A film by Suky Best
Interviewees Brenda Addison, Alan Bender and David North
Sound Jason Hart
Editor Lucy Newman
Producer Kimo Morrison
Original film footage provided by the RSPB
Bird song provided by the British Library

A hand-drawn, animation documenting recollections of the dawn chorus, contrasted with the dawn chorus today.

A hand-drawn rotoscoped animation from wildlife footage, that features interviews with people talking about their memories and experience and of the dawn chorus.

A hand-drawn rotoscoped animation from wildlife footage, showing garden birds in silhouette against flat colour backgrounds that subtly change, signifying the coming of the dawn. Featuring interviews with people talking of their memories and experiences of the dawn chorus contrasted with their experience of it today. The soundtrack also features birdsong from common UK garden birds. The film is intended to make us look anew at a daily occurrence and the wild animals we encounter on a daily basis.

Hand drawn frame by frame over existing documentary footage of garden birds. The drawings show only the birds in silhouette, all other detail is removed. Made in Photoshop and assembled in After Effects and Premiere software. The sound was made separately from live recordings, interviews and library recordings of bird song.

The birds featured in the film, in order of appearance:
Barn Owl
Tawney owl
Chiffchaff
Dartford Warbler
Dunnock
Willow Tit
Willow Warbler
Blackbird
Reed Bunting
Blue Tit
Woodpigeon
Garden Warbler
Wren
Chaffinch
Stonechat
Bullfinch
Crested tit
Robin
Marsh Warbler
Jay
Great Tit
Linnet
Whitethroat
Reed warbler
Spotted Flycatcher
Nightingale
Redstart
Cockerel
Thrush

The animation is going well at the moment. The basic visual structure has been edited together using footage from the RSPB film collection. The footage has been broken down into frames and the actual animation drawing has begun; the drawing is going well and at a good pace. The only area of concern at the moment is the soundtrack. I have interviewed about 12 people and am still not quite getting the soundtrack for the film that was expected, this could be due to my interviewing technique or who we are choosing to interview. Kimo, who is producing the project, is finding more interviewees and I am also re-interviewing people who seemed to have the most potential. The bird sound aspect is on hold till the sound structure from the interviews is in place.

Suky Best