Cinematographer Elliot Lowndes
The film will first identify native bees as distinct from the honey bee, and how they differ from wasps. Then the film will move on to cover the importance of native bees as pollinators, the threats facing native bee populations, and the solutions to combat those threats - including native habitat restoration and preservation.
The second half of the film will take a deep dive into a couple of species’ life cycles using immersive macro and slow motion imagery to follow a couple of individual bees through spring/summer as they emerge from their nests, mate, forage for food and nesting material, and build their own nests. The goal of these deep-dives is to help the audience empathize with and follow the bees in their journey to survive and provide for their offspring. By juxtaposing two species that nest in very different ways - perhaps the western leaf cutting bee and the bindweed turret bee, for example, the secondary goal is to convey the massive diversity of native bee species. Montage of diversity in shapes, sizes, lifecyles, adaptations to native flora, and the spectrum of sociality between some native bee species will also be used to represent the thousands of species of native bee in the wild.
The film will end with a clear list of actions that the audience can make to help native bee populations, including preservation and restoration of native landscapes, native planting and habitat in urban and agricultural settings, supporting organic and regenerative farming practices.
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