Further Up Yonder

You are welcome to post subtitles in your language! Let's share the message.

A timelapse message from ISS to all Humankind. - 2K version available on my blog: http://wp.me/p2fVm6-bv
Facebook page - Making of coming soon! https://www.facebook.com/furtherupyonder

I wanted to use pictures taken from the International Space Station to tell a story and share the message sent by the astronauts who worked on the station in the last 11 years.

They are working to open a Gateway to Space for all humankind, but people on Earth must understand that they have to get rid of the concept of borders on our planet if they want to follow the astronauts to new worlds in outer space. While the cosmonauts speak a day passes on Earth, from dawn to sunset, until the Gateway opens with a burst of light. The ISS then gains speed and goes faster and faster, the astronauts are leaving our planet which they see spinning faster and faster, merging earth, oceans and people together, ready to follow them, Further Up Yonder.

Making of

As a filmmaking student, this was my first attempt to craft a timelapse video. It has been a time consuming process, but it turned out as one of my most satisfying projects.

I focused my workflow on colours and harmony of movements, syncing every frame with the music and the voices of the astronauts. Every picture has been post processed individually before being imported in the NLE software, as I tried to take the most out of every image in terms of colours, contrast and neatiness.

Pictures were downloaded from the Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, NASA Johnson Space Center and edited with Photoshop CS6. Even if they were Hi-res images shot with Nikon D3S cameras, a lot of noise removal and color correction was needed, especially for those shots at ISO 3200, which was the highest ISO speed limit I've allowed myself to use, exception made for the last sequence of the spinning world, which comes from a sequenze of shots taken at ISO 12800. Daytime shots were taken at ISO 200. I've used Topaz Denoise 5 for noise removal, as it is very powerful and accurate when dealing with shadows and blacks.

Editing was made with Adobe Premiere CS6, with a 2K workflow, which allowed me to scale, rotate and pan image sequences whose native resolution is 4K. The video was downscaled to 1280x720 resolution for Vimeo. The original 2K version is available for download on my blog (link on top of this description).
Credits

Images courtesy of Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, NASA Johnson Space Center, downloadable for non-commerical use from http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/

Music: Synthetic Truth, by digitalR3public - licensed under a Creative Commons - Attribution 3.0 License: http://soundcloud.com/digitalr3public/synthetic-truth

Audio messages courtesy of NASA: http://www.nasa.gov

Come cittadini del Mondo inviati al fronte più lontano

e come primo equipaggio della Stazione Spaziale Alpha

abbiamo iniziato con successo il nostro viaggio di esplorazione e scoperta

per preparare una base di partenza per gli uomini e le donne che viaggeranno

e vivranno in luoghi lontani dal nostro pianeta di origine.

Stiamo aprendo un Portale per lo Spazio

per l'intera umanità.

Mentre viaggiamo intorno al pianeta ogni 90 minuti

vediamo un mondo senza confini e mandiamo il nostro augurio

che tutte le Nazioni possano lavorare per la pace e l'armonia.

Il nostro mondo è cambiato in modo incredibile,

la Stazione Spaziale Internazionale è la prova tangibile che le Nazioni possono lavorare insieme in armonia

e che possono promuovere la pace e la cooperazione globale, raggiungendo risultati che vanno oltre l'immaginazione.

Questa notte vorremmo condividere con tutti

la fortuna che abbiamo in questa avventura nello Spazio

la nostra meraviglia ed eccitazione nel contemplare lo splendore della Terra

e la forte sensazione che lo spirito umano di fare, di esplorare e di scoprire

non conosce limiti.

Sono tempi duri in tutto il mondo

ma questo è un momento in cui tutti possiamo pensare

a stare insieme e far tesoro del nostro pianeta

del quale abbiamo una vista piuttosto bella da quassù.