Client:
Cooler Media
Partner:
Naturalis Biodiversity Center
Subject:
Why do we need insects?
Style:
AnyStory
Language:
English
Dutch
Story:
Most people get the itch from insects. Still, it’s better not to crush them during BBQ time! These crawling critters have more impact on us humans than we think… So, what would actually happen if insects were to become extinct? Check out the AnyStory and discover why we need insects!
At Cooler Media we spend a lot of our time on “free work” in the form of our AnyStories. The only requirement? “Make it bold!”
This AnyStory on the usefulness of insects has been a fun project to work on. Together with my colleague Robin and our intern Björn, we realized the visual design.
The next step: animating all created designs. We incorporated many small details into this cheerful video. For example in the faces of the insects. In addition, for this animation I used a camera function within the animation software several times. In this way, individual scenes can be nicely worked out and no unnecessary animation work is involved. This creates beautiful environments that allow us to see what is happening through the eye of the camera.
“It’s also just really fun to animate insects. I can’t remember doing this before, so that made it an extra cool project!”
– Technical Animator Jamie
For every human being, there are roughly 1.4 billion insects on our planet. It’s estimated that their total biomass weights 70 times more than the entire human population!
That’s a huge amount of bugs. Sadly though, they are not doing well. In the past 27 years, the total biomass of all flying insects in North-Western Europe has declined by more than 70%. Not only species disappear, there are simply less and less insects that survive year over year.
The big threat that is endangering them? It’s us. Nitrogen pollution, food production on a vast and industrialized scale and rapidly declining habitats are among the biggest culprits.
And this is bad since all life depends on other life. When one small part in our food chain disappears, the rest will follow. Insects are extremely useful creatures. They pollinate flowers, clean dead material and create fertile ground. They even combat and prevent pests from eating crops.
Take this pizza, it wouldn’t look the same without insects. Paprika, onion, artichoke, tomatoes: all products from plants that depend on pollination. Even the salami would miss it’s garlic taste… Not very appealing right? So what can we do?
For starters, try to eat food that has been produced with animals and humans in mind. Eat organic, if you can afford it. Help insects do their vital work. Make a safe haven in your garden for our little friends. Replacing tiles for plants and flowers is a great way to help, and have something nice to look at as well.
Nick Bökkerink
Explanation Director
Do you want to contribute to the next AnyStory as a partner? Share your idea with us.
