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AWAKEN, a documentary movie directed by acclaimed cinematographer and director and timelapse pioneer Tom Lowe, has made its global trailer debut. Produced by Dubai Film, and executive produced by Academy Award Nominee Terrence Malick and documentary filmmaking trailblazer Godfrey Reggio, the film features the song “Outro” by French electronic music artist M83.
AWAKEN is a feature documentary film exploring humanity's relationship with technology and the natural world. The movie, whose production was based in Dubai, was shot over a five-year period in more than 30 countries. The documentary pioneers new timelapse, time-dilation, underwater, and aerial cinematography techniques to give audiences new eyes with which to see our world. AWAKEN is a celebration of the spirit of life, an exploration of the Earth, and an ode to the Cosmos.
Following Tom Lowe’s “Timescapes” (2012), his first non-verbal-narrative short film, which featured groundbreaking timelapse cinematography of the American Southwest, AWAKEN expands technological, artistic and geographical boundaries. “One of the early driving forces of AWAKEN was to film the natural world in a way that could compete on a spectacle level with large visual-effects-heavy blockbusters, while at the same time capture everything ‘in camera’, with no effects, compositing, or post-production tricks of any kind,” says director Tom Lowe.
To achieve this, Lowe and his company Dreamcore set up operations in Dubai in 2012 and worked closely with Dubai Film to conceive and build several pieces of custom camera equipment, creating entirely new categories of filming techniques.
“With this film we’ve created an immersive and unforgettable experience where the audience can explore the world in a whole new way”, says Omar Alsalman, General Manager of Dubai Film. “As the region’s film hub, Dubai is the ideal place to produce a groundbreaking film like AWAKEN. It is the kind of city where you see a glimpse of the future: it’s fast-paced, dynamic and embraces technology. Dubai Film embodies this spirit and uses technology to push the frontiers of filmmaking.”
Lowe and Dubai Film collaborated with the Shotover camera-stabilization company in New Zealand to help develop the F1 camera gimbal system. They later modified the F1 gimbal to accept custom camera configurations, allowing Lowe to capture astrophotography timelapse sequences at night from a helicopter in flight, a first in filmmaking history. These technological achievements translate to the beautiful and never-before-seen footage of the Sierra Nevada and aurora storm-lit mountains of Northern Sweden, as highlighted in the trailer.
The film will be finished with a native Dolby Vision colour grade using Dolby’s Vision Laser 4K projector. Sound mix will be done in Dolby Atmos.
DUBAI FILM
Dubai Film LLC is one of the largest film production companies in the Middle East. With almost 100 years of accumulated industry experience, Dubai Film has won awards in the fields of photography and production. It has a diversified portfolio that covers artistic, cinematic, documentary and sports film production. The company offers full-service production facilitation, including equipment and crew rental. DF specializes in state-of-the-art equipment that is only limited by the vision of the filmmaker. With the sole aim of taking filmmaking to the next level, DF’s team of dedicated experts is constantly striving to turn the impossible into reality. Be it land, water or air, no location is inaccessible for Dubai Film.
TOM LOWE
Director, Cinematographer, Editor, Producer - AWAKEN is director Tom Lowe’s first feature film. His previous short film “Timescapes” attracted a passionate following, support from companies like Canon and Adobe, and was financially successful within weeks of its release. During production of “Timescapes” in September 2010, Lowe was awarded as Astronomy Photographer of the Year by the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. He has since served as second-unit director for mentors Terrence Malick (VOYAGE OF TIME) and Godfrey Reggio (VISITORS).
From Orange County, California, Lowe served in combat with the US military during the Gulf War, followed by a brief career in politics as a strategist and speechwriter, and as a writer-producer at the public-affairs television roundtable “The McLaughlin Group.”
In 2007, Lowe founded Timescapes.org, the first and largest public-discussion forum dedicated to timelapse. Tom was instrumental in the resurgence of timelapse during its 2008-2011 digital renaissance. He pioneered several new timelapse techniques and helped design a next generation of motion-control systems with companies like Kessler Crane, CamBLOCK, and Mark Roberts Motion Control. Lowe is co-founder of a Dubai-based artificial intelligence company.
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