Hope - Save the Planet

"And Man created the plastic bag and the tin and aluminium can and the cellophane wrapper and the paper plate, and this was good because Man could then take his automobile and buy all his food in one place and He could save that which was good to eat in the refrigerator and throw away that which had no further use.  And soon the earth was covered with plastic bags and aluminium cans and paper plates and disposable bottles and there was nowhere to sit down or walk, and Man shook his head and cried:  'Look at this Godawful mess.'"

- Art Buchwald, 1970

Conservation is perhaps not as present in today's society as it should be. Taught in schools and communities across the globe, the attitude of 'Reduce, Reuse, Recycle' is common enough. However, when it comes to putting these words into practise there is a general shortage of true concerted effort. That is not to say that a concerted effort only applies to groups of people; communities, countries and so forth, but also individuals. Without marked individual decisions there would be no collective effort, and without a collective effort there might be little to no change at all.

 'We all know that we must get a grip on consumption and waste or we will soon be drowning in our own mess. Recycling programs abound, but people are often lackadaisical about putting plastic, paper, glass, and metal into those bins'.

- Stanford GSB (read more here)

This short film was an individual decision to spread the word about the importance of conservation; a concerted effort to take an issue and re-package it in a way that is intended to impact and make a difference. It is prophetic in that what is shown within the film is the likely path of destruction that the earth will take if the human race does not stand up and take some drastic course of action.

 https://vimeo.com/87107662

The film starts with an image of the concrete ground, dusty and worn. A broom sweeps across, setting the story in motion, and, as it does, layers upon layers of ash appear in its wake. The word 'hope' then appears, written by using small twigs, and dissipates bit by bit. When the word has gone, the ash gathers itself together into a crumpled pile and sets fire. The ash then forms into paper, rolling out and piecing itself back together to reveal a picture.

Large areas of paint are then wiped from the image, and two pairs of muddied feet trace their footsteps backwards so that the viewer can see some sort of landscape beneath the layers of disfiguration.

The broom then re-enters the frame and the film enters a passage of time, leaves falling and drifting; rubbish littered everywhere. The camera then zooms out to show the full image, and the viewer can see the landscape behind. The scrawled writing slowly disappears, and humanity's damage to the landscape is undone and wiped away.

A further zoom out of the image then reveals a number of other places - of which all are currently protected by companies such as The National Trust and other local societies. Even though these areas are being conserved, who is to say that one day these won't also fall under the footsteps of mankind? The bigger picture is that whether people like it or not, we are destroying our environment and not enough is being done to prevent further damage.

The film is not a cycle, but a time line; a series of events shown in reverse. Several tests were tried beforehand to ensure the process would work. (Please be aware of the dangers when filming fire - do not try this on your own).

The film is made up of a total of approximately 450 photographs. The reason stop-motion animation was used was not only to create a series of memorable pictures, but also because the software it was edited on did not have a reverse function. The film was edited on Windows Movie Maker to the music of 'The Kings Speech' because of its emotionally varying melody.

To film, a compact camera was set up on a tripod, and left in the same position whilst the story unfolded. A minimum of two people was necessary to make the film - one to take the photographs, and two to create the movement (sweeping, lighting, scattering etc...)

However, the filming took place in three different locations. The first part(the writing, dirt and paint) took place in a front garden. The middle (the litter, leaves, burning, ash and writing) took part in the back garden, due to the movement of the sun as no artificial lighting was used at this stage. And the third and final part of the film was filmed indoors. The distance and height was carefully calculated each time before a photo was taken to  ensure a stable zoom out.

You can view the finished film here: https://vimeo.com/87107662

 It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.”

Carl Sagan - Pale Blue Dot