EARTH DEFINITION – THE NEW STANDARD IN STREAMING

Short List
TitleEARTH DEFINITION – THE NEW STANDARD IN STREAMING
BrandEARTHDAY.ORG
Product/ServiceEARTHDAY.ORG
Category F01. Use of Film
Entrant HJALTELIN STAHL, PART OF ACCENTURE INTERACTIVE Copenhagen, DENMARK
Idea Creation HJALTELIN STAHL, PART OF ACCENTURE INTERACTIVE Copenhagen, DENMARK
PR BE ON (AOL NETWORKS) Copenhagen, DENMARK
Production MIGHTY NICE Sydney, AUSTRALIA
Post Production JSM MUSIC New York, USA
Credits
Name Company Position
Simon Robson North Boy South Director
Adam Kerj Hjaltelin Stahl Chief Creative Officer
Søren Brix Hjaltelin Stahl Executive Client Director
Lasse Vintersbølle Hjaltelin Stahl Senior Creative
Tim Pashen Hjaltelin Stahl Senior Creative
Karl Kristian Krarup Kjaer Hjaltelin Stahl Senior Creative
Nicolai Dimon Hjaltelin Stahl Senior Creative
Line Kirstine Hjaltelin Stahl Digital Creative
Mads Clausen Hjaltelin Stahl Senior Creative
Rasmus Frandsen Hjaltelin Stahl Digital Creative
Sofia Brockenhuss Hjaltelin Stahl Senior Account Manager
Jacob Benzon Hjaltelin Stahl Digital Director
Robert Preuss Hjaltelin Stahl Influencer Consultant
Mads Husted Hjaltelin Stahl Social Specialist
Andreas Langpap Hjaltelin Stahl Social Specialist
Isabella Sofie Nielsen Yahoo PR Client Director
Troels Ringsted Yahoo PR and Research Lead
Jan Jakob Holm-Webe Yahoo Head of Delivery
Tina Braham Mighty Nice Head of production
Diana Angelius Mighty Nice Producer
Jeremy Howdin Mighty Nice Head of Studio
Oliver Abbott Mighty Nice Design
Tessa Eden Mighty Nice Model
Michael Shiao Chen Mighty Nice Model
Duncan Maclaren Mighty Nice 3D Animation
Michael Shiao Chen Mighty Nice 3D Animation
Bonnie Forsyth Mighty Nice 2D Animation
Max Wanniaratchy Mighty Nice 2D Animation
Trent Rogan Mighty Nice Light & Render
Gary Fouchy Mighty Nice Composite
Joel Simon JSM Music CEO/CCO/Co-Composer
Jeff Fiorello JSM Music VP/Executive Producer
Rebecca Riter JSM Music Co-Composer
Norm Felker JSM Music Producer
Sharon Cha JSM Music Producer
Andrew Manning JSM Music Producer

Write a short summary of what happens in the film

The film is an animated tour in the world of streaming, explaining how high-resolution imagery and data is a growing part of the global climate challenge. The intro of the film sets the scene and implicitly highlights the issue: “This video is not available in HD for the sake of our planet”. It’s only viewable in Standard Definition, because streaming in HD (High Definition) generates around 4-5 times more emissions than (Standard Definition). However, there is a down to earth solution, known as ‘Standard definition’. We decided to rebrand it into ‘Earth definition’ – a green alternative to HD. To make the film true to its message, it’s solely animated using a restricted colour palette, concentrating on black and white, which means the film uses less pixels and imagery, demanding less energy.

Cultural / Context information for the jury

In human history, we’ve never streamed, zoomed, and scrolled more than we do now. But all that data comes with a cost. According to recent scientific reports, the carbon emissions of YouTube alone, equate to 10 million metric tons of CO2e per year. Because whenever a video is streamed, energy is used to power infrastructure and operations – energy that emits carbon into our atmosphere. However, the real problem here isn’t just streaming. Scientists at the UK's Royal Society say streaming HD on a phone generates up to 8 times more emissions than standard definition (SD). So, avoiding streaming in unnecessarily high resolution helps save emissions. And, on smaller screens, the viewer can barely notice the difference. One simple, down-to-earth solution? Choosing a lower quality setting when streaming videos on your phone, like standard definition. Or Earth Definition as it’s just been rebranded by the world’s biggest environmental organization, EARTHDAY.ORG.

Explain how the work innovatively used the film medium.

We knew we had to avoid HD (1080p) and only produce the video in Standard Definition (480p). But we didn’t stop there. The whole animation style was heavily inspired by the 1980 Atari arcade game Battlezone, one of the first games to ever move in 3D and long before HD was even a possibility. To handle the computations on very limited chips, the graphics had to be line-art overlapping. The lines were jageddy and ‘aliased’. The oldest of old school, yet somehow it still looks fresh. We only used a very restricted colour palette, concentrating on a black background with white outlines to reduce energy usage. Pops of colour were used to help the viewer define the animations. The framerate has also been downscaled to 24 fps. for lower rendering files. The style reminds us that good entertainment doesn’t always need to be in HD.