Get ready to Go WILD with the BBC Wildlife Fund 2010

To get involved visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/wild/

Home by Yann Arthus-Bertrand

Click here to watch the exceptional movie 'Home' by The GoodPlanet Foundation & Yann Arthus-Bertrand of 'Earth from above' fame.

'We are living in exceptional times. Scientists tell us that we have 10 years to change the way we live, avert the depletion of natural resources and the catastrophic evolution of the Earth's climate. The stakes are high for us and our children. Everyone should take part in the effort, and HOME has been conceived to take a message of mobilization out to every human being. For this purpose, HOME needs to be free. A patron, the PPR Group, made this possible. EuropaCorp, the distributor, also pledged not to make any profit because Home is a non-profit film. HOME has been made for you : share it! And act for the planet.'


Foundations and Idea behind Home
By Paula Alvarado, Buenos Aires, for Treehugger.com

Although famous for its Earth from Above pictures, this is the first movie by French photographer Yann Arthus Bertrand. He got the idea of making it moved by the impact Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth had since its release.

"When I invited Al Gore to show his film, An Inconvenient Truth, to the French Parliament, I realized just how much impact a movie could have, even more than a TV program. I saw how moved the audience was—to tears in some cases—and I said to myself that a feature film was an excellent way of reaching people," he said in an interview at the press release brochure.

A Movie from Above

Following his tradition of aerial photography, Arthus Bertrand set off to make a movie entirely shot from above. Why is a movie from above necessary? Producer Denis Carot explains in the same release: "I was convinced that the idea of shooting a movie entirely from up in the sky, without interviews or archive footage, was the right one, but I couldn't pinpoint why. One conversation enlightened me: 'From the sky, there's less need for explanations.' Absolutely! One's vision is more immediate, intuitive and emotional. That's what sets Home apart from all the other movies on the environment—which are all equally necessary in this crucial period for humanity. Home impacts directly on the sensibility of anyone who sees it, bringing us to awareness, through emotion initially, in order to change the way we see the world."

The emissions for the making of the movie were of course offset, by financing a project for Diffusion of anaerobic digesters in India (through Action Carbone)

Numbers and details of the project

Apart from a documentary, Home is an ambitious project: from day one, it was thought to be released free and worldwide to reach as many people as possible.

To make this possible, the film was sponsored by PPR Group, and also received support from other initiatives, such as the special products designed by high-end brands from the Gucci Group. It took 217 days of shooting in 54 countries, which added up to 488 hours of footage.

Additionally, the movie has an original music score written by Armand Amar and recorded with the Budapest Symphony Orchestra and the Shanghai Percussion Ensemble.

Read more at Treehugger.com

The film was simultaneously shown around the world on World Environmental Day 2009.

Planet before Profit - Nalaka Gunawardene

Some of you may remember a discussion surrounding locked up rights to filming output that took place at Giantsorbiting last year.

Nalaka Gunawardene writes again about the importance of filmmakers putting planet before profit at SciDevNet:

Films and television programmes about climate change should be made freely available beyond their initial broadcast.

Films and television programmes about climate change should be designated a 'copyright free zone'.

This was the call made by broadcasters and independent film-makers at an Asian media workshop held in Tokyo last month (October).

For years, broadcasters have dutifully reported on evolving scientific and political aspects of climate change. They have also made or carried excellent documentaries analysing causes of, and solutions to, the problem. But these are often not widely available, because of tight copyright restrictions.

Limited distribution

Most media companies hang on to their products for years, sometimes long after they have recovered their full investment.

Even when film-makers or producers themselves want their creations to circulate beyond broadcasts, company policies get in the way. In large broadcast or film production companies, lawyers and accountants — not journalists or producers — decide how and where content is distributed.

It isn't just climate-related films that are locked up with copyright restrictions. Every year, hundreds of television programmes or video films — many supported by public, corporate or philanthropic funds — are made on a variety of development and conservation topics.

These are typically aired once, twice or at best a few times and then relegated to a shelf somewhere. A few may be released on DVD or adapted for online use. But the majority goes into archival 'black holes', from where they might never emerge again.

Yet most of these films have a long shelf life and could serve multiple secondary uses outside the broadcast industry.

Beyond broadcast

Communicating the need for social change is a slow, incremental process. Broadcasts can flag important issues, but real engagement happens in classrooms, training centres and other small groups where screenings stir up deeper discussions. Combining broadcast and 'narrowcast' outreach vastly increases the chances of changing people's attitudes and, ultimately, their behaviour.

But if moving images are to play a decisive role in the climate debate, television programmes and video films on the subject need to be more freely available, accessible and useable, as argued at the Tokyo workshop.

Read the entire article at SciDevNet here. Many thanks to Nalaka Gunawardene for bringing this issue to the public eye.

Nature is for Life not just for Christmas - Breathing Places

Fantastic!! Engaging with Viral-Fun to get a message across.

The BBC project "Breathing Places" was created to encourage anyone and everyone to help create spaces for wildlife.

Check out the "Breathing Places" website to find out more, helpful hints for providing space for wildlife - everything from pond construction to developing your very own compost heap.