I propose to create a narrative short animated film. This film will be about the journey of a baby sea turtle, and the “unusual/ unnatural” predators and obstacles that they would face on the way back to their group. This film will highlight the destruction that humans cause against wildlife and nature (the earth in general) and how we humans are the main cause for ruining the planet and endangering animals. This film will be exploring the dangers of waste and plastic debris in the ocean due to the carelessness of human activity and how that severely harms the earth and the wildlife. It gives us a chance to rethink the way we live and being mindful of the fact that we share this earth, that we are not the only ones to inhabit it. It emphasises that we need to take responsibility for our actions and take better care of our environment.

The film will start off with the turtle hatching and coming out of the egg and onto the sand as it begins its journey to the sea and back home. As it almost reaches the safety of the water, it will encounter its first obstacle/ predator – a black vulture. After it has successfully escaped the first threat and gained sanctuary in the ocean, it continues on with its journey. However, it will begin to experience the real threat that endangers its existence – pollution and waste in the ocean. As their journey continues and it travels further/ deeper into the ocean, the more troubling things get. These unnatural remains that contaminate their environment will begin to disrupt the turtle’s course, making the journey harder and more difficult to survive. Plastic bags become dangerous for their digestion as they are easily mistaken as a source of food, jellyfish. Also, they will manage to get caught on and entangled with materials such as fishing nets and can holders that would weigh them down and immobilise them. Therefore, they will struggle to carry on swimming, eventually failing to do so due to their restraints, and eventually die.

This aspect of an unnatural predator being the murderer in this story only adds to the morality that our actions have much deeper consequences. The fact that a vicious animal such as the black vulture wasn’t the cause of the animals death, and that it was man made waste and the consequence of our carelessness for the environment and all living things.

Therefore, having the main character – the baby sea turtle – die in the end, causes a big impact on the audience as it is only a child, as it creates sympathy for the character that represents majority of endangered animals in the world that have been effected and harmed by humans.

Metaphorically – this film could also be an indication for our everyday lives and not just taking the film literally. In the sense that the actions we make can easily affect others; a drunk driver can effect another harmless and sober driver who may or may not have anyone else in the car or even a pedestrian. Or with the way people think, their harmless thoughts about a certain type of person and their negative views can cause harm to an innocent person. This metaphor is repeated through out life – carelessness has consequences.

I intend to make this film as a stop motion film. There will be a total two sets; the beach and the ocean. Although the ocean will mainly be created using lighting to achieve an underwater effect. The beach will consist of using certain materials to mimic that of sand and water; using a rough like material to create the illusion of sand (carpet/ curtain, gravel), and to use a light fluid material such as silk or cotton as water and using stretched out cotton wool as the foam along the shore. As well as making an armature for the baby sea turtle, I will be making a partial second character – the bottom half of the bird (black vulture) mainly just the claws; made out of twisted wire and use thread and cotton to wrap around it and create a ridged texture. For the main character, i will be using cardboard as the base for the shell and wires for the fins to make the outlines and then sew in some sponge for the filling and the character will be covered in felt material, exactly the same way I had done for my puppets ears during my stop motion film last year. the materials in the sea will be used with a rig to make it float and maybe using strings to hold up the trash and give the illusion of it floating in the water.