Ellipse - A SCI-FI-LONDON Production
A science fiction short film that spans centuries and galaxies. Using real data from the Kepler mission and the history of the Royal Observatory Greenwich, Ellipse is a film to inspire and encourage kids to study, be it science or the creative arts. You can help us make this!.
So what's it about?
LEO is from another world, many light years from Earth. He is a player in an intergalactic game, travelling to other worlds and planting the seed of knowledge about whether we are alone in the universe.
On Earth he has tried many times to point us toward the truth but our technology and the recipients of his 'sharing' have not been able to take the steps needed to unlock the secret.
Then he finds RO, an exceptionally bright girl who he draws into the game. She becomes fated to study astrophysics and as a grown up astronomer, her research leads her to identify a particular comet and send a lander to explore it.
How does science and history figure in this scifi movie?
Firstly,the film begins over 400 years ago at The Queen's House. We meet Louise de Kerouille, a mistress to Charles II. She was responsible for convincing the King to create the observatory as a way to map the stars and solve the problem of longitude, an amazing woman.
Next, the whole of Ro's study and the data seen in the film from the alien world is from NASA's Kepler mission and the amazing app called EXOPLANET. Hanno Rein, from the Institute of Advanced Study at Princeton has chosen several stars with exoplanets to be discussed on screen and in the educational pack we are producing to support the film for schools, this will be written by Dr Lewis Dartnell and Marek Kukula, the Public Astronomer at the ROG.
Also, the whole film Is being made in collaboration with the Royal Observatory Greenwich, home of the the Prime Meridian.
You need a lot of money, what's it for?
We have a small budget for this film, but larger than normal crowd-funded shorts. This is because we want to make sure we get the best crew, props and look for the film. It will have a wider reach if we make it a quality production. We have cut as many corners as we can, but as we all know, film making costs a lot of money. We really need every penny and hope you can participate in making it happen. Remember, even if you cannot donate, we would ask you to spread the word about the project.
As well as our eternal thanks, we have some cool rewards below. Thanks for reading and check back for news about the production as we progress.
About the team:
The film is being made by director, Ilana Rein, who made the fantastic documentary WE ARE ALL CYLONS, which has received much critical acclaim. As a women director, she is keen to see more women direct science fiction film.
Our producer is our very own, Louis Savy, founder and festival director for SCI-FI-LONDON. Louis has produced many corporate videos in his time and as the programmer for his festival, seen over 10,000 scifi shorts and features. Putting his head on the block he thinks it is about he made a scifi film.
We are also excited to have TERRITORY a leading motion effects company working with us on special effects... they recently worked on Prometheus!
We have assembled a cast of superb character actors with many years experience. Check the image below!