Planet Earth: Our Response (2007)

“1950’s Earth Responds to the Galactic Census Bureau”

This film started as an idea I had in Bellingham in 1998 while experimenting with Super 8 film making and collecting old educational films. I remember discussing it with Tyson Theroux (aka Space Robot … aka The Diabolical Dr. Klaw) at the Horseshoe Cafe. I didn’t have enough 16mm stock footage to pull it off and I didn’t feel like I could get the Super 8 and 16mm film to match.

I wasn’t able to complete the film until I had access to the Internet Archive and all of its public domain footage. I started collecting and categorizing footage in 2005 and ended up using close to 100 different films. I finished writing the narration and shooting my own footage in 2007.

Gideon Klindt produced a convincing alien probe for the effects shots and I composited them in using After Effects. Gideon also stars in the film as the research scientist in the biosuit.

I posted on the Portland Craigslist to find a 1950’s car and Herb Shaw was kind enough to let me use his old Packard for the shoot.

~100mb HUGE! and 10 min long – I suggest streaming for several minutes before watching.

Double Click the image below to play:

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