For its 100th episode, Station 19 went big. Specifically, more than 500 feet big. In the episode, which is part of the series’ final season, S19 had to deal with a complicated fire that began in the HVAC room at the Space Needle, which involved Vic trying to save an epileptic patient in a glass elevator and Sullivan and Ben fighting for their lives. But it was a triumphant day for the team, as they were able to rescue Sullivan, Ben, and those trapped in the glass elevator — a win that Captain Andy Herrera so desperately needed.
Watching the episode, you feel transported to Seattle, and that’s in no small part due to the fact that, in an ode to the series’ setting, the crew constructed a replica of the Space Needle on which to film. Who wasn’t gripping the arms of their chair as Vic scales the side of the structure in a rescue mission? How could you not almost crane your neck as the camera pans to the exterior of the building, catching the full size of the set piece?
As amazing as those shots were, in order to capture them, the creative and production team at Station 19 couldn’t actually go to Seattle or the Space Needle. As Meredith Meyer-Nichols, VP of virtual production and innovation at Disney, puts it, “You don’t really want to hang off the Space Needle.” (She’s not wrong!) Essentially, given there was no realistic or safe way to actually get on top of the Needle due to weather, permits, travel, and the like, the Station 19 crew combined the worlds of production design and technology to bring the Space Needle to life.
Over the course of mere days — and utilizing a special type of soundstage (which is essentially a soundproof room for filmmakers) that’s also used on Disney+’s The Mandalorian — from the planning phase to construction to filming, the Station 19 crew had to coordinate it all, and Shondaland took the opportunity to learn all about that process. Here, Station 19’s production designer Sandy Getzler; art director Brendan O’Connor; general foreman Ryan Luna; Meyer-Nichols, vice president of virtual production and innovation at Disney; and Chris Jones, virtual production supervisor with Industrial Light & Magic’s StageCraft, let us in on the magic of making a faux Space Needle.
A kernel of an idea
When the script landed in Getzler’s, O’Connor’s, and Luna’s laps, they knew they had a big project to tackle.
In the initial planning phase, O’Connor had to source some sketches of the actual Space Needle, which normally wouldn’t be easy to come by. But because of a recent renovation to the actual structure, the crew were eventually able to get some 3D renderings of the building. From there, the team knew it was going to be a two-part project: the elevator and then the structure that mimics the Loupe Lounge, a bar/restaurant at the top of the Needle.
The challenge was not only in building an elevator but also in figuring out how to marry the Loupe Lounge to the elevator so they looked seamless. “We built [the elevator] on another stage because it was way too big to put in the volume stage. [In the episode] we have a shaft that opens up, and the elevator is missing, obviously, because it’s stuck below. So, our firefighters run up the stairs, open up the shaft, see the missing elevator, and rappel down, cut to the elevator itself on a different stage,” says Getzler.
Luna tackled the shell of the elevator by building the top and bottom out of, surprisingly, foam, to capture the curvature of the walls. “Then, we built the actual cab itself and then mated the two together, which was a task in itself, hoping that the foam company did what we needed them to do to make sure that everything lined up and worked out in the end. But ultimately, with everybody doing their part, it came out really well,” he says. Luna was crucial to the efforts of his construction team, building the piece 6 feet off the floor and rigging everything together to give the illusion of an elevator floating off the side of the Needle. They also attached glass panels to the sides of the elevator so when you looked out, Seattle was right there.
The wallpaper of the interior of the elevator proved to be a new, if unexpected, challenge. Given the dedication to realism, O’Connor wanted to find the actual wallpaper that lines the elevator of the Space Needle, and while he was able to eventually source it, it was going to take weeks to ship it out. Their fix? O’Connor and his team sourced a laminate that they then manipulated via “Mylar-like metal and paper material that gave us the look that we were trying to achieve,” says O’Connor. “And I mean, that’s the magic of TV and scenery in general — you can get away with cheats like that and using technology in our favor to help us with a quick turnaround time.” The team also worked directly with the Space Needle to attach cameras to one of their elevators that they shut down for us and also put cameras around the entire observation deck.
After 10 days of building two enormous projects, Luna and his crew, at 2 a.m., wheeled all the pieces over to the volume stage where all the technological magic was about to happen.
Perfecting the shot
Oftentimes, a project of this nature would call for a green screen, where, in postproduction, the producers could add in renditions of the Space Needle, Seattle, etc. But in 2021, Lucas Film heralded a new type of soundstage technology that involves wraparound LED panels that can immediately show actors and directors their setting. In shows like The Mandalorian, for instance, actors can become enmeshed with otherworldly surroundings instead of acting against a blank wall. The details of the technology are proprietary, but the result is something truly cinematic.
For Station 19 — with a smaller budget and a quicker turnaround time — the crew had to get creative. That’s where a new soundstage called Infinity came in to film the elevator scene. Think of it as a smaller-scale but no less impressive version of what The Mandalorian uses. The technology is geared toward episodic television, and Jones and his team were there to, as Jones puts it, “help make the world come alive” by working quickly, efficiently, and becoming an extension of the Station 19 team by helping coordinate and place cameras wherever the episode’s director, Daryn Okada, suggests.In the Station 19 episode, the wraparound panels displayed photographs of Seattle courtesy of Seattle-based location manager Dave Drummond. The 2D images stitched together provided a perfect backdrop — no need for a 3D Seattle. They did have some extra help straight from the Space Needle. A crew there was able to attach cameras to one of their elevators that they shut down and put cameras around the entire observation deck. Okada was able to control all aspects of the filmmaking process from “the color, the exposure, interactive lighting, and reflections,” Jones says. If Okada wanted to, say, shift the morning light to midafternoon, he could do it with his fingertips and see the result immediately as though they were on location at the Space Needle. The technology becomes a part of the world that Getzler, Luna, and O’Connor have created. As Meyer-Nichols puts it, this whole process was really about “virtual production marrying a practical set build.” It’s a true collaborative process where two worlds come together.
The final product
As viewers can attest, what we saw on our TVs truly was a moment of TV magic and also made for some great, if intense, television. Fans certainly agreed:
Indeed, the Space Needle is an icon of the Seattle skyline, and Station 19 certainly didn’t disappoint in capturing the structure in all its glory. Even seasoned professionals like Getzler, O’Connor, and Luna were taken aback at what they had accomplished. “I don’t get impressed easily,” Getzler continues. “We’ve all been doing this a long time. I think all of us, the three of us sitting here, were pretty impressed.”
What’s more, with a project of this size, there’s also a kinship, a connection, some sort of shared destiny between Station 19’s version of the Space Needle and the real one. For example, as O’Connor explains, the Space Needle has been lucky enough to never experience a fire in the HVAC room — but sure enough, two weeks after the team recorded the 100th episode, “there was a fire in the HVAC room at the Space Needle. It was art imitating life, which was just crazy.”
Was there really any other way to do it for the 100th episode? We think not. And it’s all thanks to the hard work and expertise of the Station 19 crew, who are able to make such big ideas a reality. So, if you were impressed by the episode, spoiler alert: Expect to see the magic of the Infinity soundstage again in Station 19’s final episode. Buckle up!
