Mission Control Space Services

• Genre: Documentary styled promotion / education
• Client overview: Over the Sun worked with Mission Control Space Services of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada to film three weeks testing two semi-autonomous rovers in the high desert of White Sands National Monument. The content is used to produce educational, promotional, and documentary short films and videos.
• Status: Footage was shot at the White Sands National Park, New Mexico in March of 2018. The first video was completed in October. Additional videos are now in production …
• Learn more at Mission Control Space Services

 

LIGO-SAAO Binary Neutron Star Merger

• Date: October 2017
• Genre: Documentary, short film
• Storyline: On August 17, 2017, for the first time in history, gravitational waves generated by two merging neutron stars were detected by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatories (LIGO). And for the same event, gamma ray, x-ray, ultraviolet, optical, infrared, and radio observations were recorded. This world-wide collaboration of more than 70 observatories and hundreds of research institutions opens the new era in multi-messenger astronomy. The South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) and the Southern Africa Large Telescope (SALT) located in Sutherland, South Africa, played a prominent role in this historic astronomical event.
• Watch the film

 

I am Palestine

• Date: July 2016
• Genre: Documentary, short film
• Storyline: This film brings us into schools, places of work, and homes in Palestine where we receive stories, both encouraging and challenging.
• Webpage

 

Song of the Stars

• Date: January 2017
• Genre: Live performance, feature film
• Storyline: In this original fusion of science and dance, you will travel through the vast cosmos, witnessing the first stars sparking a revolution from total darkness, the fatal love of two galaxies, and a cataclysmic death that brings hope to a new generation. Told through the beauty, grace, and power of contemporary dance, Song of the Stars features performances by Seven Dance Company woven into a narration by astrophysicist Paul Sutter.
• Premiere: The March 2016 Kickstarter campaign successfully raised $25,000. On April 21, Over the Sun’s Kai Staats, Leonardo Buono, Joe Chilcott, and Colleen Cooley captured the one-time live performance at the Capitol Theatre, Columbus, Ohio. On Saturday, January 28, 2017 the film, edited by Kai with an original musical score by Joe premiered at the Gateway Film Theater in downtown Columbus, Ohio, as announced on News Channel Fox28. The film played across the U.S. on PBS member stations, for the months of June, July, and August, reaching a potential of 50 million viewers.
• Trailer | Website and full film

 

LIGO Detection

• Date: February 2017
• Genre: Documentary, short film
• Storyline: On September 14, 2015 the twin Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) detectors measured ripples in the fabric of spacetime – gravitational waves – generated by the merger of two massive black holes over one billion light years from Earth. This, the third film in the series, explains the effort required to validate the detection and then celebrates this incredible event.
• Webpage | Amazon Prime

 

LIGO – Generations

• Date: January 2015
• Genre: Documentary, short film
• Storyline: Generations tells the story of four generations of researchers and scientists who have dedicated their lives to one of the most advanced astronomical tools on the planet, in search of evidence for the final, missing piece to Einstein’s theory of general relativity. Funded by the National Science Foundation, this film is the 2nd in a series which began with LIGO, A Passion for Understanding.
• Webpage | Amazon Prime

 

LIGO – A Passion for Understanding

• Date: April 2014
• Genre: Documentary, short film
• Storyline: A Passion for Understanding brings to life one of the most important astronomical tools of our time while telling the human story of creativity, passion, and drive to understand the very fabric of the Universe in which we live.
• Webpage | Amazon Prime

 

SALT Collateral Benefits Program

• Date: April 2016
• Genre: Promotional, short film
• Storyline: The SALT Collateral Benefits Programme (SCBP) was established during the construction of SALT (Southern African Large Telescope) as a means to utilise the knowledge, technology and other available resources within the SAAO and similar institutions in order to facilitate education enhancement, science communication, socio-economic development and public engagement and thereby contribute to the improvement of the quality of life of all people within reach.
• Watch the film

 

Monitor Gray

• Date: January 2014
• Genre: Science Fiction, short film
• Storyline: In the shadow of a shattered U.S. economy where States are seceding from the Union, one man gains prominence, wealth, and power by defeating cancer through what he claims is the hand of God. Monitor Gray tells of the rise to power of a City-State which promises heaven on Earth for those who are willing to succumb; and of a love that binds, over distance and through time.
• Webpage

 

MarsCrew134 Analog

• Date: January 2014
• Genre: Documentary, short film
• Storyline: On January 18, 2014 a crew of six highly qualified scientists and engineers and one documentary film maker entered the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in the high, winter desert near Hanksville, Utah, for the duration of two weeks.
• Webpage

 

Chasing Asteroid 1998 QE2

• Date: May 2013
• Genre: Educational, Documentary
• Storyline: This was produced for the South African Astronomical Observatory as an experiment in how a short, documentary style film may be effective in presenting the very real intrigue and enthusiasm for science as enjoyed by scientists themselves. Astronomy in particular is a field of research which engages the public in a direct, life-long interest in what we see in the dark night skies.

  “If astronomers received this kind of coverage for the public to see on a daily basis, as well as astronomy projects around the world … it would be invaluable for the entire field. Astronomy has so many aspects that it touches, and no one has ever brought that to the attention of the public,” —JC Mauduit, IAU Office of Astronomy for Development.

• Watch the film

 

The Archaeological Site at the Church of the Redeemer

• Date: October 2012
• Genre: Historic Education, Promotion
• Storyline: During my volunteer position as Interim Communications Assistant for Bishop Munib Younan of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan & the Holy Land (ELCJHL), East Jerusalem, Palestine, I was given opportunity to work with the Germany Archaeological Institute to produce a short, edu-promo film about the four year effort to prepare the historic site beneath the Church of the Redeemer in the Old City of Jerusalem.What was uncovered far below the city streets surprised the archaeologists, and is astounding to everyone who visits.
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