Knight Rider LED Light Scanner: How’d They Do It?
MCB: What kind of LEDs are they?
PH: They are super bright red LEDs, however I cannot disclose the exact ones we used.
MCB: In what sort of pattern are they mounted? Simple rows or something tricky?
PH: We used three rows, with 80 in each row.
MCB: How many prototypes did you build before you found that one that worked best?
PH: We did many different prototypes to get what the producers were looking for. The first unit made was made with 24 red Luxor1 universal LED units, the units we used had 12 surface mount LEDs for a total of 288, or 144 on each side. The idea was to make the lights beat like a heart beat. We provided them with a sample that had a MP3 player to simulate with sounds of different heartbeats that were connected to a music interface to flash the Luxor1 lights to the look like a heart was beating.
After providing that prototype, they requested to see different patterns, so it was back to the drawing board. We came back to them after working day and night to show them the next sample, as we knew that they were ready to start shooting the light on the car very soon. There were talks of just adding it in as a computer graphic (TV magic), but everyone knew that a real light would make it more authentic. We drive up to the set, somewhere in Simi Valley to meet the producer and designers of the movie. Within 24 hours we had completely redesigned a circuit board to give them different patterns, as they asked for 4 new designs. It started to look like we were almost there, working long hours and with very little sleep we knew we had to get it done. 
With the new designs approved, they wanted to see the unit in one of the hoods, so we went back to the Picture Car Warehouse where the cars were being built and installed the unit into the hood. We then returned to the set and showed them the light in the hood. Well you would think we were all done and ready to put in the other cars? Nope, as we had to make the lights invisible when the lights were off, so we added a window tint film in front of the lights which it made it hard to see the lights bright, during the day. The Producer said “nope it’s not going to work, thank you very much for coming out and thank you for your work, but we are just going to have to CGI it!”
So with our heads down low, we drove back to the warehouse. I must admit that I felt as though we had failed, keeping in mind we have never failed a job and have always come through. All that hard work was just swept away. They said that they would just put the light into the film, which in my opinion is a fake addition using “CGI” (computer-generated imagery) to add the light to the car. When I got back to the warehouse I told Ted, “Well I guess there’s one for the books, we failed! They didn’t like it. It wasn’t bright enough, or the light didn’t flow right. I understood now what they needed, but it was to late. If we knew that was what they were looking for we could have done it that way in the first place.” Ted replied, “can you make it the way that they want?” Of course my reply was “Yes!” So within a couple of days we completely redesigned the unit again, the way I thought it should be done. We built a new display unit with the new version of what we thought they wanted.
Category: Ford Motor Company, Tech
