A college project where we had to create a motion title sequence. I chose to create a motion title sequence for my own film on the historical love story between the Mughal king Akbar and Rajput princess Jodhaa.
A college project where we had to create a motion title sequence. I chose to create a motion title sequence for my own film on the historical love story between the Mughal king Akbar and Rajput princess Jodhaa.
A college project where we had to create a motion title sequence. I chose to create a motion title sequence for my own film on the historical love story between the Mughal king Akbar and Rajput princess Jodhaa.
Will We Disappear in the Cover of the Sky ?
Project Info +
Project: Independent Research Project ( Royal College of Art )
Team Members: Aarti Bhalekar & Anushka Khemka
Will We Disappear in the Cover of the Sky? (2024) is the second chapter in a series about the current landscape of avian ecology in the UK. The experimental film invites the visitor to traverse through different landscapes from an urban park to the higher altitudes of open skies. A more-than-human perspective emerges as a starling narrates an account of the challenges brought about by rapidly growing human activities, especially a change in starlings’ wayfinding, nesting, and foraging opportunities.
Umwelt is the part of an animal’s surroundings that it can sense and experience - its perceptual world. A manifestation of anthropomorphism is the tendency to forget about other umwelten. Can a new mode of thinking emerge through understanding the umwelt of a starling? Can translating vivid sensory information via digital technologies induce a sense of biophilia?
According to RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch, the average count of starlings in the UK has decreased by 82% since 1979. We hope to inspire action to protect these vital species.
The film was screened at Outernet from 23rd to 26th September in their Now Pop One space.
Softwares used: Unreal Engine, Premiere Pro, Ableton
Exhibits
BBC Television Show Centre
Outernet
My reaserch in this project focused on how urbanization affects bird behavior, with a emphasis on starlings. I examined how these birds are adapting to their changing environment . Additionally, I also explored the social patterns of starlings. My research was conducted through scientific reports and two books ( In Flight with Starlings by Giorgio Parisi & Ecology and Conservation of Birds in Urban Environments by Enrique).
The process video offers a behind-the-scenes look at how we approached our project, starting with research and development, progressing to scriptwriting and storyboarding, and ultimately executing it technically in Unreal Engine. It also highlights our collaboration with the sound designer to bring our film to life.
Storyboard
In the storyline, we explored potential issues to raise awareness about how environmental factors impact starlings. These included the effects of intensified cattle production on pasture fields, which disrupt the foraging patterns of starlings, and how urban structures like glass buildings create barriers to their navigation.
For inspiration, we drew from Jonathan Livingston Seagull, a classic book celebrated for its descriptive style and poignant storytelling. Additionally, a scriptwriting workshop led by Debbie Anzalone (RCA IED Tutor) was instrumental in helping us refine the tone of our project.
We crafted a narrative script for the voiceover in our film, where the narrator, a starling, shares its journal in a poetic, reflective manner.
Art Direction
We wanted to stay close to reality while speculating that reality from the eyes of another critter. A live-action or documentary approach seemed too close to a human’s perspective. We wanted our audience to enter a different body and start to think like an other. Using a 3D engine allowed us a certain kind of creative freedom while still applying real-world physics.
The story is told from the perspective of a bird, which involves a lot of movement. Using mediums like VR can cause dizziness due to the continuous bird-like movements.
The inspiration of using particles came from the book "In Flight with Starlings," where the author studies atomic structure behaviour through the movements of the starling birds. The particles here dance like the electrons and protons that Parisi talks about. They emulate the dynamic movements in atomic structure studies.They also hint towards the flocking patterns and agile movements of starling themselves
The particles also help us create a burst of colors that are in a constant shift - this is our artistic representation of what tetrachromats might see. The shift in colors can evoke a sense of heightened sensory experience.
Outernet
