Stardust: A Short Animation
This short animation, titled Stardust, is the work of Dutch designer/director Mischa Rozema. Utilizing an amazing combination of actual images from space exploration as well as CGI modeling, Rozema stunningly blends art and science is his moving tribute to loss, space exploration, and the Voyager 1 probe. The film is Rozema’s nod to Dutch graphic designer Arjan Groot, who died of cancer at age 39 in July of 2011, as well as his reminder that, as said by the late Carl Sagan, we are made of stardust. Rozema is the creative director of the Dutch hybrid film production company –PostPanic.
The film’s story centers on the thought that in the grand scheme of the universe nothing is ever wasted, and there is great comfort to be found in us all essentially being stardust. Voyager, and its Golden Record, represents the memories of our loved ones and our lives which, in this sense, will never disappear.
Rozema says of the film, ‘I wanted to show the universe as a beautiful but also destructive place. It’s somewhere we all have to find our place within. As a director, making Stardust was a very personal experience but it’s not intended to be a personal film and I would want people to attach their own meanings to the film so that they can also find comfort based on their own histories and lives.’
Credits:
A PostPanic Production
Written & directed by Mischa Rozema
Produced by Jules Tervoort
VFX Supervisor: Ivor Goldberg
Associate VFX Supervisor: Chris Staves
Senior digital artists: Matthijs Joor, Jeroen Aerts
Digital artists: Marti Pujol, Silke Finger, Mariusz Kolodziejczak, Dieuwer Feldbrugge, Cara To, Jurriën Boogert
Camera & edit: Mischa Rozema
Production: Ania Markham, Annejes van Liempd
Audio by Pivot Audio , Guy Amitai
Featuring “Helio” by Ruben Samama
Copyright 2013 Post Panic BV, All rights reserved
– For more information on the Voyager probe please check out my Dec 9, 2012 post Voyager 1 and The Magnetic Highway.
Stunning! Brilliant art work!
February 4, 2013 at 8:32 pm
Agreed Guapo!
February 5, 2013 at 5:32 pm
Fantastic!
February 5, 2013 at 5:42 am
I’m glad you enjoyed it Doug!
February 5, 2013 at 5:32 pm
Alex, your blogs amaze me. What a fantastic way to start the morning. Thanks!
February 5, 2013 at 8:48 am
It’s how I start just about every morning Pat — space and a LOT of coffee! I’m glad you liked it.
February 5, 2013 at 5:46 pm
That was really beautiful. I love the idea that a record of our existence will still be out there long after we’re gone.
This idea reminds me of one of my favorite Nietzsche quotes (which is in keeping with the stellar theme):
And like a dying star is every work of your virtue: its light is always still on its way and it wanders – And when will light no longer be on its way? Thus the light of your virtue is still on its way even when the work has been done. Though it be forgotten and dead, the ray of its light still lives and wanders. That your virtue is your self and not something foreign, a skin, a cloak, that is the truth from the foundation of your soul, you who are virtuous.
February 5, 2013 at 12:44 pm
I love the idea of a record of our existence being on it’s way into interstellar space! And wow, I also like that bit from Nietzsche. It’s very fitting in this context. Thus Spoke Zarathustra, yes?
February 5, 2013 at 5:58 pm
You nailed it! And I hope this doesn’t sound creepy, because it’s a beautiful thing to me, but that quote (up to the word “done”) is what I had inscribed on my mom’s headstone.
February 5, 2013 at 6:01 pm
Creepy? No way, that is awesome Smak. In fact, I’m more than a little impressed. And, I only nailed it because I read the book a couple of months ago. It’s definitely not what comes to mind instantly when thinking of a quote from Nietzsche.
February 5, 2013 at 6:06 pm
Brilliant – I really enjoyed that. I do find it strangely comforting.
February 5, 2013 at 4:05 pm
So do I Richard, comforting and exciting at the same time. (If that makes any sense at all!)
February 5, 2013 at 6:01 pm
Reblogged this on L'amore e forte come la morte.
February 5, 2013 at 7:33 pm
Thank you Carina!
February 6, 2013 at 7:37 am
thank you
you always have such great posts, sorry have not been around much, tough winter this year
be well !
February 6, 2013 at 8:30 am
You’re welcome anytime Carina! Thank you
February 6, 2013 at 10:32 am
I think I like the idea of being stardust much better than simply fading away…
February 6, 2013 at 9:13 am
I agree Chica, and I think you might appreciate this quote by Neil deGrasse Tyson — Recognize that the very molecules that make up your body, the atoms that construct the molecules, are traceable to the crucibles that were once the centers of high mass stars that exploded their chemically rich guts into the galaxy, enriching pristine gas clouds with the chemistry of life. So that we are all connected to each other biologically, to the earth chemically and to the rest of the universe atomically.
February 6, 2013 at 10:34 am
Very nice quote! Thank you for sharing.
February 9, 2013 at 8:17 am
It’s one of my favorites!
February 9, 2013 at 8:27 am
So beautiful! Thank you so much for showing me this.
February 6, 2013 at 2:40 pm
You’re very welcome, I’m glad you liked it!
February 6, 2013 at 4:28 pm
Very, very nice!! That would be something to see on the big screen with a good sound system! It reminds me vaguely of the film, Koyaanisqatsi (do you know it?).
February 11, 2013 at 6:09 pm
I do know it, yes, but it’s been a VERY long time since I’ve seen it. I’m not sure I would agree with it’s anti-technology message. (I’m not very big on warnings of impending doom.) Then again, maybe I should watch it again.
February 12, 2013 at 7:40 am
I don’t think that’s the message behind the film. We all kind of thought that back in the day, and I was surprised when (to my delight) I stumbled on DVDs of the first two films in a video store. The films really are just tone poems that document our modern technological life… which I’m sure you’d agree has elements that shouldn’t make us proud.
If you recall, one of the first images in the film is that super-slo-mo close up of the Saturn 5 taking off. That’s some techno-lust (practically techno porn!) right there!
All three films make some pointed observations, but I’ve always found them accurate and about what is more than Cassandra-style pleadings.
(And the Philip Glass score… a huge item on the pro side of any ledger sheet!)
February 12, 2013 at 12:21 pm
I’m not sure I know what a tone poem is, and we may have to agree to disagree on this one.
To be honest, as I’ve said, I really don’t remember much about it. I don’t remember the Saturn V in the beginning, but I do kinda remember Saturn V images being used towards the end as well as an Atlas-Centaur explosion. I don’t recall thinking these images were presented as good things. And I did walk away with the impression of having a finger of grave warning wagged in my face.
I’m thinking you most likely have a much better understanding, and appreciation, of the work than I.
February 13, 2013 at 1:52 pm
Technically a tone poem is a symphonic work that tells a tells a strong tale and may leverage instruments or arrangements in a way to simulate reality.
Metaphorically, in cinema, it refers to a film that uses images and music to tell a story or evoke strong feelings. For my money, the movie 2001 is the canonical tone poem. Ironic in that Strauss is one of the composers well-known for tone poem symphonies (such as Also Sprach Z.).
I couldn’t find a YouTube clip of the opening, but this NASA footage is what they used in the film.
I have the advantage in having seen the film more recently, plus I’ve read what Reggio and Glass have said about the film and their intentions making it. It is an artistic observation of modern life (that, yes, is sometimes pointed), but really not intended to be a dogmatic piece.
February 13, 2013 at 4:13 pm