Speaking of comets, it would be very remiss of me not to mark the tenth anniversary of the premiere of "Ambition".
It's a short sci-fi film we made with our friends at Platige Image in Poland, leading up to the deployment of Philae by ESA's Rosetta mission on 12 November 2014, to land on the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
Perhaps one of the maddest things I've ever done in science communications & something I remain deeply proud of.
Links below with some of the back story.
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As part of the campaign to promote Rosetta & get people excited about its science, technology, & sheer audacity of trying to land on a comet, we used many vectors aimed at many audiences.
These included conventional web stories & infographics, social media, & press conferences, & but also extended to making a series of cartoon films featuring anthropomorphic versions of Rosetta & Philae, which became much loved & won many awards.
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But one thing we had in mind was the brilliant film that NASA had made to promote the Curiosity Mars landing in 2012, the so-called "7 Minutes of Terror".
We wanted to do something that had a similar impact, but knew that Philae's landing would take far longer & lack many of the dramatic features that made the NASA film so compelling, including the CGI work covering the atmospheric entry.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki_Af_o9Q9s
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So, we knew we wanted to make a short film, but we rapidly converged on the idea of making it fictional, presenting Rosetta & Philae through a story-telling environment.
Science fiction seemed like a good vector, but it'd need some amazing VFX work to pull it off.
I had seen the trailer made by the BBC for its coverage of the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014 was was very impressed by the visuals, music, & sheer drama.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4b9Ji7DvsjU
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And by chance, it turned out that I happened to know the some of the people who had made it, at Platige Image in Warsaw. It had been directed by Tomek Bagiński, an Oscar-nominated film-maker.
So we thought maybe they could be the right people for our Rosetta film.
But we had to get competitive bids & there was strong competition from Pixomondo in Frankfurt: they did the dragons for Game of Thrones & much else. We had a great visit to see them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vmoqOFP_70
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But in the end, we went with Platige Image, because they had an astronomer on their team, Jan Pomierny, who really understood what we were trying to achieve both scientifically & creatively. And we landed Tomek as the director.
So, how should we approach the film?
As you can see in this film about The Making of Ambition, there were several ideas, including one about a heist, stealing the comet, before we agreed on the actual concept.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ud9ON2CzYYM
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The idea of looking back from the deep future at the importance of the Rosetta mission gave us leeway to include lots of fantastical graphics & VFX work.
And yet we also wanted it to be grounded in real science & the real technology of the time. We also had to be careful not to presume that Philae would actually land successfully on Comet 67P/C-G: we started making the film six months in advance, so Rosetta hadn't even arrived at the comet by then.
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A lot of concept art was drawn up, the script written, & storyboards created, plus a location had been identified for shooting.
We needed a barren, dark landscape & an open cast coal mine spoil heap outside Warsaw seemed perfect.
Except Greenpeace reacted to the filming permission application with concerns about kicking up heavy metals in the dust.
At this point, ESA's involvement was secret & we couldn't risk any reputational harm, so that location got nixed.
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At very late notice then, the filming location was shifted to Iceland, using the dark lava landscape of the Reykjanes Peninsula to the west of Reykjavik, the site of the recent active volcanoes near the Blue Lagoon.
A spectacular location, although rather cold, even in July. But that's Iceland for you 🙂
The good thing was that Christopher Nolan's "Interstellar" had recently finished filming there, so there were local crew familiar with sci-fi shoots, even if ours was tiny by comparison.
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We also needed two actors, one for the master role, the other for apprentice. We wanted one of each gender, but didn't care who was who – it only mattered who we cast.
For the master, we approached Benedict Cumberbatch & Cate Blanchett, among others, working with some great casting folk at Platige & DDA.
They were not available, but we did land Aidan Gillen, who was famous then for playing Petyr Baelish or Littlefinger in Game of Thrones, as well as his many other roles.
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With Aidan cast, we quickly homed in on Aisling Franciosi for the co-star role as the apprentice. She had done one film & was in the TV series "The Fall" alongside Gillian Anderson & was perfect for the part.
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The live shoot lasted just two long days & I took a load of photos of the cast & crew, which are here on Flickr:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/markmccaughrean/albums/72157647105202934/
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Some pictures taken during the live shoot of "Ambition", the short sci-fi film made by ESA and Platige Image to promote the Rosetta mission.
Then over the following months, the work reverted to Warsaw, with a brilliant VFX team led by Jakub Knapik, with an original score from Atanas Valkov, all under the direction of Tomek, and the producers Jan & Anna Różalska.
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Keep in mind that this was all under the covers at this point: no-one knew that ESA was making such a film, not even most people in science communications at ESA. Secrecy was essential to avoid being second-guessed before the film even came out.
But we wanted to release the film in a big way too. Fortunately, we had the good fortune of a connection at the British Film Institute in London, who were running a sci-fi film festival in the autumn of 2014, curated by Rhidian Davis.
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Rhidian had contacted me back in the spring, after Rosetta had woken from its hibernation. He thought it might be nice to livestream the Philae landing into the BFI in London as part of the festival.
He was quite surprised when I suggested instead that they be the site where we premiered *our* science fiction film, later known as "Ambition".
Surprised but enthusiastic, so we had meetings with their management too to set it up. Took some persuading, but it worked out.
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We wanted to get an audience of people for the premiere spanning film, sci-fi, fashion, music, & more, but all without any connection to ESA or to Rosetta.
So Platige made this teaser trailer to set the scene, showing small parts of the main film, but with a lot of other material around it to give some scope & hopefully pull the desired audience in.
Here is that trailer, complete with an Inception / Zimmer rumble 🙂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4XK_NAToRI
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On the day at the BFI then, 10 years ago exactly today, we had a load of people in the room to see a film starring Aidan Gillen & directed by Tomek Bagiński, but about which they knew little else.
It was announced with this non-specific poster by famous Polish film poster artist, Gabz Domaradzki, outside the theatre.
Several ESA people were there incognito. It was remarkably silly in retrospect, but part of the whole surprise.
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Adam Rutherford was due to do the introduction to the film, but was called away at late notice to the palace, if I recall correctly. No idea why.
Which led to an unfortunate mistake by the substitute MC (whose name shall remain hidden).
As he was introducing the main film, he gave away that it was about ESA's Rosetta mission.
Which was only supposed to be revealed as the film played.
Tomek, Jan, and I were in the front row & let out a combined silent scream of horror when it happened 🙀
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Still, the "reveal" was confined to the hundred or so people in the theatre: the rest of the world had no idea at that point.
So here it is, the almost seven minutes (thinking back to Curiosity) of "Ambition".
It's bonkers, bananas, bombastic, & ludicrous.
But for all that, I've watched & shown it a million times, & somehow it captures the moment beautifully.
And I'm still immensely proud of everyone who worked so hard to make it & with such love & dedication.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H08tGjXNHO4
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Ambition is a collaboration between Platige Image and ESA. Directed by Tomek Bagiński and starring Aidan Gillen and Aisling Franciosi, Ambition was filmed on...
Once the short film had ended, much earlier than people expecting a full Aidan Gillen film had anticipated, we took off our jackets to reveal our ESA logo polo shirts.
We then had a series of presentations & a panel to present Rosetta to a non-science audience, & to discuss why we'd made this film to promote it.
Matt Taylor, the Rosetta project scientist spoke, as did I, and we had Tomek, Aisling, Rhidian, & famed sci-fi author & ex-ESA scientist Alastair Reynolds to discuss.
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Afterwards, we had some drinks & food, so people could talk & do interviews.
And the original non-specific film posters by Gabz in the foyer had been replaced with a version that now revealed ESA's involvement, adding in Comet 67P/C-G & the Rosetta spacecraft.
I have both posters framed, here in my office at home 🙂
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Immediately after the film was shown in London, it was revealed by ESA. Indeed, in an unprecedented move by our corporate comms folk, the ESA front page was replaced by the Ambition film: that's what you saw if you went to www.esa.int & for several days, IIRC.
Interestingly, our partners on Rosetta, NASA, didn't want to release it, saying that it wasn't "appropriate for them". I'm still not sure whether that was a worry about being seen to waste taxpayers money on sci-fi ... or jealousy 😉
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However, a few days later, someone showed the film to Bill Gerstenmaier, head of NASA human spaceflight at the time.
He loved it & tasked his NASA comms folks to find out how it was made.
Which led to the bizarre but very funny holding of a meeting where NASA comms folk asked ESA for advice on how to do such great outreach.
I still smile when I think about that, as should anyone else who knows how clearly the usual tables had been turned.
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As for the public & science world reaction, I have a huge collection of emails & links to articles spanning many fields, with people praising ESA for the boldness & innovation of using such a way to promote Rosetta.
Arguably Rosetta didn't need it, of course – it was amazing in itself. And if you go to the end of The Making of Ambition film, one of the VFX artists says pretty much the same.
It's a brilliant observation & I think about it often.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ud9ON2CzYYM
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And lest I forget, we also made a series of short films with Platige Image to discuss the science of Ambition, to put the science fiction into real science context.
These feature Matt Taylor, Andrea Accomazzo, me, & more, along with Aisling & Aidan, talking about the film & Rosetta. And there's also a short film there breaking down the visual effects work.
https://www.youtube.com/@AmbitionTheFilm
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In the distant future, an apprentice struggles to sculpt the geology of an alien planet. Upon failing, she demands that her enigmatic master give her another chance to prove her skills. Amused, he counters by reflecting on the very dawn of their home world, the origins of life there, and the enduring qualities of stubbornness, adaptability, and ambition that took them into the realm of the gods. Is she ready to take on the ultimate test?
A few of the comments I love from people who saw the film:
‘Ambition’ might achieve more in 7 minutes than ‘Gravity’ did in 90.
– Tim Reyes, Universe Today
In attempting to capture the public’s imagination by stealth, ‘Ambition’ was somewhat out of character for ESA or, indeed, for any public research body.
– Editorial, Nature
Well played, European Space Agency, well played.
– Ian O’Neill, Discovery News
And there are many, many more out there.
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And one of my really humbling memories is walking through corridors at ESA's ESTEC & people coming up to me to say how excited they were by the film & how proud it made them feel about working for ESA, because it somehow captured something elemental about what we do in space science & exploration.
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Also, one of the first people to send me an email about the film, to congratulate us for putting it together, was Josef Aschbacher, then the head of programme planning & coordination for Earth Observation at ESA.
Of course, he later became Director of Earth Observation & is now the Director General.
Which I like to think explains his adoption of the word "Ambition" as a core identity for ESA 🙂
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Of course, the story didn't end there.
In September 2016, almost two years later & to mark the finale of Rosetta as it landed on the comet near Philae, we asked Aisling to come back & make another episode in the series.
Done again with Platige Image, but this time directed by Maciej Jackiewicz & with music by Simon Raymonde of Cocteau Twins, with Stephanie Dosen in Snowbird.
This is the one that makes me cry every single time 😭
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSdYCPATV9o
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So, I'll end it there. To paraphrase the end of the Ambition – Epilogue film:
"In September 2014, Rosetta's journey ended.
We continue ours."
But the mission continues to cast a long shadow over me & over science communications, I think. It was an amazing privilege to be involved & there is much to be shared & learned from what we did then.
If you'd like to read more about Ambition & the whole Rosetta comms campaign by a brilliant team, this has you covered:
https://www.capjournal.org/issues/19/
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Coda: I'll be travelling to Spain next week to give a talk about Rosetta & its legacy, & then ten days later to ESTEC to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the landing of Philae on Comet 67P/C-G.
The landing we very deliberately didn't include in "Ambition" because when we made the film, we had no real idea what was going to happen.
And what an adventure in real space science, engineering, & exploration that all turned out to be.
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Oh & if you made it this far, go back & watch "Ambition".
The whole story was wrapped around the science of how Earth's water was delivered & the explosive ending refers to that.
Right at the very end, as the explosion shockwave hits the camera, spot the water drops condensing on the lens.
We had a plan for it to completely fog over before then dripping down to reveal ... but that's for another time 😘
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And a further coda:
Right at the start of this thread, I mentioned the amazing Rosetta & Philae cartoons, & how they reached a very different but equally crucial audience.
But when the mission ended in 2016, I had an idea that could draw the seemingly disparate worlds of the cartoons & Ambition together.
Here's the result, the final R+P cartoon. A real tear jerker too, but wait for the very end 😉
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcYo-qQ5HbA
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Argh, it's never ending. Just remembered this too.
Some four years after "Ambition" was released, an episode of the BBC's "Doctor Who" came out called "The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos".
As a huge fan of Doctor Who for many decades, arguably becoming who I am because of it, this very clear plagiarism entertained me no end 😝
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@spacegeck In this, Judy, you are most definitely not alone 🙂
Indeed, it's a little known story that he wore the same shirt at the Ambition premiere, but ...
The whole shirt thing is for another day – needless to say, it's a far more complicated story than most people know & I'm not sure that anyone came out of it well, for various reasons.
@spacegeck Yeah, it spiralled rapidly out of control beyond the original offence & became part of the culture wars for days & weeks after. There were people baying for blood on both side, public, political, & scientific, even to the point where Boris Johnson & Richard Dawkins got involved.
Quite apart from the disproportionate impact it had on Matt, I lost friends over it & had colleagues demand I be fired for letting it happen (even though it was not my responsibility).
@markmccaughrean @spacegeck It was definitely a point of discussion within New Horizons, not least because Alan was on Rosetta.
Suffice to say, that's why we are all wearing mission polos in all the official photos of the flyby. Maryland July isn't the coolest, so I'm glad the shirts were black so you couldn't see how much we were sweating through them.
@simonbp @spacegeck I’d heard about that & wasn’t surprised. That said, I heard some interesting & trenchant views from journalists who were at both the Rosetta landing & New Horizons flyby events, comparing & contrasting the overall comms styles & message management. Not to mention the flag-waving 🙂
Re: the shirt, some cynical folk said it was brilliant PR, inasmuch as it added to the hubbub around the mission. Definitely not the intention 😬
@markmccaughrean Everything about it was wonderful! I love both those actors, and the landscape and special effects were amazing. It's quite an achievement.
I hadn't heard about it before, which surprised me.
@bodhipaksa That’s great to hear, especially that it holds up ten years on. The location in Iceland was special: my first time there, but by no means my last 🙂
Be sure to check out the Epilogue film which came a couple of years later, linked in the thread too. It’s quiet & contemplative, but more emotional to me, not least as it uses the beautiful Porcelain by Snowbird, something Simon Raymonde of Cocteau Twins was kind enough to allow us to do 🙇♂️
@markmccaughrean Okay. My teaching got cancelled last minute, and I watched again on my largest monitor so that it would be more immersive. Several times, so far! It's very moving.
I have no idea what it's saying, or too many ideas, but nothing solid to hook them onto. I thought of Philae daydreaming, or the Student in a virtual reality world (perhaps on or around the comet, or simply admiring the beauty of the comet along with the woods and the building). Anyway, thank you!
@bodhipaksa The essential idea is that the apprentice from the original film has since graduated into whatever world-building profession they share. She is on a forested world, but decides to reminisce, passing through some kind of portal to a museum or archive of previous projects, in this case her graduation project about 67P & Rosetta.
It’s symbolised in crystal & she smiles as she remembers, before moving out through another portal back to the forested world.
@bodhipaksa The idea was to provide emotional closure to the mission as it ended, looking back from 2016 to 2014 over all the adventures & challenges. The closing comes with Rosetta descending to the surface of the comet to end her mission.
But just as the now master moves on to new things, despite that nostalgia, we wanted to say the ESA was doing so too. Rosetta had become such a deep part of so many lives, but we all had to move on, even while remembering its brilliance.
Mark McCaughrean
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