Script

Such beauty and grace, drifting through the waters without a care in the world…

Its tentacles floating out, catching currents, going where-ever the nature brings them.

They have no central nervous system, yet they are able to react, purely based on animal instinct. Oh, what wonders Mother Nature have given birth to.

Harmless, they may seem, drifting past you in the sea. And, as if on instinct, you reach out to stroke it, to get a hold of its mesmerizing beauty. It feels soft, slimy and jelly like to the touch.

Suddenly, a searing pain shoots through your fingertips, filling you with paralyzing pain. You have to get back to shore fast and find medical help.
You were just stung by a box jellyfish, also known as a sea wasp.
Type:
Invertebrate
Diet:
Carnivore
Average life span in the wild:
Less than 1 year
Size:
Fully grown, it could reach 4 and a half metres long.

Its venom quickly acts on the central nervous system, dangerous stings cause heart attack or drowning in only minutes. Severe stings commonly result in death before getting to shore. The skin around the sting area dies within hours, leaving long purple rope like whip marks.
Breathing becomes distressed, heart and respiratory problems soon follow.

These dangerous beauties could originally be found swimming in Northern Australian waters. Now, they can even be spotted in Atlantic and east Pacific, with species as far north as California, the and Japan and as far south as South Africa and New Zealand.

[zooming into japan]

But these are not the only problems that could be caused by the jellyfish.

Even without bodily contact, they can harm our economy and livelihood.

In japan, an outbreak of massive jellyfish, known as the Nomura jellyfish.

Scientific Name: Nemopilema nomurai or Echizen Kurage in Japanese
Size: 2 m (6.6 ft) in diameter
Weight: 220 kg

Damage to:
Fishing equipment
Fishermen’s catch
Nets

Cost: 30 billion yen ($332 million) a year

Jellyfish swarms are now an almost annual occurrence when it was a rare occurrence every 40 years in the past.

There is no denying this fact. The jellyfish population is increasing. But why?

Increasingly polluted waters boost growth of the microscopic plankton that "jellies" feed upon, while overfishing has eliminated many of the jellyfish's predators and cut down on competitors for plankton feed.

Predators, such as tuna, sharks, and turtles vanish, not only do fewer jellyfish get eaten, they have less competition for food.

The over-exploitation of ocean resources by man has helped create a near-perfect environment in which these most primitive of ocean creatures can multiply unchecked, scientists say.

Who pollutes these waters? Who contributes to overfishing?

Humans.

Our nature is out of sync. Most of us know it. The rest, avoid the topic or deny it.

Isn’t it time to wake up and smell the deep shit we are in?
Reality isn’t pleasant. But we still have to accept it. Humankind is over consuming earth’s resources.

Our descendants will not be enjoying the pleasures we have today. Do we want our children to be paying off the debts incurred by us to Mother Nature from the day they are born?

video start

Storyboard

Something has changed

PARIS (AFP) - The dramatic proliferation of jellyfish in oceans around the world, driven by overfishing and climate change, is a sure sign of ecosystems out of kilter, warn experts.

It is ALL OUR FAULT. WAKE UP!

Jellyfish are sometimes washed up on shores by the hordes and people do not know why. They are also sometimes spotted floating around in seas that aren't their home. Some scientists are speculating that these phenomenons are might be evidences of our global warming. Which some skeptics around the world are still denying. This is also proof that the seas are changing. By that, I'm referring to the temperatures, currents, tides, et cetera. All in all, the environment for our marine life.

Because of this apparent global warming, most of our marine life is forced to leave home to find better grounds to survive and reproduce. This causes problems to the food cycle of the area as the new animal might overfeed and cause another species to become endangered or even, extinct. And this is just one of the few problems that will occur. The problem will continue in a vicious cycle, till everything in the ecosystem is balanced out again.

Not just the marine life, even our land creatures, Humans, will be affected. As such, some fishermen are already devastated by the invasion of jellyfish in the seas as, not only do the massive jellyfish rip the nets, their poisonous tentacles spoil the catch. Over these five years, the fishermen have been at loss to the invasion, slashing the creatures to bits, which in turn, releases millions of its "eggs" into the seabed that develop into the jellyfish. This again, creates yet another vicious cycle.

Other than fishermen, swimmers in the open sea are also affected. Most jellyfish are almost invisible in the waters and have tentacles that when touched, releases an extremely painful to near fatal sting. Especially the box jellyfish, it is almost transparent, plus its tentacles could reach up to 3 metres in length.

Now back to our main character. My video and [The jellyfish]. This is just an amazing reference picture taken from Discovery News.


Another article will be posted regarding that. This post might be too long.

6 weeks left

This is week 12.

Agenda:


This week
Research on visuals. Storyboarding and sketches to be done.

Week 13
Finalize storyboard. Research. Blog.

Week 14
Finalize research. Continue doing video.

Week 15
Video should be halfway done.

Week 16
Any additional effects to be added in.

Week 17
Comments to video, edit accordingly.

Week 18
Finalize.

Week 19
Submission.