"Use a range of media (found images, still, moving image) to produce a 1min/2min music driven message that works to support the promotion of or eradication of a global, national or local issue.
This is aimed to work on a global stage, so no words or language should be used."
I considered several different subjects when researching this brief, but in the end, settled for one that I really feel strongly about - the subject of endangered species. I wanted it to be hard hitting, and to this end, I decided to use a series of contrasts, throughout the piece - I would show images of a creature, healthy and well in its natural environment - and then show images of what is causing the threat to the creatures existence . Some of the still and moving images I used I found personally very shocking, and I was concerned that they were perhaps too graphic - however, I consider it a serious enough issue, and one that impacts potentially on not just the creatures themselves, but on every living thing on this planet, that in the end, I decided to 'pull no punches'. However, I would not be happy for children under 18 to see this slideshow - I think a certain level of maturity is needed to look beyond the actual images and consider the message . Children, I feel, could just be too traumatised by some of the more graphic imagery to take anything more than just nightmares from viewing it.
I wanted an adult audience to be shocked and to go away and think - in every instance the potential loss of these creatures is due to mans' greed and stupidity. I hoped it would make even just one person (but hopefully more) realise that there is a connection between them buying a rhino ivory souvenir at some roadside stall whilst on holiday - and the horrific film footage of the rhino staggering through the bush, after having its horn ripped off whilst it was still alive, by poachers.
For the images and footage of the animals in their 'natural' environment, whole and healthy, I deliberately chose the most attractive ones I could find - those that emphasised the beauty, the 'ahhhhhhh' factor. There are many creatures that the average person would not consider 'attractive' or cute, that are threatened, and that are every bit as important both to our natural world heritage and the global eco-system - the cold fact is that images of them would not have provoked the same response . Threatened insects being shown dead and dying as a result of pollution, deforrestation, the illegal use for questionable medicinal 'cures' or exotic food wouldn't have had the same shock value, or caused people to think as deeply as footage of a beautiful and magnificent tiger being shot for bush food and souvenirs - sad, but true, and for this film to have the impact I wanted it to have, I needed to use appealling images. I feel able to justify this as any legislation/action that stops, for example, deforestation that is threatening the orang utan, also stops the deforestation that is threatening a vast number of other visually less 'appealling' but equally threatened creatures that inhabit that environment - the end result works as much in their favour, as it does for the orang utan, and its the end result that matters.
Not being able to use any words or text, I also needed to try and use images where the link between the creature and the cause of its potential demise was obvious. Showing an orang utan and then a newly built 'town'/farm or village would perhaps be a little ambiguous - so instead, I showed an image of a large tract of destroyed forest , as deforestation is a concept that most would be aware of as a threat to animals, even though the reason for deforestation is to build homes or to farm.
I chose music from Ladysmith Black Mombasa - this music is beautiful and evocative, but, I hope, not intrusive and doesn't take emphasis away from the images, but rather, I hope, compliments them.
The only word used in the film is the word 'Endangered', which is the both the opening and closing frame of the film - I felt this would be easy to change into different languages for the 'global' audience outlined in the brief.
The finished film is over 3 minutes long - again, I ran this pass Stewart, who deemed is acceptable, as the time length in the brief was only a guideline, and he felt that the the length of the finished piece was 'right', that viewers wouldn't get bored and it wouldn't feel 'too long' to anyone watching.
The finished film
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