water, water, everywhere but no clean stuff to drink.

This next movie is ‘Water Droplet’ and the idea behind it came again from my sketchbook and its theme which is of course drains. (I wonder how long I can run with this theme... hmmm!)


I also decided on it because I previously worked with a performance collective and we used installation and street theatre to inform people about the water situation in many countries. There is a serious lack of clean water in the world which is not necessary. Many thousands of people have nothing but dirty water to drink which is full of diseases and so much water is wasted in the western world that I wanted to highlight the fact.

During this animation I discovered the necessity of having a helping hand given that both of mine were on camera. Many thanks to my sister, Mhairi... and I also discovered that when making something on camera it's a good idea to have a practice run. My water droplet is not really like a droplet at all.. ah well....next time. My thought was to use the metal wire to cover the green and hopefully make it look more like a drop but then I realised that the chances of me being able to squash it afterwards were slim.... back to the experiments.

Originally I had a scarf, coloured like the sea, laid on the surface but it made it difficult to move the wire and pliers so that idea went. During the filming there was a slight mishap when the camera view moved and that whole section had to be redone. A lesson learned.... check and double check.

I realised that setting up the camera properly is so important and I discovered that blue tac helps to prevent it moving. In planning this, after the storyboard was completed I only had the picures from Water Aid to print off and my assistant to feed coffee and chocolate. (One happy assistant).

There are few sounds in this but I think they fit well. I particularly like the fiddle being plucked when the information is there to be read, slightly annoying but makes you pay attention.

The time I spent previously researching the subject and now returning to the same theme has made me want to continue finding different ways to get the message across to people. I think the idea works but I would like to add to it using different lighting, more colour and without doubt a better model of a water droplet.
I've also found it awkward to get the sounds to fit exactly where I want but maybe a little perseverance is needed and more time.