Indiegogo is committed to accessibility. If you have difficulty using our site, please contact support@indiegogo.com for assistance or view our accessibility notice by clicking here

This campaign is closed

Intelligent Forest - a spherical film

An immersive documentary film about the newest findings in plant communication

You may also be interested in

Closed
Closed
Closed
Closed
Closed

Intelligent Forest - a spherical film

Intelligent Forest - a spherical film

Intelligent Forest - a spherical film

Intelligent Forest - a spherical film

Intelligent Forest - a spherical film

An immersive documentary film about the newest findings in plant communication

An immersive documentary film about the newest findings in plant communication

An immersive documentary film about the newest findings in plant communication

An immersive documentary film about the newest findings in plant communication

Vygantas Kirejevas
Vygantas Kirejevas
Vygantas Kirejevas
Vygantas Kirejevas
1 Campaign |
Vilnius, Lithuania
$160 USD 5 backers
0% of $25,000 Flexible Goal Flexible Goal
Choose your Perk

You are a good person

$1 USD
0 claimed

You are a really good person

$5 USD
0 claimed

Forest inspired postcard

$15 USD
2 claimed

Original Forest ringtone

$35 USD
1 claimed

Magic Bean of your own

$60 USD
0 claimed

Film Credits

$100 USD
0 claimed

Personalized tree poster

$200 USD
0 out of 50 of claimed

Patron Supporter

$350 USD
0 out of 50 of claimed

Associate Producer

$1,000 USD
0 out of 2 of claimed

Executive Producer

$5,000 USD
0 out of 1 of claimed

Discover the groundbreaking science of plant intelligence that changes how we see and understand the world around us.


Intelligent Forest is a complete sensory immersion in this dynamic ecosystem. Using the latest scientific research, we deepen our understanding of plant life and of the forest's incredible complex mechanisms of networking and communication. Much like in James Cameron’s Avatar, trees and other plants have an elaborate underground network that is used to communicate, share resources, warn about danger, learn from each other and pass this knowledge onto the next generation. 


Meet the Team



Full Dome Technology

“Someday, in the not too distant future, you’ll be able to go to a movie and the movie will be all around you. The movie will be over your head; it will be 360 degrees around you.” –Steven Spielberg, TIME Magazine in 2006

Full Dome is a spherical and immersive digital projection environment commonly found in digital planetariums. It is a new way of experiencing cinema. To help you visualize what an immersive environment feels like, below is a short animated clip made by our good friends at  SOFTMACHINE.


We have developed a spherical camera that is able to capture realtime footage at a stunning 5000x5000px resolution for large spherical projections. We are constantly improving the camera and pay a lot of attention to image quality and each pixel, which we consider crucial in providing a real immersive experience to the audience.


The Film


It's been only a few decades since scientists discovered some evidence for plant communication, but the first “talking tree” papers were quickly shot down and considered irrelevant.

Now, decades later, tree communication research has been resurrected and brings us new compelling evidence that would have been considered crazy talk just a few years ago.

It's not anymore a question whether plants can communicate — they can — but rather why and how they do it.

We are collaborating with Suzanne Simard and Amanda Asay from The University of British Columbia, Department of Forest Sciences, to make sure we have access to the newest research in plant communication and can reflect on what kind of impact this research may have on the bigger picture.


Recent scientific discoveries serve as a doorway through which we can learn about the intelligence of plant life. Their ability to communicate and regulate processes through complex, symbiotic networks in many ways mimic our own neural and social networks. This expands our understanding of the natural world beyond physical/biological limits.

The film will follow a tree from its birth as a seedling and show the challenges it faces to survive and become a mighty Mother Tree – the preserver of the forest. Through changing seasons, through storms and dangers, it perseveres with the help of the community and by cleverly interacting with its environment. The film will explore the incredibly complex mechanisms that show how advanced plant communication may be within families, between different species and with the external environment.

And not all danger comes from the outside world. Within plant society, there are those who use trickery and deceit to serve their own needs. By observing different characters, their motivations and relationships, we follow how their stories intertwine to achieve the delicate balance of the ecosystem — one of the largest living organisms of our planet — and subtly foster the spiritual elements of the natural world, such as connectedness, consciousness and compassion.

As we are dealing with an immersive medium, we want the audience to have a positive and uninterrupted experience with nature. Connecting with the viewers directly, Intelligent Forest is a spiritual journey to rediscover the innate but lost connection between humans and nature. Emotional connection is developed by deeper understanding, empathy and appealing to humanity’s higher values.


What We Need

We have already put over $60,000 into the film, and we need your support to raise an additional $25,000 in order to execute the most complex shots, which will make the film a really unforgettable experience. These complex shots involve making flyovers with drones that can carry our camera equipment as well as telescopic crane that can raise the camera for different perspectives.

  • Additional Equipment: We need to hire a telescopic crane and extra crew, as well as a drone for flyovers (which would have to be reconstructed to carry our equipment).
  • Crew: We need to pay the crew that is staying in various locations in the forest (sometimes under challenging weather conditions).
  • Storage: As our immersive footage takes a large amount of space (about 100mb per frame, which makes it 1.8TB per 10 min), we need additional storage space and rendering power.
  • Additional camera parts: Our camera is great, however we need to purchase additional parts to stabilize it while in movement and make it more compact.

Stretch Goals

An additional $18,000 will give us a chance to have additional shooting days with animals such as bisons, cormorants and deer.

For an additional $20,000, we could turn this film into an immersive 3D film.

Perks

Considering shipping and paper, we would like to reduce our carbon footprint and therefore most of our perks are digital. So besides our massive gratitude you can also get:

POSTCARDS

The electronic postcards will be unique and designed from photographs taken during the shooting of the film.

RINGTONES

There are five unique melodic and sound phone ringtones composed for this project by the film composer. 

MAGIC BEAN

You can receive your own Magic Bean to grow at home. This is one way to bring nature into our homes. (We will ship these from the continent you are on to reduce the distance.)


TREE FACE

Have you ever wondered how you would look as a tree? Seriously, send us your photograph, and we will send you back a high resolution image with your face on a tree. (You can also send your friend's photo and make it a gift.)


BONSAI

To express our gratitude, we can send a bonsai tree that lives for many years and represents a long lasting relationship with nature.



The Impact

Inspired by early environmental philosophers (such as Henry David Thoreau) who gave voice to environmental activism during the peak of industrialization, we are firm believers that its important for all of us humans to find a personal, spiritual experience in nature. 
Contemporary thinkers (such as David Rossiter) have shown how in our modern society there is a blurring between televised, action fueled, consumer focused view of nature and the real experience of nature, which thus lessens the notion of the individual's spiritual experience.
Therefore, as we are using an immersive medium, we believe it's a perfect and powerful platform to allow audiences to have a more direct, personal connection with the natural world. Without showing the human impact nor pitting humans against nature, we aim to create a positive, uplifting experience. As the emerging research on plant communication is so mind shifting, we want to use it as a pathway to help us better understand and build an empathic rapport, subtly fostering the aspects of connectedness and compassion for all living beings.
Through this personal experience and deeper understanding, it also becomes a person’s spiritual journey that has the capacity to change our perception of the surroundings and thus have a lasting effect on our actions. 
Further reading:

Morrison. R(2003). “Wilderness and Clearing, Thoreau, Heidegger and the Poetic.” Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment. Vol.10. No.1. pp. 143-165.

Rossiter. D (2004), "The nature of protest: constructing the spaces of British Columbia's rainforests". Cultural Geographies. vol. 11. no. 2. pp. 139-164.


Track record:
We are documentary and full dome film producers and spherical camera technology developers. Our latest films are listed below:
Boy Meets Sumo! 2011 (TV documentary in co-production with NHK)
A Place We Call Home 2012 (nomination at Sheffield Doc Fest, won Best Debut film at Cinema Spring), 
Beyond the Arctic Circle 2014 (Jena Fulldome Festival)
Paradise Gowns 2015 (in post-production)

THANK YOU for helping us to make a difference


Looking for more information? Check the project FAQ
Need more information
Let us know if you think this campaign contains prohibited content.
Tags for this project

You may also be interested in

Up Caret