This suburban Baltimore tech company played a key role in Apple TV+’s ‘Lady in the Lake’

Raphael’s Owings Mills-based Direct Dimensions, which scans people, buildings and props for movies and shows, was one of the local businesses involved in “Lady in the Lake,” which debuted Friday on Apple TV+. 

The series, filmed in Baltimore and based on The New York Times bestselling novel by local author and journalist Laura Lippman, generated more than $100 million for the state and looped in 2,456 local businesses — including Direct Dimensions — according to the Maryland Department of Commerce. 

“Baltimore went above and beyond for this one,” said Jack Gerbes, the director of the Maryland Film Office, which is housed under the Commerce Department. 

Directed and created by Alma Har’el, the adaptation follows an investigative journalist, played by Natalie Portman, working to solve and find the connection between the murders of a Black woman and a young Jewish girl in 1960s Baltimore. 

Gerbes said that the production filmed in metro Baltimore over about 100 days in 2022. Direct Dimensions worked on the series for about a month of that time, according to Raphael, who’s the company’s CEO and president of the company. 

As part of this work, Raphael’s team scanned people and buildings for several different purposes: to figure out camera angles, extend sets to look bigger on screen or help with special effects or stunts that are not safe to do. 

Basically, Direct Dimensions does the opposite of 3D printing, Raphael said. 

“We take things in the physical world, anything from big to little, and we digitize them or scan them and put them into the computer,” he explained to Technical.ly. 

Other than scanning for movies, Direct Dimensions provides industrial scanning services for cars and airplanes. It also scans buildings for architects and art for museums and historic preservation purposes. 

The firm scanned three of the series’ actors at its facility in Owings Mills, including Moses Ingram, Portman’s costar and a Baltimore native who previously acted in Netflix’s “The Queen’s Gambit” and Disney+’s “Obi-Wan Kenobi.” 

While Portman was not captured for this project, Direct Dimensions had scanned her previously for “Black Swan,” one of the first films the company worked on. Using Direct Dimensions’ data, the production was able to place Portman’s face and body on a dancer. Working on “Lady in the Lake” was thus a “full circle” moment, Raphael said. 

Perks for production in Maryland 

“Lady in the Lake” is one of several high-profile films and TV shows that were filmed in the state. “House of Cards,” filmed in a warehouse in nearby Harford County for many years, and Direct Dimensions provided scanning services for the last season of the show. 

When projects like “Lady in the Lake” or “House of Cards” film in the state, it puts Baltimore in the spotlight, the state’s film office leader Gerbes said. This helps with tourism and, in turn, the local economy. 

The state also offers tax incentives for filming here, Gerbes explained, which is also common in other jurisdictions. In Maryland, productions receive 30% of the money they directly spent in the state back as a tax credit. 

When Gerbes and his team saw that Lippman sold her book’s television rights, he got in touch with the production company to get the series be filmed in Maryland — just like a salesperson, he said. 

Gerbes recommended Direct Dimensions to the “Lady in the Lake” production team, too. Years ago, Gerbes got connected with Raphael and ultimately toured the company’s facility. Gerbes was “blown away,” he said. 

“We want them [producers] to buy local as much as they can,” Gerbes told Technical.ly. “We wouldn’t be doing our job if we weren’t promoting the local companies to benefit from the films that come here.”

Filming this project in the state was not entirely smooth, though. Production halted in late August of 2022, with initial reports saying that a group threatened extortion and violence if filming continued. These reports were eventually scaled back by Baltimore police.  

Raphael’s team, but not Raphael himself, was onsite that Friday afternoon. They were told to stay in their vehicle after they arrived to scan a building downtown for the series, but were sent home after the situation.

How the 3D scanning works

Direct Dimensions used several different tools and rigs to scan people, buildings and objects, Raphael explained. 

For scanning individuals, he and his team developed a cylinder that’s 20 feet in diameter and about 10 feet tall, complete with 160 cameras. 

A person will stand in the cylinder and strike a pose, and all of the cameras will capture data at one time, Raphael said. Then, using software, the team converts those many images into an accurate 3D model. Capturing the image takes a split second, and the conversion takes a few hours, per Raphael. 

Direct Dimensions has scanned people outside of the film world, too. For example, it’s scanned State Sen. Bill Ferguson and House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones. This is part of Raphael’s work as a board member for the Regional Manufacturing Institute of Maryland, which aims to boost manufacturing in the state.

He provided scans for these officials as a way to showcase advanced technology, he explained. 

Raphael also noted that with filming movies and shows, there’s little interaction between actors and the team. While it can be surreal to work on these sets with a star-studded cast like “Lady in the Lake’s,” set etiquette is a priority. 

“There’s no snapping pictures,” he said. “Everything’s top secret. That’s the way movies are. That’s the way it’s done.” 

This story has been updated to clarify the order of events related to alleged confrontations that led to a halt of production on “Lady in the Lake” in August 2022. (7/19/2024, 9:50 a.m.)