Space ballooning hits new heights in an HDTV commercial showing a simple armchair floating against the backdrop of our curving planet, almost 100,000 feet above the ground. When you watch the video, the first thought that comes to mind is, "Wow, that's cool!" And the second thought is probably, "How the heck did they do that?"
"Usually a project like this takes a year or a year and a half to pull together," John Powell, founder of California-based JP Aerospace and one of the key guys behind the Space Chair Project, told me. "But they needed this pulled together in four months."
"They" refers to Toshiba UK and Grey London, the marketing agency that pulled off the project. The idea was to do something remarkable that would tout Toshiba's HD cameras and LCD displays as "armchair viewing, redefined."
...the JP Aerospace blog goes into detail about how each rig was constructed: Basically, the team built frameworks that could be suspended from the high-altitude balloons. The chair was suspended on lines from the rig's framework. Powell said each chair weighed just three and a half pounds because it was built out of balsa wood...
spaceman Member
Posts: 1104 From: Walsall, West Midlands, UK Registered: Dec 2002
posted 11-23-2009 06:00 PM
I've seen the ad on TV a few times in the last few days. I never once believed it be real. With the world of special effects I didn't think someone would go to the trouble of actually flying a chair. The break up at the end is obviously not featured in the ad. What happened to the camera(s)? Follow this link for teddies in space, another UK first. Nearly a year ago now.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 42981 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 11-23-2009 07:39 PM
quote:Originally posted by spaceman: Follow this link for teddies in space, another UK first.
posted 11-20-2009 11:18 PM
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