'a guardian' film shows how drone technology can save animal lives in africa

director andy fackrell has launched a guardian, a 90-second film that highlights that surprising role of drone technology in the war against poaching. produced for los angeles–based charity over and above africa, the all-drone shot movie presents a series of swooping aerial shots of animal groups, each titled with the respective collective nouns – a pride of lions, a wobble of ostrich, an implausibility of gnu, etc. – before tracking ‘a gang’ of poachers on the drone’s night vision camera.

‘it’s a slaughter,’ mentions over and above africa founder kerry david, ‘every day is a tech-war between heavily armed, well organized, skilled poachers and our courageous, but often ill-equipped rangers – dropping our guard can mean the loss of whole herds.’ the charity, which raises funds to support people and organizations in africa who are actively preventing extinction, has collaborated with fackrell to produce ‘a guardian’, the film which leads its initiative to supply drones to game reserves and help them win the war against poaching.

a recent report states that 83% of wild mammals have been lost to human civilization; yet we make up just 0.01% of the earth’s biomass. with african elephant numbers dropping 9% per year, it’s a battle that has become a crisis, starkly evidenced by the slaughter of 90 elephants over the last two months in botswana. according to a pioneering group of conservationists, entrepreneurs and researchers called air shepherd, drone surveillance is proving to be a savior for africa’s endangered animal groups, increasing their survival chances by up to 80%.

coining the collective noun for a group of drones as ‘a guardian’, the film uses other nouns in the form of text to romance the beauty of animal groups across africa, and at the same time highlight their vulnerability to poaching gangs. a guardian is made by an international team of creatives led by former wieden+kennedy, 180 amsterdam and ddb veteran, andy fackrell, who has recently left LA to return to amsterdam. the film is thoughtfully directed by another ex-180 amsterdam creative, sam coleman at giant films in cape town.

credits:

client: over and above africa (OAAA)
title: a guardian
OAAAfounder: kerry david
OAAA executive director: jennifer pfister
creative: andy fackrell
producer, nice kitty films: shannon worley
art director: mariya munsey
pr director: jessica hartley

giant films, cape town
director: sam coleman
executive producer: cindy gabriel
DOP: devin tosselli
producer: boris vossgatter
production manager: nella coetzer
editor: matthew swanepoel
wardrobe: izolina de vasconcelos
drone pilot: carl nicholl
RC plane pilot: wayne van rooyen
production assistant: bobby kamnga
drone camera operator: simeon hamman
grade: nic apostoli
online VHX: charmaine greyling
location: richard brooker/glen afric