OUR PALE BLUE DOT - A note to Judges from Writer/Director Victoria Weeks!!Our Pale Blue Dot was originally created for NOAA’s Science On a Sphere (SOS) exhibit, available in over 100 museums worldwide. As such, it was designed to be displayed on a 6-foot diameter sphere. At the beginning of the film is a short video that gives some background for SOS. Watching it will also provide you with good visual perspective SOS.!!We intended to enter this film into “Best Media Installation” as it seemed an ideal category. With the recent cancellation of that category in this year’s JHSMA competition, we have decided to enter it into the Integrated/Cross Platform category. We feel this is also a great fit for several reasons.!!First, while NOAA’s SOS exhibit may be the ideal platform for the film, there are other spherical platforms that will be able to show this film; among them, Magic Planet and iGlobe. In addition, we have taken the film to schools and community events via a portable mini-sphere system. Our Pale Blue Dot premiered on SOS in New York City this year during the World Science Festival in May. It was shared with the SOS community during the SOS Users Conference at the Science Museum of Minnesota in June. It has also been seen by a number of small groups in intimate settings.!

However, the film is not limited purely to spherical display systems! I have found that rendering spherical films onto virtual spheres for traditional HD screens allows its message to reach a much larger audience, including classrooms and the general public, via desktop and mobile devices.!!

!!We have been showing Our Pale Blue Dot on spheres and mini-spheres to many audiences; and also been sharing the film with interested parties in the format you will be seeing. Shortly after the world-wide release of this spherical version of the film, we will release a specially formatted flat-screen HD version for cross-platform viewing. The format matches that of the teaser that we released online. (Available to watch here)!

Our Pale Blue Dot was clearly inspired by Carl Sagan’s famous words about the Voyager-1 image from 1990. Our goal for the film was to acknowledge Sagan’s contribution to increasing our awareness of our home planet, while also giving audiences the briefest of introductions into looking at the Earth from space. Ultimately, we want to show that the many instruments orbiting our planet have provided us with much to think about and brought many questions to mind. These scientific observations have formed a solid base for the conclusion that we live on a rapidly changing planet.!!I feel this message is vital in today’s ever-too-present environment of doubt and mistrust of science. This cross-platform film was created to bring an important message of climate change to all the people of Earth.!!I thank you for the opportunity to present Our Pale Blue Dot for your audience.!!Sincerely,!!Victoria Weeks!Writer/Director!Our Pale Blue Dot!victoria@verglasmedia.com!http://verglasmedia.com/ourpalebluedot!!!!