In terms of my current project there are things I can take from this and feed in to my work, while others might not be appropriate.
For instance, the opening sequence of the film is an incredibly bleak visualisation of the effects of climate change. London is under deep water, Las Vegas is buried under sand. Skeletons littering India. Australia permanently ablaze. It is certainly an apocalyptic version of our future. The brief stresses that while climate change can scare people we need to prompt them to take action so using this kind of bleak imagery to scare people would not be right to use in this project, so I will have to steer clear of using this.
The rest of the film uses real footage and a few animated sequences, and this is where it uses facts and figures which are scary but also highlight the excessive nature of society, and I could use this to highlight to people why they should take action.
Here are some of the statistics from the film:
- 'Is there still doubt that climate change is partly man made?'
Scientists: less than 1%
Public: 60% - China builds a new power station every 4 days.
- 1/4 of China's energy makes products for the rest of the world.
- America consumes 2x energy an EU, 9x more than China, 15x more than India and 50x than Kenya.
- If the whole world consumed the same as Europe we'd need 2 additional planets. America would need 4.
The film also provides some other interesting information that I won't label under statistics, it's just information. Almost everything we buy and use involves oil (for fuel and the literal materials of the things we by). It is a fossil fuel, contributing to climate change, but the main problem there is that it is running out. Without oil we have nothing, and that is a real concern. The film goes on to mention the alternatives and has a section on wind farms. The people in the video say they support wind energy but do not want the wind farm near their land. What I take from this is that maybe my video can emphasise that people have to start with themselves and not expect other people to take the first step towards reducing our dependency on fossil fuels.
The film also raises the issue of 2 degrees. It claims that every major power and group in the world recognises that we must stabilise global temperatures below 2 degrees (above pre-industrial era levels). Above 2 degrees it would cause activity on earth that would excel climate change beyond our control, as carbon would be released from trees and soil, methane deposited under the oceans and glaciers could rise up in to the atmosphere and accelerate climate change. This would push it to 6 degrees, and by the predictions in this film it would lead to the elimination of life on earth.
Another thing the film does that I could use is relate the personal or global nature of the problem. You see people get emotional about something that is important to them but also you see perspectives from around the world. I could appeal to their ideas of self preservation and what taking action can do for them, or I could go with what action could do for those less fortunate.
I have found this film very useful in helping me understand the issue further and given me useful information that I can use in my project. The creative animated sequences in the film have also given me some ideas about animation and visual style.
Resources:
http://www.ageofstupid.net/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1300563/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Age_of_Stupid