October 2025

3 Lighting Diagrams From The Fantastic Four: First Steps

Scene 96 — Aboard the Excelsior This sequence was one of the most complex featured in the film. The action finds our heroes navigating their spaceship, Excelsior; circumnavigating the accretion disk of a neutron star to evade the pursuit of the Silver Surfer (Julia Garner) in a high-velocity chase; and using deception to lure the Surfer into a black hole, while Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby) gives birth to her baby, Franklin, in zero gravity. To visually conceive the depiction and spatial dynamics of a neutron star, as well as the quality of light emitting from it, I consulted with theoretical physicist Clifford Johnson, Ph.D. at the University of California-Santa Barbara. I was trying to design a color palette across the various space...more