During our work we quite often get the opportunity do something completely different! One such day was towards the end of last year...the 11 November 2011...or more commonly known as 11.11.11.
On this day, students, filmmakers, NGOs and the general public across the globe had a 24 hour period in which to record the ‘human experience’ and contribute to an annual global day of creating media called One Day on Earth. One Day on Earth was founded in 2008 but it was only on 10.10.10 that there was the first ever simultaneous filming event occurring in every country of the world.
The short films highlight the amazing diversity of the world, the impact humans have (good and bad) and any other aspect of human existence on earth that the filmmakers want to capture. All short films can be found on www.onedayonearth.org. During 2010 more than 19 000 filmmakers, submitted 3 000 hours of footage from 160 countries. This footage was then collaborated to create a feature film which was released on 22 April 2012 – Earth Day.
I was incredibly lucky to be able to become involved in this initiative during 2011 when Green Renaissance contacted me to be the central figure in their short piece. Green Renaissance (part of African Renaissance Productions) is a South African production company that focuses on creating environmentally specific media for businesses. They wanted to create a short piece showcasing humans and birds existence together, while giving BirdLife South Africa and the Albatross Task Force some exposure. The message they wanted to get across was that humans should do nothing more than live together with nature and our earth, having no negative impact.
The team, consisting of only 3 people: a cameraman, a director and a producer, managed to create a short film from start to finish in 11 hours on 11.11.11! We were up bright and early before the sun came up and went to a coastal area among a flock of sea gulls (not exactly albatross but the best we could do on the day!). The majority of the filming was done as the sun was coming up, overlooking cliffs or walking on the beach. It was an amazing experience and an initiative I would definitely become involved with again!
The images above and below were taken as part of the filming last year. Photos by Green Renaissance.