First Orbit A new film of Yuri Gagarin's flight, created to celebrate the first 50 years of human spaceflight

摘要

To mark the 50~(th) anniversary of human spaceflight on the 12~(th) April 2011 a feature-length film. First Orbit, was produced to bring the story of Yuri Gagarin to a new generation. In collaboration with the European Space Agency, NASA, Roscosmos and the Expedition 25 through 27 crews on board the International Space Station (ISS), a new view of Earth was recorded from the station. It was filmed over several weeks as the ISS passed over the same ground track at the same time of day as Vostok-1 had done on its flight. The resulting footage was edited together with the original voice recordings from Gagarin's mission and a new musical score from composer Philip Sheppard. On the 12th April 2011 the film was premiered on YouTube, generating the largest audience for a long-form film release in the web site's history. During the same month the film was screened at over 1600 venues in more than 130 countries around the world; making it one of the most widely released independent films of all time. This paper presents a description of the whole project; from the conception and production of the film, to a comprehensive analysis of how this experimental documentary and its associated media were received around the world, while outlining plans for its future development.