538em;">Andrew Stewart | Manager, Corporate
Communications
IMAX Fans!
In anticipation of tomorrow’s blue-carpet premiere of
A Beautiful Planet, I thought it would be fun for this
week’s FRIDAY FEATURE to throw out some interesting tidbits about
the film and those who made it all happen.
For those of you who aren’t yet aware of the film (narrated by
Jennifer Lawrence!), it’s a breathtaking portrait of Earth captured
by the astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS),
providing a unique perspective and increased understanding of our
planet — and the effects humanity has had on it over time.
So without further ado:
1)
This time it’s all about digital:For the first
time on an IMAX space documentary, the filmmakers, led by director
Toni Myers and d.p. James Neihouse, chose to use digital cameras on
the production. They spent roughly three years selecting the
equipment which, most importantly, allowed the astronauts to shoot
at night.
“What the digital capture did was
totally open up that night world to us, with stars, cities at
night, lightning and other phenomena that you see at night like
Aurora,” Myers says.
2)
Serious mileage:Throughout the course of shooting,
the cameras spent approximately 15 months in space aboard the ISS,
traveling more than 180 million miles! That’s roughly 7,228 trips
around the Earth!
3)
Talk about information overload:In total, the
astronauts on board the ISS captured a quarter of a million still
photographs and between 10 and 12 terabytes of footage, enough to
cause one of the buildings at the Johnson Space Flight Center in
Houston to crash on occasion!
4)
Santa baby:While stationed on the ISS, some of the
crew left bags of milk and freeze-dried cookies in the air-lock for
Santa. Ho! Ho! Ho!
5)
“Veggie” experiment:For the first time, U.S. crew
members have eaten a crop grown in space. Flight Engineer Dr. Kjell
N. Lindgren watered and nurtured a crop of lettuce as part of his
mission aboard the ISS. Next up: Mars!
Lindgren recalls: “To have something
green and growing in there was very psychologically
beneficial.”
6)
Growth spurt:During his time aboard the ISS,
Commander Terry Virts actually grew nearly two inches due to zero
gravity!
7)
The Cupola:The largest set of windows ever flown
in space, the Cupola consists of seven windows arranged in a
hemisphere that provides a 180-degree field-of-view for the
astronauts. It was the first time ever that it was used in an IMAX
film!
8)
Bump and grind (or not):In order to keep the
Cupola clean and scratch-free, IMAX designed an exclusive bump
shield made of a special space-rated clear material that was flown
into space and installed on the Cupola.
9)
JLaw’s V.O. ambition:Before ever signing on
to narrate
A Beautiful Planet, Jennifer Lawrence was quoted in 2014 a
People articlesaying she actually wanted to do voiceover work
post-
Hunger Games!
10)
Astronaut training:During their extensive history
with IMAX, Toni Myers and Graeme Ferguson — the co-founder and past
president of IMAX Corp. — have trained more than 120 astronauts and
cosmonauts to use IMAX cameras!
11)
Animated throwback composers:In addition to
scoring some of the most iconic IMAX documentaries, as well as
having worked with such music legends as Natalie Cole and Robbie
Coltrane, film composers Micky Erbe and Maribeth Solomon have
composed songs and scores to many animated projects such as
Babarand
Care Bears. Bring on the 90’s nostalgia!
These are just some of the fun and interesting facts on
A Beautiful Planet! Make sure you catch the film when it
launches exclusively in IMAX and IMAX® 3D beginning April 29.
See you there!
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