International non-profit marine conservation organization Sea Shepherd launches with agency FF New York an awareness campaign to bring attention to the overwhelming plastic pollution of the ocean. The “Plastic Ocean” campaign includes this video directed by Geoff Bailey of Alkemy X which is dreamlike and colorful at first glance but highlights the plight of sea animals trapped in plastic waste.

Various sea animals, including a dolphin and a shark, try to break through the surface of a plastic sea but to no avail. All we see are their shapes encased in plastic, unable to emerge from the ocean.

Entitled “Stop The Plastic Ocean,” the fully CG-animated piece is a heart-wrenching depiction of how plastic debris traumatically affects our marine wildlife, revealing that every year more than 1 million animals die from these man-made pollutants.

“I firmly believe that emotion is what moves people to action,” said Alkemy X creative director Bailey. “Ultimately, this notion led us to the final concept of the piece, wherein the viewer is lulled into a false sense of security through the motion and imagery before being jolted back into reality.”

Captain Alex Cornelissen, Sea Shepherd’s global CEO, said, “Plastics are invading the oceans on an unprecedented scale. Like an invasive species, it is wiping out ocean wildlife and taking over its habitat. Humans are to blame for the introduction of this most lethal substance and if we don’t stop its progress, soon the oceans will contain more plastic by sheer weight than all animal life combined. But we can turn the tides, we can stop this invasion. What we have caused, we now have to fix. Stop the production and use of single-use plastics. Together we can clean the oceans and together we can make sure that what we take out, stays out.”

Credits

Client Sea Shepherd Agency FF New York Fred & Farid, chief creative officers; Laurent Leccia, creative director; Michael Hess, associate creative director; Amanda Van Caneghem, executive producer. Animation Alkemy X, New York Geoff Bailey, director; Dave Zeevalk, CG supervisor, 3D artist; Brendan Fitzgerald, 3D lead; Adam Stockholm, Pete Hamilton, 3D artists; Matthew Robinson, Alejandro Monzon, compositors; Lucas Andrei, VFX editor. (Toolbox: Houdini, Maya, Nuke, Adobe AfterEffects, Photoshop, Illustrator)  Music Tuesday Collective Vida Ventura, Hallie Bonnar, music producers; Scarlet Lastrapes, vocal talent; Theo, creative director/composer.

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