By Starlight, known as Sutāraito o Ayatsuru in Yamataigo or simply Starlight, is an adventure film released on 1 July YE 40. It is based on the true story of the GSS Starlight, who experienced a navigation blackout and had to use manual controls to return to Yamatai space.
| General Information | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Adventure |
| Released | 1 July YE 40 |
| Content Rating | PG-13, Violence, Scary Content, Strong Language, Crude Humor |
| Directed by | Carl Makron |
| Produced by | Karathi Oyo, Gasha Makuti & Hank Martles |
| Written by | Kori Magani |
| Story based on | “ Lost in Space ” by Abi Tankuru |
| Starring | Andrew Scafford, Mari Ugarei, Betty Arturius |
| Music by | Johannes Wilhelmus & Albrecht Fiselich |
| Cinematography | Yukomi La |
| Costs | ~20 million KS |
| Personnel involved | ~10,000 |
| Screen time | 91 minutes |
| Production company | Magical Film Company |
| Distributed by | Stardust Pictures1) |
| Tagline | “Find your way home.” |
The film opens with the card 'inspired by real events'. Most of the film is narrated by Tankuru.
The film begins with an introduction of producers and corporate figures involved in the production of the movie, with gentle, serene music superimposed over original communications recordings of the GSS Starlight's reporting of an unusual asteroid field in orbit around an unidentified star.
A loud beeping interrupts the transmission at the closing of the opening credits and the scene cuts to video of the crew responding to a sharp bang and several alarms going off at once. The scene goes silent and flashes to stars, then returns to the chaos of the cabin for a few seconds. Again, silence and a looming shot of a star throwing multiple massive flares simultaneously. The sounds are getting louder, with the chaos of the cabin and more impacts resounding on the hull. More alarms pop up as fast as the crew can silence and respond to them. Again, silence as the camera shows the magnetic storm outside the ship slamming debris against the un-armored hull, sparking electronics and a fire blooming, and then the camera spins away, slowly stabilizing to show the Starlight sitting dead in space as the storm settles. The title card appears with an eerily motif playing over it. Rocks pass in front of the camera and the scene transitions to the inside of the cabin again, where the crew is recovering from their experience and beginning repairs.
Then pilot Abi Tankuru (Played by Andrew Scafford) is seen looking over a damage report, commenting on a fire in the navigational computer bay. His captain (Caster) seems weary, and rubs her temples, asking about other damages. With minimal other damage reported, at least none that would keep them from returning to Yamatai, she comments that they don't have an auxiliary navigational computer. And without communications, they can't cross reference their position and home in. On top of that, the gravity generator seems to be jamming, with gravity falling off every few minutes.
The engineer, Sawachika Udo (Played by Betty Arturius), looks almost sick, asking if they're going to die out there. “No,” the captain responds, ordering the ship to be taken out of the sphere of influence of the star, and as far away from the asteroid field as possible. With that, the Starlight is out of immediate danger, but they are still stranded in unfamiliar space.
Later scenes revolve around the drama of the next few days, the crew decompressing and attempting to come up with ideas, some even fighting and yelling to each other, until the communications expert, Masumi Hiro (Played by Mari Ugarei) admits that she took an astronavigation course in high school. She doesn't remember much, but it might be enough. She remembers the tools and basics of it, but not enough to get them home on her own. The ship's doctor, Shotaro (Safron), tells that they need to get out in fear of patients in the med-bay getting sicker.
From there, the idea forms. Udo builds a sextant from spare engine parts according to Hiro's specs. Some more work on the data banks by Abi recovers a star-map, though the data on where they had been was corrupted. With a little bit of guesswork and a bit of ingenuity, the crew figured out how to use a sextant and a star-map to find their location in three dimensional space and by reversing their star-map's time function to compensate for their range from their reference stars.
There were some minor mishaps in the process, including getting turned around and having to double back, lowering fuel reserves, a food crisis that involves the captain having to make a hard decision of rigorous rationing, and multiple systems failures due to damage from the storm and age of the Starlight. At one point in this is a scene where Udo starts singing in the machine chamber. Her voice carries through the ship and gets the attention of the others as she works tirelessly on a failing component. When she realizes the others are staring, she stops rather jarringly, the accompanying soundtrack coming to a sudden halt to let the audience feel her sudden loss of confidence. The captain reassures her crewmember by commenting on how good it is to hear something light-hearted and positive in such trying times. With that, Udo is relieved, and she manages to repair a vital part of the engines needed to get home.
Later in the movie, one of the other crewmembers (Rancton), specified to be a young man of brown hair and green eyes, goes outside of the hull mid CDD jump to patch the hull due to a failing strut and the potential of a disaster. Despite almost dying from intense pressure, he manages to repair the hull just in time, before the ship comes out of CDD, and he makes it back inside.
However, after several weeks of guesswork with the sextant and star-map, mishaps that almost destroyed one of the engines, and the occasional victory, the crew finally found the star they were looking for; Yamatai. Nearly out of food, fuel, and exhausted from the efforts, the captain tells Abi to make the jump for it. When they made a beeline for it, the final jump nearly tore the ship apart, and jumping into normal space was a risky move by Abi, as the Starlight was falling apart faster than repairs could be made at that point. In response, he jumped into system within a few light-minutes of the planet, the ship buckling under the strain and haemorrhaging atmosphere. However, a short range comm burst identified them and allowed a rescue mission to be launched. The crew rejoices, but soon are exhausted by the endeavour.
The movie closes from Abi's point of view, sitting back in the pilot's seat and watching the condensing air funnel out a microfracture in the main windscreen. A closing eyes effect fades the movie to black as the rescue ships come into view, and original mission footage begins to play, highlighting each crewmember and what became of them after the events of the actual events of Lost in Space. A last picture shows the crew in recovery on Yamatai (Planet).
The credits roll ends with the final words “To those who have been lost, may you find your way home.”
Below is the information of the cast and crew of the film.
Cast (In credits order)
Crew(In credits order)
Below is all information regarding the development and production of the film.
The first incentive for the creation of the screenplay came in the form of screenwriter Kori Magani. He was intrigued by the short biography of Abi Tankuru, who had written a story of him and a few fellow students being adrift in space, finding their way using astronavigation and analogue cartography tools. It was called “Lost in Space”, which was first released in YE 26. The first screenplay was adapted from this story as far back as YE 35, using mostly the original material. After agreeing to the script in YE 38, Abi Takuru would serve as a creative consultant on the film. Koga Akemi also placed a stake in producing the film, also becoming a dialogue coach and having a cameo role. Stardust Pictures' chairman Karathi Oyo and production chef Hank Martles took up production duties, with Oyo being line producer.
Director Carl Makron took up the screenplay, as he had worked with Kori Magani before, and with minimal adjustments from him and producer Migatho Yoshi, the plot of the film was finished. Magical Film Company eventually won the bid of producing the film, and distribution was handled by Stardust Pictures. This also meant Stardust's Temple Sound & Effects studios would provide the SFX and VFX to the film. Other long collaborators of Makron included producer Gasha Makuti, composer Johannes Wilhelmus, cinematographer Yukomi La, Costume Designer Mark Flinter, and Sound Mixer Tikati Mo, as well as actors Hans Safron and Carl Macton, who would both take small roles, and become associate producers, with Safron also acting as dialogue coach. Pre-production was eventually finished in May YE 39.
Principal photography began in June YE 39 in Stardust's Butterfield Complex at the Hoshiutsu Studios]]. Most of the filming was done there, in a large soundproof set involving the centrepiece of the film, the GSS Starlight. Additional footage was shot on the outskirts of Kyoto to film the surface scenes, and a few scenes were filmed at the highly secured Military District. Most scenes were shot in series, since the film consisted of few flashbacks and most of the screenplay was done in the space setting. The set was unique in that it featured a massive replica of the actual ship, and more than 38 miniature cameras were placed inside, with footage being shot from multiple angles. Most cameras were concealed to prevent their revealing on other cameras, and they were connected to an outside rig, with the cameras feeding into a huge screen set in front of Makron and DOP Yukomi. Sound Mixing was also included with the camera, effectively giving it the look of a Found Footage Film. Since most of the film featured the cast in weightlessness, a special Gravity Distortion Generator was used in several shootings, however the cast experienced Vertigo after some time, and had to recover before shooting could continue.
Shooting was wrapped in August YE 39, however extensive miniature shooting was done after shooting with the cast was done, and footage was only complete in September YE 39. Footage was shots on Digital Cameras, and the concealed cameras all contained hours of footage.
After shooting was done, the editing process was the first to be completed. Since more than 30 cameras were used, the editing process was intense. DOP Yukomi had also had an involvement in the editing. After that, sound editing was also an important step, as each camera had an own soundtrack. Sound Mixing had a heavy influence over the overall sound of the film. Additional ADR was also required to replace some of the missing dialogue.
Visual effects were put in place, and with the heavy use of green-screen, multiple use of rotoscoping was required. These visuals mostly included backgrounds, and more than 400 accurate photographs of star skies were used. Extra effort was done to recreate the accurate starmap described in the screenplay, and astronavigator Kenichi Arowu was creative consultant. On set, there was limited use of recreating a star sky as well, but with the high accuracy needed, most was filled in with CGI.
Lastly, the film score was written and composed by Johannes Wilhelmus, with suggestions by Makron, and co-star/music artist Betty Arturius, who showed interest in composing after filming her singing scene. Due to his commitment to Professor Yukovand_the Book of Agibas, however, the orchestra was mostly conducted and orchestrated by his long-time collaborator, composer Albrecht Fiselich. The score uses the practice of two Leitmotif, one for heroic moments, and one depicting the more perilous and hopelessness of the characters' situation. The score most empathises the use of brass instruments for the lead melody, with woodwind and string instruments serving as the rhythm. After the score was completed post-production was wrapped, and the film was officially wrapped in Januari YE 40.
The official release of the film was set on 1 July of YE 40, however marketing had begun in September YE 39, after photography was done. The film received a PG-13 rating, along with a Violence, Scary Content, and Strong Language warning. The release date coincides with the anniversary of the initial news reports of the ship's return, not entirely accidentally.
Below is the box office success and critical reviews of the film.
Production was revealed in late YE 39, and anticipation was felt little. Despite that, the first trailer reached more 400,000 views and anticipation rose, with fans praising the astetic and general look of the film. When Tankuru voiced his support of the film, fans believed the film could deliver a historically faithful experience.
Critics were positive about the film, praising the 'realistic look' and the experimental cinematography. In anticipation of the release, Galactic Entertainment Weekly wrote a preview, with the most praise going out to DOP Yukomi La for his experimental cinematography.
The movie was nominated for 3 Golden Lotus, namely for Best Leading Actor for Andrew Scafford, Best Film Editing, and Best Adapted Screenplay. It won the one for Film Editing, which was Ka Miti's 7th award.
It also received the title of Best Adventure Film of YE 40 from Kyoto Times, and received a special citation from Star Army of Yamatai for its historical accuracy. Multiple original crew members of the GSS Starlight commemorated the film for its accuracy as well.
yoerik and Madi Harper created this article on 2018/06/22 6:54. This film was inspired by Apollo 13, Europa Report, and Mission to Mars. credits to Ron Howard, Brian de Palma, and Sevastián Cordero.