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Home (2009 film)
Encyclopedia
Home is a 2009 documentary by Yann Arthus-Bertrand
. The film is almost entirely composed of aerial shots of various places on Earth
. It shows the diversity of life on Earth and how humanity is threatening the ecological balance of the planet. The movie was released simultaneously on June 5, 2009 in cinemas across the globe, on DVD
, Blu-ray, television, and on YouTube
, opening in 181 countries. The film was financed by PPR
, a French multinational holding company specializing in retail shops and luxury brands, as part of their PR strategy.
The first 15 minutes include footage of the beginning of the natural world, starting with single-celled algae
developing at the edges of volcanic springs. By showing algae's essential role in the evolution of photosynthesis
, it also explores the innumerable species of plants which all have their origins in this one-celled life form.
In the rest of the first hour of the film, the documentary takes on a more human-oriented focus, showing the agricultural revolution and its impacts, before moving on to talk about the harnessing of oil, leading to fire, industry, cities and inequality gaps like never before. It portrays the current predicament regarding cattle ranches, deforestation, food and water shortages, the use of non-renewable "fossil water", the over-quarrying crisis and the shortage of energy, namely electricity. Cities such as New York City
, Las Vegas
, Los Angeles
, Shenzhen
, Mumbai
, Tokyo
and Dubai
are used as examples of the mismanagement and wastage of energy, water and food. The recession of marshlands and glaciers are shown in vast aerial shots of Antarctica, The North Pole and Africa
, while mass emigration and refugee counts are shown currently and forecast in the event that these events remains unchanged.
It is at this point that the film begins to focus on global warming
and the carbon crisis. Home shows how melting glaciers, rising sea levels and changing weather patterns are ravaging the people who have least to do with climate change, but also how it soon will affect rich populous areas.
Here, about three minutes of film is given to displaying harsh facts in large white text on a black background followed by a video representation of the fact. This is followed by a positive conclusion. The documentary claims to show the "awful truths" regarding our impact on the Earth, but also what we are now doing to combat and reverse it: including renewable energy, the creation of more and more national parks, international co-operation between various nations on environmental issues and the extra education and reform being had across the globe in response to the current problems facing the earth.
through various regions in over fifty countries. The filming was done using high-definition
"Cineflex" cameras which were suspended from a gyro-stabilized sphere from rails on the base of the helicopter. These cameras, originally manufactured for army firing equipment, reduce vibrations helping to capture smooth images, which appear as if they had been filmed from crane arms or dollies
. After almost every flight, recordings were immediately checked to ensure they were usable. After filming was complete, Besson and his crew had over 488 hours of footage to edit.
To promote the documentary online, a YouTube channel known as "HomeProject" was created. Uploaded to this were various short clips of filming which took place in different parts of the world including the Arctic Circle, Africa and the large metropolises featured.
On March 9, 2009, a press-conference was held in Paris, France, where Yann Arthus-Bertrand and various producers talked to the media about the issues raised in the film, as well as confirming that Home would be the first film ever to be simultaneously released in theaters, on television, on DVD and on the Internet in five continents.
On May 5, 2009, a second press-conference was held again in Paris, where the same crew members announced that the film's release date would be June 5, 2009, World Environment Day. Here, they also announced that Home would be 100% free for everyone to view, as "The benefits of this film cannot be counted in dollars, but in audience figures." They also revealed that PPR
was going to sponsor the film in order to facilitate unavoidable costs.
The film, which was available for free release until June 14, has been broadcast in 14 languages. The Blu-ray edition was released by 20th Century Fox
and features both the English and French versions. It is expected to sell in excess of 100,000 copies. When production costs are met, all proceeds sale takings will go to the Good Planet Company.
talk that the movie has no copyright:
"This film have no copyright. On the fifth of June, the environmental day, everyone can download the movie on Internet. The film is given for free to the distributor for TV and theater to show it the five of June. There is no business on this movie. It is available for schools, cities, NGOs and you." Nevertheless, a copyright notice appears in the final credits.
Several high resolution editions of the movie are available for download. ClearBits, an online digital media community, provides a torrent of the 93-minute version in high-definition mp4 format, and Archive.org and Vimeo also offer high resolution editions.
cable network.
Jeannette Catsoulis of the New York Times criticizes the film's narration and Glen Close, narrator in the English version, both regarding content and style: "We’ve heard it all before, if not in the schoolmarmish tones of Glenn Close, whose patronizing narration [...] makes the film feel almost as long as the life of its subject." Furthermore, she denounces the film's accusations towards the modern "lifestyle that 'destroys the essential to produce the superfluous' — an accusation that the film’s bankrollers, led by the corporation behind luxury brands like Balenciaga and Gucci, are probably familiar with..."
Jean-Michel Frodon, a French movie critic, expressed the opinion that "‘Home’ had many viewers but didn’t have much echo" because Arthus-Bertrand’s personality, activities and his innovative no-cost concept have captured more attention than the movie itself.
)
Yann Arthus-Bertrand
Yann Arthus-Bertrand is a French photographer, journalist, reporter and environmentalist.- Early life :Yann Arthus-Bertrand was born in Paris on March 13, 1946 in a renowned jewellers' family founded in 1803 by Claude Arthus-Bertrand and Michel-Ange Marion. His sister Catherine is one of his...
. The film is almost entirely composed of aerial shots of various places on Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
. It shows the diversity of life on Earth and how humanity is threatening the ecological balance of the planet. The movie was released simultaneously on June 5, 2009 in cinemas across the globe, on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
, Blu-ray, television, and on YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
, opening in 181 countries. The film was financed by PPR
PPR (company)
PPR is a French multinational holding company specializing in retail shops and luxury brands. The company was founded in 1963 by the businessman François Pinault and is now run by his son François-Henri Pinault. It is quoted on Euronext Paris and is a constituent of the CAC 40 index...
, a French multinational holding company specializing in retail shops and luxury brands, as part of their PR strategy.
Overview
The documentary chronicles the present day state of the Earth, its climate and how we as the dominant species have long-term repercussions on its future. A theme expressed throughout the documentary is that of linkage—how all organisms and the Earth are linked in a "delicate but crucial" natural balance with each other, and how no organism can be self-sufficient.The first 15 minutes include footage of the beginning of the natural world, starting with single-celled algae
Algae
Algae are a large and diverse group of simple, typically autotrophic organisms, ranging from unicellular to multicellular forms, such as the giant kelps that grow to 65 meters in length. They are photosynthetic like plants, and "simple" because their tissues are not organized into the many...
developing at the edges of volcanic springs. By showing algae's essential role in the evolution of photosynthesis
Photosynthesis
Photosynthesis is a chemical process that converts carbon dioxide into organic compounds, especially sugars, using the energy from sunlight. Photosynthesis occurs in plants, algae, and many species of bacteria, but not in archaea. Photosynthetic organisms are called photoautotrophs, since they can...
, it also explores the innumerable species of plants which all have their origins in this one-celled life form.
In the rest of the first hour of the film, the documentary takes on a more human-oriented focus, showing the agricultural revolution and its impacts, before moving on to talk about the harnessing of oil, leading to fire, industry, cities and inequality gaps like never before. It portrays the current predicament regarding cattle ranches, deforestation, food and water shortages, the use of non-renewable "fossil water", the over-quarrying crisis and the shortage of energy, namely electricity. Cities such as New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
, Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, Shenzhen
Shenzhen
Shenzhen is a major city in the south of Southern China's Guangdong Province, situated immediately north of Hong Kong. The area became China's first—and one of the most successful—Special Economic Zones...
, Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
, Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
and Dubai
Dubai
Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates . The emirate is located south of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi...
are used as examples of the mismanagement and wastage of energy, water and food. The recession of marshlands and glaciers are shown in vast aerial shots of Antarctica, The North Pole and Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, while mass emigration and refugee counts are shown currently and forecast in the event that these events remains unchanged.
It is at this point that the film begins to focus on global warming
Global warming
Global warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...
and the carbon crisis. Home shows how melting glaciers, rising sea levels and changing weather patterns are ravaging the people who have least to do with climate change, but also how it soon will affect rich populous areas.
Here, about three minutes of film is given to displaying harsh facts in large white text on a black background followed by a video representation of the fact. This is followed by a positive conclusion. The documentary claims to show the "awful truths" regarding our impact on the Earth, but also what we are now doing to combat and reverse it: including renewable energy, the creation of more and more national parks, international co-operation between various nations on environmental issues and the extra education and reform being had across the globe in response to the current problems facing the earth.
Production
Home was filmed in various stages due to the expanse of the areas portrayed. Taking over eighteen months to complete, director Yann Arthus-Bertrand and a camera man, a camera engineer and a pilot flew in a small helicopterHelicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...
through various regions in over fifty countries. The filming was done using high-definition
High-definition video
High-definition video or HD video refers to any video system of higher resolution than standard-definition video, and most commonly involves display resolutions of 1,280×720 pixels or 1,920×1,080 pixels...
"Cineflex" cameras which were suspended from a gyro-stabilized sphere from rails on the base of the helicopter. These cameras, originally manufactured for army firing equipment, reduce vibrations helping to capture smooth images, which appear as if they had been filmed from crane arms or dollies
Camera dolly
A camera dolly is a specialized piece of filmmaking and television production equipment designed to create smooth camera movements . The camera is mounted to the dolly and the camera operator and focus puller or camera assistant, usually ride on the dolly to operate the camera...
. After almost every flight, recordings were immediately checked to ensure they were usable. After filming was complete, Besson and his crew had over 488 hours of footage to edit.
Distribution and promotion
On March 9, 2009, a press-conference was held in Paris, France, where Yann Arthus-Bertrand and various producers talked to the media about the issues raised in the film, as well as confirming that Home would be the first film ever to be simultaneously released in theaters, on television, on DVD and on the Internet in five continents.
On May 5, 2009, a second press-conference was held again in Paris, where the same crew members announced that the film's release date would be June 5, 2009, World Environment Day. Here, they also announced that Home would be 100% free for everyone to view, as "The benefits of this film cannot be counted in dollars, but in audience figures." They also revealed that PPR
PPR (company)
PPR is a French multinational holding company specializing in retail shops and luxury brands. The company was founded in 1963 by the businessman François Pinault and is now run by his son François-Henri Pinault. It is quoted on Euronext Paris and is a constituent of the CAC 40 index...
was going to sponsor the film in order to facilitate unavoidable costs.
The film, which was available for free release until June 14, has been broadcast in 14 languages. The Blu-ray edition was released by 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
and features both the English and French versions. It is expected to sell in excess of 100,000 copies. When production costs are met, all proceeds sale takings will go to the Good Planet Company.
Copyright and Redistribution Rights
Yann Arthus-Bertrand said in a TEDTED (conference)
TED is a global set of conferences owned by the private non-profit Sapling Foundation, formed to disseminate "ideas worth spreading"....
talk that the movie has no copyright:
"This film have no copyright. On the fifth of June, the environmental day, everyone can download the movie on Internet. The film is given for free to the distributor for TV and theater to show it the five of June. There is no business on this movie. It is available for schools, cities, NGOs and you." Nevertheless, a copyright notice appears in the final credits.
Several high resolution editions of the movie are available for download. ClearBits, an online digital media community, provides a torrent of the 93-minute version in high-definition mp4 format, and Archive.org and Vimeo also offer high resolution editions.
Public Response
The film received a large response upon release, receiving over 400,000 combined views within the first 24 hours on YouTube. As of April 2010, the French, English, German, Spanish, Russian and Arabic versions on Youtube logged a total of more than 14 million views. It was shown to high ratings on channels around the world including the international network National Geographic. France2 débuted the film to over 8.3 million viewers in France alone. In India, Home was shown exclusively via the STAR WorldSTAR World
STAR World is an Asian English language cable and satellite television network owned by Star TV and Fox International Channels, fully owned subsidiaries of News Corporation. The channel is the successor of STAR Plus, a subsidiary of News Corporation...
cable network.
Critical reviews
Generally, the movie was praised for its visuals but received criticism regarding the attitude of the narration and the contradiction between its message and the sponsors' legacy.Jeannette Catsoulis of the New York Times criticizes the film's narration and Glen Close, narrator in the English version, both regarding content and style: "We’ve heard it all before, if not in the schoolmarmish tones of Glenn Close, whose patronizing narration [...] makes the film feel almost as long as the life of its subject." Furthermore, she denounces the film's accusations towards the modern "lifestyle that 'destroys the essential to produce the superfluous' — an accusation that the film’s bankrollers, led by the corporation behind luxury brands like Balenciaga and Gucci, are probably familiar with..."
Jean-Michel Frodon, a French movie critic, expressed the opinion that "‘Home’ had many viewers but didn’t have much echo" because Arthus-Bertrand’s personality, activities and his innovative no-cost concept have captured more attention than the movie itself.
See also
- Planet EarthPlanet Earth (TV series)Planet Earth is a 2006 television series produced by the BBC Natural History Unit. Five years in the making, it was the most expensive nature documentary series ever commissioned by the BBC, and also the first to be filmed in high definition...
– a BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
TV series - Qatsi trilogyQatsi trilogyThe Qatsi trilogy is the informal name given to a series of three films produced by Godfrey Reggio and scored by Philip Glass:* Koyaanisqatsi: Life out of balance * Powaqqatsi: Life in transformation * Naqoyqatsi: Life as war...
– a series of three films by Godfrey ReggioGodfrey ReggioGodfrey Reggio is an American director of experimental documentary films.-Life:Born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. Reggio co-founded La Clinica de la Gente, a facility that provided medical care to 12,000 community members in Santa Fe, and La Gente, a community-organizing project in... - ChronosChronos (film)Chronos is a 1985 abstract film directed by Ron Fricke, created with custom-built time-lapse cameras. Originally released in IMAX theaters, it is now available on DVD, Blu-ray, HD DVD, and for free on Hulu and YouTube.-Synopsis:...
– a film by Ron FrickeRon FrickeRon Fricke is an American film director and cinematographer, considered to be a master of time-lapse photography and large format cinematography. He was the director of photography for Koyaanisqatsi and directed the purely cinematic non-verbal non-narrative feature Baraka . He designed and used...
that explores the passage of time - BarakaBaraka (film)Baraka is a 1992 non-narrative film directed by Ron Fricke. The title Baraka is a word that means blessing in a multitude of languages....
- An Inconvenient TruthAn Inconvenient TruthAn Inconvenient Truth is a 2006 documentary film directed by Davis Guggenheim about former United States Vice President Al Gore's campaign to educate citizens about global warming via a comprehensive slide show that, by his own estimate, he has given more than a thousand times.Premiering at the...
External links
(requires Adobe FlashAdobe Flash
Adobe Flash is a multimedia platform used to add animation, video, and interactivity to web pages. Flash is frequently used for advertisements, games and flash animations for broadcast...
)
- Good Planet
- UNEP Champions of the Earth Profile: Yann Arthus-Bertrand, a press release from the United Nations Environment ProgrammeUnited Nations Environment ProgrammeThe United Nations Environment Programme coordinates United Nations environmental activities, assisting developing countries in implementing environmentally sound policies and practices. It was founded as a result of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in June 1972 and has its...
- 'HomeProject' YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
channel, where the film can be watched for free in its entirety - Yann Arthus-Bertrand captures fragile Earth in wide-angle at TEDTED (conference)TED is a global set of conferences owned by the private non-profit Sapling Foundation, formed to disseminate "ideas worth spreading"....