West Digital completes editing and grading work for ESA presentation video

Full service postproduction facility West Digital has completed editing and grading work on a video presentation commissioned by The European Space Agency (ESA) and European Commission to promote their initiative for a Earth Observation based system - Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES).
It will represent Europe’s contribution to the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) - an ambitious 10 year plan to harmonise all data gathered on the environment and security, both from space observation and ground observation.
It will be shown for the first time during Earth and Space week at the GEO summit, in Brussels this week.
West Digital company director and online editor Peter Zacaroli and offline editor Catherine Preece used Avid DS and Adrenaline to edit and grade the video.
The brief of the video was to inform ministers from over 50 Countries how GMES was making a difference to lives of not only the citizens of Europe but worldwide. Uses include helping to fight forest fires, spotting polluters dumping illegal substances at sea and helping direct food aid for the World Food Programme. It will also be shown to a wider audience at further ESA exhibitions.
The ESA required a video that contained a mixture of amazing Earth images - the ‘wow’ factor - with the feel of a documentary style factual programme.
Peter Zacaroli said: “They wanted to communicate the excitement and usefulness of space exploration to a number of different audiences, so we made sure that the video was both enjoyable while informative. A mixture of archive and new footage had to be included, so the challenge was to create a universal look and make sure that none of the footage looked out of place. We feel we’ve achieved a fresh, modern look, and are confident it will appeal around the world.”
Chris James, Director at WatershedTV, who produced the video, explains why he chose to work with West Digital: “I’ve worked with West Digital for many years, on a number of different projects so I knew I could trust them to complete the video to the standard that the ESA desired. The deadline was tight but I knew they wouldn’t let us down…they even rushed to hand deliver the work to us at the airport as we flew out to the summit! Myself and ESA are delighted with the result and they’re just as confident as I am that it will help promote their new initiative around the world.”
(GB)