Production, Filmmaking and
cinematography reels
One Sky
short: Thunderbird
16x9 crop from Thunderbird, a fulldome short film from the award-winning One Sky feature film
For us, the Diné, or Navajo people, there is a whole world of living beings who help us here on Earth. They whisper to us when to plant seeds, when to expect the return of spring… The sky connects us to changes on Earth.
The film is the result of a very inspiring and enriching collaboration with Nancy C. Maryboy and David Begay (both experts in Navajo Astronomy), the One Sky Project collaborative and Navajo artists Melvin Bainbridge and Delbert Anderson.
The film’s visual is made from CGI imagery to recreate the vistas of Monument Valley in Arizona, accurate astronomical sky renditions and paintings.
Co-directed by Sébastien Gauthier
Produced by Sébastien Gauthier 360 Productions
ONE SKY Trailer
Sébastien Gauthier 360 Productions and One Sky Project present One Sky
Regarding the domemaster format.
The image format used in planetariums is called the domemaster format. It’s a polar, or circular, representation of an image to be projected on the hemispherical shaped screen of a planetarium.
The domemaster is hard to “read” at first. The center of the circle represents the zenith, the top of the screen, while the peripheral represents the surroundings, near the horizon of the dome. Generally speaking, the bottom of the image represents South while the North is up, East is left and West is on the right-hand side.
To imagine yourself underneath and surrounded by the domemaster helps to interpret the image.
Here’s a series of domemaster frames examples with an “unfolded” cylindrical projection for reference.
ONE SKY
Full Feature film
Award-winning movie One Sky is a collection of beautiful short films about constellations, astronomical instruments and scientific knowledge from various cultures around the world. Each chapter is presented in an original and engaging way with its own artistic style featuring the work of international artists.
This innovative project has no equivalent in the fulldome world. The production was made in about 18 months. Sébastien Gauthier 360 Productions hired a worldwide team of more than 40 artists, technicians and specialists to make the seven films in such a short time. For each of the short, at least two lead artists or scientists from the corresponding culture worked at all stages of the production to ensure the authenticity of the science, the style, the spirituality.
The One Sky Project recognizes our world’s many cultures and communities with strong connections to the stars. Traditional knowledge and practice continue to inform the active exploration of our universe today and we honor those societies and Indigenous explorers who came first. Our project seeks to build relationships within and between all people who share our One Sky.
The forge of Artemis 00:08
Thunderbird 05:50
Jai Singh’s Dream 13:15
Celestial Canoe 20:34
Samurai and the Stars 27:39
Hawaiian Wayfinders 33:12
Epilogue 40:06
Directed by Sébastien Gauthier et al.
Produced by Sébastien Gauthier 360 Productions
EXO, are we alone
Diversity scene
Excerpt from award-winning movie Exo, are we alone
This scene is a good example of the innovative and fulldome cinematography of Sébastien Gauthier. Everything you see is from live-action footage, including all the animals and plants. No synthetic computer imagery is involved until the time code 05:10 where the story evolves into space.
Many custom-made dollies, camera controllers, underwater housings and lenses had to be made to accomplish those shots. All made at the Sébastien Gauthier 360 Productions workshop.
Written, directed and filmed by Sébastien Gauthier
An Espace pour la vie / Planetarium Rio Tinto Alcan / Ville de Montréal Production
EXO, are we alone
Mauna Kea scene
Excerpt from award-winning movie Exo, are we alone
Most of this scene was filmed on the Mauna Kea summit on Big Island, Hawai’i at an altitude of 4200 m. The sequence shows very innovative filming inside the Gemini North observatory using complex dolly movements and vertical traveling.
It also shows very high resolution timelapses filmed during the day and the night. There is a shot with a 360°, multicamera “holy grail” time-lapse, a very precise and difficult technique to capture the transition from day to night in one single shot. Sébastien Gauthier 360 Productions is the world leader in this technique that has numerous applications for planetariums.
The shot to illustrate the glow from a star is made from real live-action footage filmed with the 1.60m telescope at the Mount-Megantic Observatory in Canada.
Written, directed and filmed by Sébastien Gauthier
An Espace pour la vie / Planetarium Rio Tinto Alcan / Ville de Montréal Production
EXO, are we alone
Habitable zone scene
Excerpt from award-winning movie Exo, are we alone
An example of a well-made immersive CG scene and a well-written voice-over to explain the habitable zone and the spectroscopic method to study exoplanets’ atmospheres.
Written, directed and filmed by Sébastien Gauthier
An Espace pour la vie / Planetarium Rio Tinto Alcan / Ville de Montréal Production
EXO, are we alone
green bank radio telescope
and milky way pull out scene
Excerpt from award-winning movie Exo, are we alone
To capture the spectacular Green Bank 100m radio telescope, Sébastien Gauthier developed a custom stabilization gimbal and a “steadycam” style harness to make handheld traveling around and into the giant dish. Using field of views up to 360° x 235° the live-action shots are truly immersive and shows the site in a very unique way.
In the second part, the CG sequences slowly reveal the enormous distances between stars and ultimately between galaxies. The mysterious and contemplative mood in the scene shows very well the challenges of communicating with potential alien worlds.
Written, directed and filmed by Sébastien Gauthier
An Espace pour la vie / Planetarium Rio Tinto Alcan / Ville de Montréal Production
EXO, are we alone
Exoplanet transit scene
Excerpt from award-winning movie Exo, are we alone
Another example of a well-made immersive CG scene and a well-written voice-over, this time to illustrate the transit method. Note the delicate and beautiful 3D particles work to illustrate the gas giant’s loss of atmosphere into space.
Written, directed and filmed by Sébastien Gauthier
An Espace pour la vie / Planetarium Rio Tinto Alcan / Ville de Montréal Production
EXO, are we alone
Closing scene
Excerpt from award-winning movie Exo, are we alone
Written, directed and filmed by Sébastien Gauthier
An Espace pour la vie / Planetarium Rio Tinto Alcan / Ville de Montréal Production
Aurorae
ancestors scene
Excerpt from Aurōrae
Gauthier often likes to present a contemporary face to different astronomical cultural stories. This current and often urban vision allows visitors to bring the story to life.
Co-eritten, co-directed and filmed by Sébastien Gauthier
An Espace pour la vie / Planetarium Rio Tinto Alcan / Ville de Montréal Production
Aurorae
Earth’s magnetosphere scene
Excerpt from Aurōrae
In this magnificent scene from Aurōrae, the Earth's magnetosphere is presented with gentleness, delicacy and majesty. Very precise camera movement and elegant sound design make the scene a hit.
Co-eritten, co-directed and filmed by Sébastien Gauthier
An Espace pour la vie / Planetarium Rio Tinto Alcan / Ville de Montréal Production
Aurorae
Coronal mass ejection scene
Excerpt from Aurōrae
Here, a coronal mass ejection hits the magnetosphere. Everything is first said very clearly by sound and image without any words. Once the action is complete, a short and effective concluding text follows.
This shows an example of good writing and good directing where the visual content, the music, the sound effects and the voice-over are juxtaposed in a delicate and ordered manner in such a way that the scene is beautiful, clear, emotional and educational.
Co-written, co-directed and filmed by Sébastien Gauthier
An Espace pour la vie / Planetarium Rio Tinto Alcan / Ville de Montréal Production
One day on mars
impact scene
Excerpt from One Day… on Mars
Very nice work of lighting, textures and camera movement. Here, the meteorite bombardment of Mars is shown in sound.
Produced by Sébastien Gauthier
An Espace pour la vie / Planetarium Rio Tinto Alcan / Ville de Montréal Production
Tempo
Montreal’s Place d’armes scene
Excerpt from Tempo
Tempo is a film about time and the connection between humans and the sky. The viewer is transported into the story from a LIDAR scan of the Place d'Armes in downtown Montreal.
Co-written, co-directed and produced by Sébastien Gauthier
An Espace pour la vie / Planetarium Rio Tinto Alcan / Ville de Montréal Production
Pluto
Chronicles of an ex-planet
Pluto telescope scene
Voiceless excerpt from Pluto: Chronicles of an ex-planet
In preparation for the historical fly by of New Horizon over Pluto and its moon Charon on July 14, 2015, we decided to make a film about Pluto; the scientific and the human journey that lead to its discovery.
In this multi-shot scene, filmed in Arizona, the wide field of view shot from Sedona is establishing Arizona. The following scene reveals the magnificent Lowell observatory and the famous “Pluto” telescope used by Clyde Tombaugh to discover Pluto in 1930.
Sébastien Gauthier and his team are one of the few to have made immersive fulldome footage in this historical building. For the production of the film in 2015, the wooden dome was open to the sky for the first time since a long time resulting in those spectacular shots of the telescope.
Produced and filmed by Sébastien Gauthier
An Espace pour la vie / Planetarium Rio Tinto Alcan / Ville de Montréal Production
Worlds of Ice
Making-Of
Excerpt from the Worlds of Ice making-of
This documentary shows the work of Sébastien Gauthier 360 Productions providing custom solutions for filming complex immersive images in a very low temperature situation.
Ice studio filming Sébastien Gauthier
A National Filmboard of Canada Production