Daren Dochterman

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Daren Dochterman

Daren Ross Dochterman (born 2 July 1967; age 56) is an American artist and illustrator for Hollywood films. He was a production illustrator on "Caretaker", the pilot episode for Star Trek: Voyager. Later, he was the visual effects supervisor involved in the making of the director's edition DVD of Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

Recommended for the position by producer David C. Fein, the director's edition project won them both a Video Premiere Award. Aside from his expertise, Fein had an additional reason to recommend him, as he said this of Dochterman, an avid Star Trek: The Original Series fan, "If there is anybody who was intimately involved with this as us from beginning to end it has to be Daren. He is truly the keeper of the flame for STAR TREK and helped play the role of the fan, as well as the artist and craftsman. We love his work; he is brilliant and I cannot say enough about him. This project would never have been the same without him." (Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 2, Issue 8, p. 25) In his turn, Dochterman recommended the visual effects company Foundation Imaging for the additional and supplementary CGI effects, and, upon approval, subsequently served as the primary liaison between production company Robert Wise Productions and the team of digital modelers at Foundation. (Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 2, Issue 8, p. 25) It actually was Dochterman who built and mapped the first version of the CGI refit-Constitution-class model for the project in his spare time [1], but has conceded that he "(...) did my best to come up with a workable ship. I used my model in some rough composites as we were storyboarding it and it looked OK. But specifically for end shots it had to be much more detailed. So I handed that model over to the guys at Foundation Imaging." (Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 2, Issue 8, p. 55)

Dochterman was featured in the "Redirecting The Future"-documentary on the DVD, in which he, and his co-workers discuss the work they have done for the project. In addition, he and his co-workers were featured in an after-the-fact, separately produced audio commentary, released in 2007 as a podcast on StarTrek.com, the official Star Trek website and which, at the time, Template:Brokenlink at the site.

Dochterman also designed the main title sequence for the popular fan-made internet series Star Trek: New Voyages, developed by and starring James Cawley. In addition, Dochterman's CGI illustrations have been featured in the two of the Star Trek: Ships of the Line calendars published by Pocket Books, including an original Constitution-class CGI model, he had constructed as a pitch for what eventually became the 2006 remastered Original Series. His pitch not only included the ship, but all the visual effects as seen in the original episode "The Doomsday Machine", which he singlehandedly replaced with CGI versions. [2] His model was ultimately passed over in favor of that of CBS Digital. [3]

On 27 September 2009, Daren Dochterman moderated a media event called the "Star Trek Designers Talk Trek History At Art Directors Guild Event", held at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, and in which production designers John Jefferies, Joseph R. Jennings, Herman F. Zimmerman and Scott Chambliss, were honored for their Star Trek contributions, discussing indepth their work on the franchise. [4]

Career outside Star Trek

Dochterman was raised in New York City, New York, and spent his teenage years in Chicago, Illinois. He attended the University of Southern California from 1985 through 1987, leaving after being repeatedly rejected by the university's prestigious School of Cinema-Television. He then worked independently as a model builder, prop maker, and graphic artist for about a year before landing his first Hollywood job, working as the Assistant to the Art department (there meeting and befriending fellow New York City film buff David Fein) on James Cameron's 1989 science fiction film, The Abyss. Dochterman even appeared in the film as a new reporter; TNG guest star Ken Jenkins also had a role.

Dochterman next worked as an assistant to production designer Leslie Dilley on 1990's The Exorcist III, starring Brad Dourif. His first project as a professional illustrator was the 1991 film Guilty by Suspicion, which featured Voyager star Roxann Dawson and TNG guest star Robin Gammell. He subsequently served for a brief spell as executive director for David Fein's newly founded company Sharpline Arts, which produced special features for movie home media format releases, but decided to continue his career on his own. [5] Since then, he has worked as a production illustrator on such films as Sleepless in Seattle (1993), Se7en (1997), Down Periscope (1998, starring Kelsey Grammer), My Favorite Martian (1999, starring Christopher Lloyd, Wallace Shawn, and Ray Walston), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), We Were Soldiers (2002), Clockstoppers (2002, directed by Jonathan Frakes), Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003), The Terminal (2004, featuring Jude Ciccolella and Zoe Saldana), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), X-Men: The Last Stand (2006, starring Kelsey Grammer, Famke Janssen, and Patrick Stewart), and Get Smart (2008, starring Dwayne Johnson). He was also an illustrator on the pilot for the cult science fiction series Earth 2, starring Clancy Brown.

In addition, Dochterman was a storyboard or effects storyboard artist on films such as Beverly Hills Cop III (1994), For Better or Worse (1995, starring and directed by Jason Alexander), Nixon (1995, featuring Robert Beltran, bill Bolender, Richard Fancy, Tony Plana, Saul Rubinek, and Paul Sorvino), Multiplicity (1996, featuring Ann Cusack, John de Lancie, and Harris Yulin), The Nutty Professor (1996), Courage Under Fire (1996), Flubber (1997, featuring Clancy Brown and Wil Wheaton), and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003). His resume also includes visual effects illustrations for Addams Family Values (1993, starring Christopher Lloyd and Carel Struycken), property concept art on Casper and Outbreak (both 1995), and concept designs for The Chronicles of Riddick (2004).

Most recently, Dochterman worked as a conceptual illustrator on the upcoming remakes for The Day the Earth Stood Still and Creature from the Black Lagoon. He was also a conceptual illustrator on the upcoming G.I. Joe film, starring Rachel Nichols. This latter project reunited Dochterman with veteran Star Trek concept designer John Eaves, who previously worked with Docherman on X-Men: The Last Stand and 2005's Sky High. Dochterman also collaborated with James Clyne on X-Men, as well as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and 2006's Poseidon.

DVD Exclusive Award

Daren Dochterman won the following DVD Exclusive Award (at the time called Video Premiere Award) as visual effects supervisor in the category Best New, Enhanced or Reconstructed Movie Scenes,

• 2001 for Star Trek: The Motion Picture, The Director's Edition, shared with David C. Fein and Michael Matessino

Further reading

• Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 2, Issue 8:
  • "Behind the Scenes: The Director's Edition", pp. 24-26
  • "Behind the Scenes: Director's Edition VFX", pp. 52-59

External links

• DarenDoc.com - official site
• Betafive.com - official portfolio site
• Template:IMDb-link
• Daren Dochterman profile