Ivory Wars
The video takes place in Zackouma National Park in Chad. It begins with a voice-over while stop motion photos show different animals protected in the park. The tone was conversational, making jokes about a very photogenic monkey. There are also several fly-by shots that show the sweeping landscape of Zackouma.
A couple of minutes in, the mood takes a turn. The narrator explains that this is the only place on earth where you can still find an elephant herd 1,000 ft. deep. Then he explains that the illegal ivory trade is still going strong, but that it has moved underground. As it turns out, the elephants are nothing but fish in a barrel for the poachers. They roam around outside the perimeter of the park, waiting for the elephants to leave its safety.
The stills are powerful. They show poachers standing next to waist-high piles of tusks. Then the pictures of the carcasses… it’s hard to imagine someone that could do such a thing to such an amazing creature. It looked as if a giant ice-cream scoop to the animal’s face.
The part of the video that really stuck out is when the narrator talks about Annie, an elephant that was collared with a tracking device for observation. A map traces her path (over a thousand miles) in three months. Then, the trail stops. Tragically her body was found the next day.
The video was very moving. Both narrators make you care about the hardships of these elephants without trying to be preachy. Their use of stills, mixed with videos and maps did an excellent job of supplementing the story, without getting distracting. More collaborative work from the two would be a welcome sight.
