Novo Amor
Birthplace
Music Video - Online Campaign - 2018
Directed by Sil van der Woerd & Jorik Dozy
Music video Birthplace for Novo Amor tells the symbolic story of a man arriving on a perfect earth, who encounters his nemesis in the form of ocean trash.
With this video we raise awareness for the plastic pollution emergency in the oceans, and hope to inspire others to become a part of the change.
Directors Sil van der Woerd & Jorik Dozy
"We wanted the viewer to fall in love with the beauty of the ocean, and then break their heart as ocean trash takes over."
We collaborated with a local community in Bali to build a life-size 13 meter prop whale. The whale was constructed from bamboo, and covered with real waste, for which we worked together with a group of school kids who were picking trash in the jungle, in return for books and pencils.
It took a team of 10 divers to control the whale puppet underwater. UK freediving champion Michael Board performed over 250 free dives, while the dive team spent over 35 hours underwater.
Michael's performance was challenging, as he could use none of his professional gear and was practically blind underwater. Other challenges included the buoyancy of the whale, which preferred to either sink or float - the strong currents, that pulled the crew and the whale in any direction - and communication, as most of the crew couldn't see each other and none could speak underwater.
We covered our many experiences in The Story of Birthplace:
Michael Boards, Actor, UK record holder freediver
"Maybe people learn better through a story, and music, than to being confronted directly and frightened into action."
Get Involved
Because we can feel helpless in the face of such a complex problem as plastic pollution, we wanted to offer the viewer ideas on how they can become part of the change.
Watch our interview with Craig Leeson, director of the Plastic Oceans Organisation, below where he explains the magnitude of the problem as well as some solutions:
Featured
Birthplace has been covered by WWF International, The Independent, Plastic Oceans and Greenpeace Australia, and won over 20 awards at international film festivals. Amongst these are Video Of The Year at the UK Independent Music Award, and Best Music Video at the Camerimage Film Festival in Poland.
Partners
This project was made with support from and in collaboration with:
