The Orville is an American science fiction comedy-drama series created by and staring Seth McFarlane. Set 400 years in the future in 2417, The Orville follows the exploits of the U.S.S Orville and her crew exploring space. The series is from creator and actor Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy, Ted) who plays the Captain of this 'mid level' spaceship rotoscoping.
The series was inspired by Gene Rodenberry's Star Trek. In particular, the first series' visual effects were very reminiscent of Star Trek: The Next Generation. To this end the first series did extensive model shoots supervised by Oscar winner Rob Legato and with help from VFX Supervisor Glenn Derry (then with Technoprops). The practical model work was filmed, for the first season, in one initial major models MoCap shoot. The material was then used and reused throughout the 13 part series in much the way it was in the original Star Trek: The Next Generation.
There was no physical model shots used in season 2. This decision allowed the camera to be freed up. There was a deliberate more to using a more dynamic camera. "We wanted to get in season two and the camera always had to be moving, he (Seth MacFarlane) was very contented to have a 'more is less approach', with very clean moves, but this season it seemed everything had to have a push in, pull out or whip pan", Nhat Phong Tran comments.
