Stockholm digital artist Erik Wernquist continues to mine his fascination with all things space-related in his newest short film, a finely detailed and thoughtfully lit peek inside a planetary orbiter built for leisure travel.

Erik Wernquist: “The film takes place aboard the SSPO Esperanta, a space station that spins around itself at a rate of one revolution per minute. With a radius of 450 meters, the spin generates artificial gravity with an effect of approximately 0.5 g along its main deck.
 

“I was also particularly interested in how light and shadows from the sun play around in the interior as it spins. For those reasons, I decided to keep all artificial lights off.”

 
“I wanted to create a leisure-like environment, such as a hotel or cruise ship, and explore what the views could be like onboard when the orbiter visits some of the worlds in our solar system. I was also particularly interested in how light and shadows from the sun play around in the interior as it spins.

“For those reasons, I decided to keep all artificial lights off – with the exception of some emergency lights to avoid complete darkness – and to only have natural light illuminate the interiors. As this made the place appear quite desolate, I found it interesting to imagine someone being onboard, alone.”
 
 

 
Director/animator: Erik Wernquist
Live action photography: Christine Leuhusen
The Passenger: Lars Knubb

Music: Cristian Sandquist
P.A. Voice: Hanna Mellin

Thank you: Caj Müller, Harold “Sonny” White, Nic Stacey, Paul Odgren, Metronome Rental AB