WWF Proposal

Rooted Productions

London based creative collective, recent work below. 

Producer - Henry Napier-Brown / Director - Christian Swain / Director of Photography - Tristan Bejawn

WWF RANGERS - JAMPEL 

They serve under various titles—rangers, forest guards, game scouts and field enforcement officers—but share a common purpose: to protect the world’s natural and cultural treasures.

Rangers work tirelessly to watch over some of the most endangered wildlife on the planet, like tigers, elephants and rhinos. Many of these animals are among the most widely targeted by poachers for the illegal wildlife trade, and rangers regularly pay with their lives while trying to keep them safe.

More than 100 rangers died on duty in 2015 and many more were injured, according to a recent report by the International Ranger Federation (IRF). Of these rangers, 42% were killed by poachers. And almost 90% of them worked in the two most dangerous continents for rangers: Asia and Africa.

Governments often lack resources to equip and train rangers, and rangers typically earn very little. Some go months without receiving their salary or seeing their families.

Rangers on the ground must be better equipped. But they also need support beyond backpacks and boots. They must be respected and supported by their governments and national laws against poaching enforced 

74% of rangers feel under-equipped to deal with their roles, and 48% feel like they're inadequately trained.  

 

VIDEO PROPOSAL -WORKING TITLE  'JAMPEL'

Mission 

To raise awareness of the human cost of WWF's effort to protect wildlife around the globe. We propose shooting an informative and cinematic short that follows the real story of the path of a young ranger. 

This pitch

The short film that we want to shoot is split into three acts, and the entire film will be around 3 minutes long. We will use the story of Jampel, as proposed by Rohit and use his inspirational story, adapted slightly to deliver a cinematic peice. We propose using Jampel himself, to tell the story in it's truest form.

His decision to protect the environment by enlisting as a WWF ranger, highlights the heroes behind WWf's efforts against poaching. We want to highlight the human cost to the illegal wildlife trade. 

Structure

We will use three chapters, each with its own feel. 

  1. The Hunt - Jampel is taught how to poach by his father. He learns that what he is doing is wrong.
  2. Training - Jampel decides to protect instead of hunt, here he learns how to become a ranger
  3. Full circle - Jampel is now a ranger, he teaches his son like he was taught by his father.. but now he protects the animals, instead of hunting them. We show him in his ranger uniform, and with his son. 

To achieve this change in mood for each chaper we will change the colour palette to match the mood of each act. To start, we will introduce our characters with a warm palette. Almost dream like, as there is an innocence about Jamel being taught how to poach as a child. As he grows up, and learns the ramifications of their actions, we will introduce colder colours and distance in the frame. The final chapter will return to warmth. 

ACT 1 -  The Hunt

“ I accompanied my father when he went hunting from the age of five, where he taught me how to identify different tracks and signs of wildlife, and how to set snares and traps.”

Youth and Innocence 

We will open by highlighting Jampel's relationship with his father. We will portray that Jampel was learning about the poaching trade without understanding the full extent of his fathers work. 

  • The opening shot will be an intimate moment between the father and the son which will be reflected in the final act. 
  • There is a continuing visual relationship between the father and son- to begin with Jampel idolises his father. We will compose the shots with little distance between the two. Very beautiful and warm close ups. 
  • As the chapter develops, and Jampel's understanding of what is happening grows.. there is distance between father and son
  • Jampel's attention then turns to the forest, where he begins to explore alone. 
  • We want to use a voice over, to keep the whole chapter dream like and re-collective.
  • We will use shallow depth of field and soft filters to achieve a dream like feel - we will also include lots of macros of details.  

 

The act builds to a scene where the father is dealing with other poachers and exchanging money. Jampel is playing with a small animal, his love for wildlife being the key emotion to the scene.. juxtaposed against his fathers monetization of nature. 

Act ends on a hunt with the father. There are gun shots and then we fade to black. 

ACT 2 - Training 'How I became a ranger' 

Through the sons’ remorse, the father can no longer bring himself to hunt. The Son joins the ranger Training Programme

Drawing inspiration from Army recruitment videos, we transition into the training element of the rangers career. We want to make this section informative, and therefore would like to portray as much of the actual  training process as possible.

 To show how tough the training is, we want to end this chapter by showing Jampel struggling. He falls off obstacle course / finds himself in danger in the forest. We cut to black and there is a small pause before we reveal him as an adult in the final chapter….

ACT 3 - Full Circle - 'Mirror of chapter one'

The son is now grown up, he has a son of his own. He teaches his son the ways of the jungle.. just like his father taught him. But this time, it is to protect the forest, instead of to hunt.

Now that Jampel is a ranger, we paint him as a hero. 

  • We will draw visual parallels between the first chapter and this final act.
  • We want to highlight the pride Jampel feels at being a ranger, and show how that is reflected by the adoration of his son, but unlike the first chapter, he is fully open with him and encourages his involvement and education in wildlife conservation. 
sicario-4.png

 

Mood Board

 

PARTNERSHIPS

Regarding the voice over - which will narrate the piece, we want to explore the idea of attaching a recognised name to the project. Perhaps someone who WWF have worked with before or has been vocally/financially supportive. We want this film to gain as much traction and exposure as possible and this would be a great way to do that. 

Final Words

Thank you for reviewing and considering this.