few concerns about the plot point. Refining the script meant facing the realities of budget constraints. The initial proposal included location shooting in Hawaii, Idaho, and the Midwestern United States, and the total budget was over $30 million. The budget dropped to $25 million after negotiations. A revised version of the script from March 1994 incorporated feedback from the producers, studio, actors, and director. The writers changed one sequence where Harriman trained his predecessors in the Enterprise-B's operation after Shatner felt the scene's joke went too far. Picard's personal tragedy was written as his brother Robert's heart attack, but Stewart suggested the loss of his entire family to add emotional impact. The opening sequence took place on the solar observatory with two Rosencrantz and Guildenstern-influenced characters talking shortly before an enemy attack; Next Generation writer Jeri Taylor suggested that the opening should be something "fun", leading to the switch to the holodeck scene. Nimoy turned down the chance to direct the feature. The producers chose David Carson. The British director had no feature film experience, but had directed several episodes of Star Trek, including the popular Next Generation episode "Yesterday's Enterprise" and the Deep Space Nine pilot "Emissary". Design Star Trek veteran Herman Zimmerman served as production designer, collaborating with illustrator John Eaves for many designs. Zimmerman's approach to realizing a vision of the future was to take existing designs and use them in a different manner to express living in the future. Taking cues from director Nicholas Meyer's approach to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Zimmerman noted that future humanity will still have the same furniture needs, so a logical approach was to start with what would remain the same and work from there. Transitioning from television to film meant that sets and designs needed to be more detailed, with a higher level of polish to stand up on the big screen. Zimmerman felt obliged to improve the sets fans had watched for seven seasons, especially the bridge. Zimmerman repainted the set, added computer consoles, raised the captain's chair for a more commanding presence, and reworked the bridge's ceiling struts; he had always been unhappy with how the ceiling looked, but never had the time or money to rework it. The script called for an entirely new location on the Enterprise-D: stellar cartography. The script described the location as a small room with maps on one wall.