NASA is holding a short film contest called CineSpace, and one entry, Exploration, by Ryan J. Thompson caught our eye. It’s the perfect movie-style trailer to show off NASA’s scientific legacy.
With a voice over from President John F. Kennedy, Thompson has picked out a dramatic set of archival footage shot from space and a mix of his own footage that recreates a period feel of wonder, all set to a great soundtrack.
Speaking to Lens Distortion, Thompson noted that his motivation came with the space race itself:
When I think of NASA, as I’m sure is the case with most people, I immediately jump to the space race and man landing on the moon. I think of pride and ambition and wanted to celebrate that in this short, so that was my starting point. I came up with several ideas which I still like and will hopefully use in the future as my own shorts. These were more narrative and sci-fi based, but my mind kept going to a sort of compilation/documentary summation style – shots jumping back and forth between time, between archive footage, between people and space.
There’s a lot of these films out there on the internet, but this is probably one of the better ones that we’ve seen, capturing a spine-chilling feeling of excitement and optimism for space.