Disney video for Friends
Here is a cool video, produced by St. John videographer Bill Stelzer, that was commissioned through the Friends of the National Park by Disney. It will be shown to cruise ship passengers and, while it’s pretty basic information, we’re thrilled they will see it.
“The whole idea was to give an easy-to-understand presentation of why the coral reefs are so important,” Bill tells us. “It is meant to be nonspecific, so it applies to the entire Caribbean.”
Bill did the animation himself, using Adobe Illustrator (very nice work, as you will notice if you’re into such things), some of it based on photos, some of it created.
The narration is by Melissa Haizlap, a St. John/St. Thomas native who now does voice work in L.A. (Her husband is the host of Cities of the Underworld on The History Channel.) And the music is by St. John artist Mark Wallace.
It’s an all-star cast!
The video is also being shown to Virgin Islands school kids.
Bill says he based the beautiful cartoon girl on Kristen Maize, the former program manager for friends. (A cute cartoon woman, but not nearly as cute as the real Kristen.)
March 8th, 2010 02:02
Nicely done! Kudos!
March 8th, 2010 08:27
Nicely done. I think not only do kids need to see this, but also many adults that are clueless to the seas environment. Believe me, I have seen it many times.
March 8th, 2010 09:30
Fabulous. The St John team of creative and scientific experts created a wonderful video. Hopefully, with education like this, we can preserve our precious reefs. Without being morbid, there is a company named Eternal Reefs which takes the ashes of the deceased to be mixed in a cement form. The interment is a boat out to sea at designated sites. How wonderful to let our human remains become a coral reef.
March 8th, 2010 10:05
As one who works in Illustrator every day (and is in to such things) job very well done.. That is a message people cannot hear enough…it was a nice angle to mention the things we would be without if the reefs no longer existed (as if the loss of wildlife wasn’t enough)… I just hope the shot of the character throwing the trash out of the red jeep wasn’t based on the Jeepcam Jeep
)
March 8th, 2010 10:50
Excellent! The only thing that struck me was that the illustration of the hurricane goes clockwise… is it too late for them to turn it around?
March 8th, 2010 15:25
Nice job, Bill & cast!
Sometimes we take our knowledge for granted, but the points covered in this piece are not things that are known to everyone that visits these islands.
Thanks for spreading the word!