The Wildlife Videography Education Programme is a project funded by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department under the project Subventions for Biodiversity Education 2019. The programme is divided into two parts, one of the parts is Ecological Short Films Production for Tertiary Students, which is an investigation-based educational activity. Students can promote the unique ecology of Hong Kong to the public in forms of creative media, and at the same time integrate the local ecology and biodiversity into daily creation, and even public’s daily lives.
Combination of nature and art, the rise of local ecological documentaries
In recent years, discussions on environmental issues have been more intense, and ecological phenomena have gained more attention worldwide. The medium of art creation is changing rapidly, and online platforms have become a stage that creators cannot ignore. In the end, are natural ecology and artistic creation as irrelevant as they are? In the last few years, several young people have actively attempted to push the production of local wildlife documentaries to the artistic level, blending ecology and aesthetics. OWLHK is inviting ecological photographers as our event instructors, hoping to share their years of ecological shooting experience and exchange with university students, exploring the possibility for more ecological short films.
First time setting foot in Hong Kong ecology, cultivating amphibious inspiration
This event collaborates with the young eco-documentary directors from Hong Kong, Mr. Fung Hon-Shing, Ms. Daphne Wong and Mr. James Kwok, it mainly aims at students from all colleges and universities. Among them, students from creative media/ multimedia design departments are specially invited to experience the difference between eco-documentary filming and general filming. Undergraduates majoring in creative media and related disciplines already have more opportunities to work in photography or film production, therefore, they could use the existing skills in this programme. Many of the participants, however, mentioned that they rarely shoot in the wild. In fact, this was their first time to use wildlife animals as their subjects, they felt new and challenging. In the future, they could polish their works with these natural or ecological elements.
