Incredible "Birdman"-like Tracking-Shot Timelapse of Earth from Space

By Nancy Atkinson - February 24, 2015 at 1:11 PM UTC | Planetary Science

The Academy Award winning film "

Birdman

" used what's called tracking shot to create the sense of a seamless one-shot film. A new timelapse created from imagery captured by astronauts on the International Space Station uses the same technique -- which has not been used in previous ISS timelapses -- with stunning results. Additionally, the footage is very recent, from January and February 2015. It was compiled by

Phil Selmes

.

"The footage has been composited and edited to show enhanced camera movement, a day to night transition, and an uninterrupted camera movement which links two timelapse shots seamlessly," Selmes told Universe Today. "These processes have never been used to present ISS time lapse footage in this way before."

Like other ISS timelapses that Selmes has put together, this one shows perspective-altering, gorgeous views of Earth from space. "I don't see politics, races, borders, countries, religions or differences," Selmes said in a

previous article on Universe Today

. "I saw one planet, one world, one incredibly beautiful miracle in the absolute vastness of the universe.

All the footage comes from courtesy of the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit at NASA Johnson Space Center. Links to original footage can be found

here.

For post production, Selmes used After Effects and Premiere Pro.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com