- Organization
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Our Seas, Our Legacy
Our Seas, Our Legacy is a documentary collective, founded by 21-year-old filmmaker, divemaster and college student Nathaniel Soon, celebrating Singapore’s marine environments and biodiversity through visual storytelling.
In conjunction with the International Year of the Reef 2018, the collective has produced and launched its premiere documentary series showcasing the good Singaporeans are doing towards conserving our marine environments. In the series, viewers dive into the uncharted waters of Singapore’s conservation scene and witness the great work Singapore’s unsung heroes have been doing to conserve our seas for generations to come.
The documentary collective is the brainchild of Nathaniel. A certified divemaster with Scuba Schools International (SSI), he has spent considerable time diving around Asia and working with local and regional marine conservation efforts. The collective was inspired by:
- An over-problematization of our marine environmental problems – Dr Enric Sala of National Geographic’s Pristine Seas, relinquished his full professorship at the University of California in pursuit of tangible solutions, as he felt that all the scientific community was doing was “writing the obituaries of our oceans”, with even more certainty each day of the problems the world is facing. The collective aims to adopt a solution-based approach of storytelling.
- Lack of publicity and awareness of local marine conservation efforts – While there are plenty of passionate Singaporean individuals and non-profit groups working on a diverse range of solutions for our oceans, they lack the necessary publicity and therefore Singaporeans, many of whom may wish to contribute, lack the awareness of these avenues. This documentary series aims to bridge this gap by offering the former the much-deserved publicity, in hopes of inspiring Singaporean viewers to then take action where they can.
- Visual storytelling as an effective means of advocacy – Visual storytelling through documentary film and photography have shown to be an effective means of education, awareness-building and advocacy. It is expected that in the next 3 years, 80% of online traffic will be in the form of video. The series hence aims to use film as a means of spreading awareness of Singapore’s marine biodiversity, pressing issues facing our natural environment and opportunities for everyday Singaporeans to get involved in local conservation efforts.
Episode 1: Between the Tides
Episode 2: Coming December 2018
Episode 3: Coming December 2018
For more information please visit the Our Seas, Our Legacy Facebook page, or contact Nathaniel Soon at ‘ourseas.ourlegacy@gmail.com’.