Documentary Animation : Week 1 - Planning and Research

For the Documentary Animation brief, I decided to team up with Tom Hallgarten and Rosie. We decided to do an animation about the issue of fracking in Lancashire. The issue is a serious one that angers many people from Lancashire. Cuadrilla, the fracking company which drills in Lancashire area, claimed that the Lancashire discovery could satisfy the UK's gas consumption 'for 56 years'. The UK government granted Cuadrilla a permission to drill in Lancashire area. As soon as the drilling started in 2011, the residents of who live in drilling areas have been complaining that tremors are felt every now and then. Although fracking companies claim that fracking's procedure poses less risk to the environment, and helps to transitions the shift from fossil fuels to clean renewable energy, other problems such as noise pollution and traffic have been identified. The tension worsens as the fracking companies tend to be not transparent about the company's logistics and the noise pollution problem.

Friends of Earth Fracking Protest 

Despite all the short term benefits fracking can offer, just the process of drilling itself is relatively expensive in the UK because the walls to be drilled have to be deeper due to geographical condition (£33bn estimated infrastructure spend needed by UK). We are also concerned the long run impact of fracking operation because of the water contamination from chemicals, also if something goes wrong with the well, the gas and fluids can leak into the ground or water supply higher up.

Tainted water collected from a drinking water well near a fracking site in Pennsylvania

Instead of just saying that fracking is bad without thinking of any further actions, our initial plan to kick off the project is to visit a protest in Blackpool and try to present a better existing alternative to shale fracking ask some questions about it. By doing so, we would like to leave a positive thought to the protester and hope that people will be aware and more willing to support research and development for alternative renewable energy.

Desertec Solar Panel Technology

 Some gadgets that can generate alternative renewable energy and their pros and cons:

Desertec

A log term half-trillion dollar solar project that will occupy parts of Sahara, Middle East and Europe. If the project is successful, it could produce enough electricity to meet 15-20% of Europe's energy demand by 2050 while providing power to the Middle East and Northern Africa as well. 

PETE Device

A technology that the University of Stanford has been developing. Their plan is to cover 6,500 square miles of the desert in photovoltaic systems and wind parks.

I did some reading on wind energy as well, but I feel more strongly about the solar energy as a better long-term solution. 

Tom mentioned that the University of Leeds Physics departments are doing some research with solar batteries as well, which we might check out in the near future before we sort out what we want to say and ask when we go to Blackpool to get some materials. We also considered to have a chat with some personnel from Frack Free Leeds to investigate more about the negative impact of fracking and what solution they think will be able to replace shale gas energy.

Summary of our thoughts on animating medium:
- Traditional, use recyclable materials such as newspapers and brown papers.
- Animation as an impression based on the people we interviewed

Me, Rosie and Tom agreed that infographics is a bit dull, even though it is aesthetically pleasing, so we sort of want to avoid making one.

Sources

Environmental problem caused by fracking:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jan/21/cuadrilla-lancashire-fracking-should-be-refused
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jan/04/friends-of-earth-ticked-off-claims-anti-fracking-leaflet
http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/climate/fracking
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/investing/10901879/Before-you-back-Britains-fracking-boom-drill-down-into-the-details.html
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/feb/05/fracking-water-america-drought-oil-gas
http://www.ecowatch.com/fracking-and-farmland-1881692282.html
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jan/27/shale-gas-alternatives-environmental-economic-impact-fracking


Alternative solutions:
http://www.greenmatch.co.uk/blog/2015/01/importing-solar-energy-into-the-uk
http://inhabitat.com/stanford-harnesses-light-and-heat-with-new-solar-tech/
http://inhabitat.com/solar-energy-from-sahara-will-be-imported-to-europe-within-5-years/
http://inhabitat.com/desertecs-first-solar-power-plant-to-begin-construction-in-morocco-next-year/
https://energy.gov/eere/wind/advantages-and-challenges-wind-energy
http://www.cpre.org.uk/what-we-do/energy-and-waste/shale-gas/the-issues?gclid=COqU6e7289ECFUe37QodIkoGAA