computers, the Avid.
<p>     This final edit is then used to assemble the actual film (we take theAvid computer disk and turn it over to a supercomputer which assembles thefilm overnight).  Using this online copy, I now sit down with the composer,and sound people, and watch it again, going through it and noting wheresound effects and music are required, and what kind I have in mind.  "Inat 03:13:18 (three minutes, 13 seconds, 18 frames), out at 04:14:22.  I'dlike something soft, strings mainly, underscoring that doesn't get in theway...with a tone change at 04:05:13, into the action, and since we've gota lot of combat going on there, we need you to clear out the low-end forthe battle stuff."
<p>     Composer and sound EFX people then do their thing, and a couple weekslater, we do the audio mix.  (During this time, Ron and company havedelivered the last of their CGI.)  At the audio mix, all of the finalelements are inserted/layered in, including any last-minute looping ordubbing.  This done, the episode is delivered to PTEN about 5 days later.
<p>     Total time to complete an episode (after the last day of filming perse): 52 days.
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<p>What I do is this: I get a pad of legal-sized paper, and divide itinto six quadrants, all on the same page, standing for teaser, four actsand tag.  I drop the beats of the story into the relevant places where Ithink they'd logically fall (the big moments always go at act breaks).This way I can see the entire flow of the story at one glance, which isimportant for getting a feel for the episode.  If one act gets overburdened, I just draw a line moving one beat to another act.
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<p><em>The shooting script for<a href="/lurk/guide/031.html">"The Coming of Shadows"</a>as published in your scriptwriting book is different from what aired.Do you often rewrite lines and/or scenes while the episode is filming?</em>
<p>No, never.  For starters, it's *vastly* unfair to the actors.  They have tomemorizes pages and pages of dialogue, and to hit them with new stuff on thestage, when they haven't had a chance to digest the material and dig out thesubtext and themes, means the performance will not be as good regardless of thematerial.
<p>There is *no* improvising allowed on the set, either.  If an actor wants tochange even a word, the first AD has to come find me and get approval first.
<p>Where you make the revisions are in the stages prior to when the actors get tothe stage.  A first draft is published, which goes to all the department heads.Between the first and the final drafts (we only do about 2 drafts here), youhave about a week to make any revisions you choose to make.  Bearing in mindthat I don't publish the first draft until I'm absolutely satisfied with it,there ain't much that gets changed, usually bits of dialogue and productionrelated stuff.

The cuts you see were done in post-production, as the show is edited for time. We slice lines and bits to fit in the available time.


<h2><a name="editing">The editing process</a></h2>
<em>from series creator J. Michael Straczynski, 22 October 1995</em>
<p>     Film is shot on the stage, then transferred to video, which is thendigitized onto the Avid computer editing system, which holds every take ofevery scene.  A scene is shot many times from various angles: wide mastershot, three-shots (3 people), two-shots, singles, raking twos, closeups, medium shots, extreme closeups and sometimes downshots (as well asCGI and composite shots).
<p>     John Copeland and I then go in and work on the version of the episodeedited by the director to do the producer's cut.  We sit down with theeditor, and go scene by scene.  The usual construction is as follows: youget a wide master shot so we know the geography, where we are, and whereeveryone is in relation to that.  Gradually you go closer, into threes ortwos, then singles or closeups for dramatic emphasis, coming out into themaster from time to time when someone has to move, or to break the senseof claustrophobia.
<p>     When you get in close, you have over-the-shoulder shots, meaningyou're shooting past one character's shoulder to the other.  Then you dothe same thing in reverse, so you see both sides of the conversation.You do these one at a time, for lighting purposes; you light one side ofthe room for the scenes looking left-right, then move the camera and thelighting around for the scenes when you're on the right side lookingleft (or, phrased differently, you light for Susan looking at Talia,then Talia looking at Susan).  The actors then do the scene again, withthe camera on the other side.
<p>     The actor has to be very careful to always repeat each movementexactly; if he picks up a teacup on the word "quibble," he has to makeabsolutely sure he picks up the cup on exactly that same word, everytime, in every take, in the same way, in the correct hand.  If theactor slips (and this sometimes happens), when you go to show the otherside of the scene, you suddenly find you have a matching problem; inthe shot over Talia's shoulder to Susan, the actor raised a hand; inthe shot over Susan's shoulder to Talia, the actor (generic term thatincludes women) *didn't* raise a hand.  So when you edit the two, youhave a matching problem.  You can sometimes avoid this by just stayingon one side of the shot, but then you can't get the other character'son-face reaction to what's being said.  And in that scene in particular,we *needed* to see both sides.
<h2><a name="order">Production Order vs. Airing Order</a></h2>
<p>The production of episodes started far enough in advance that the airingorder of the episodes could be arranged as the producers and network decided,allowing for additional post-production time and cost reduction.  Forexample, the first-season finale was filmed 12th but aired 22nd.
<p><cite>Babylon 5</cite> is able to do this more readily than many other showsbecause of its preplanned nature; JMS knows going into the season that, forinstance, episodes 5 and 15 will require a certain set; those two can bescheduled one after the other and the set torn down to save space and time.
<p>The approach isn't without its hazards: several foreign networks have ignoredthe episode order provided by Warner Bros. and aired the episodes in productionorder, probably confusing thousands of viewers with a scrambled storyline!
<p>Such odd scheduling is much less prevalent after the first season for a fewreasons.The first season started later in the year, giving the production more of ahead-start than it had in subsequent seasons.  Many standing sets had alreadybeen built during the first season, making the lead time less necessary.And there was a desire to avoid repeating the confusion in foreign airings.

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<h5>Last update:December 29, 1995
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