Who here is all about telling ethical stories?

General Forums Blender and CG Discussions
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Hi,
I’m popping this topic to ask who in the Blender community has made his/her main goal to make films or games (or any CG experience) that tackle the big current problems in this world (global warming, pollution, ignorance, anything that makes or will make life on Earth suffer on a massive scale), possibly in collaboration with non-profit organizations and try to tell the stories that would have the most positive impact on the largest audience possible, while showing the example in your own life and actions as much as possible.

I have several (probably too ambitious) projects in those lines and I hope to take them to the extreme so I figured maybe now is a good time to connect with people with similar interests before I embark on this ship.
If you have such projects yourself, feel free to tell me about them (or ask me about mine).

Best wishes to all blender artists, you’re already contributing to improving the world by using this program (if you show your friends how good it is and report bugs!).

keywords for search purposes:
environment, awareness, education, science, wildlife, ngo, ecology, humanitarian, vegan, environmental, ecological,

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So for the conclusion you want to take it all away and destroy it. :poop:

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Well, inline with your concept, i stand before you an other soul, which likes expressing thought provoking ideas to employ ones mind to seek better expression… to leave an impression worth living for, sharing further.

Earth as a ship.
Ship symbolizes escape & discovery - “seeking new ground” - leaving home, past, tradition, land… everything what makes a decent, beautiful & peaceful life, behind". Take ‘American colony and Imperial tyranny’ for example and contemplate… - that was just a prolongation of inevitable, the war for independence.
Observing the present with that thought:

We are fleas fighting over each other about which one owns the dog and controls other fleas.

Thinking again, a post more likely & better suitable for Artwork WIP.

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I figured it’s best I remove the image as well as my comment on it.
I prefer to discuss on the rest.

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Personally I’d love to rescue the world.

Well to be more specific, rescue the existence of mankind. You know, the WORLD/ PLANET never had nor will any kind of problem. It’s just that billions of years old pile of (cosmic)dirt it was from the beginning. And will continue to be exactly that 'till it’s great GREAT collision with a sun.

Thinking it’d be our role role to “help” earth is just pathetic.

MANKIND HELP YOURSELF!

Yes I screamed that.

Now for an quote:
“And crawling on the planets face,… some insects… call the human race-…
…lost in time… lost in space… — and meaning.”
The criminologist, an expert.
(The Rocky Horror Picture Show, At the end of “Superheroes” (spoken/performed/sung by) Charles Gray)

EDIT: Please let me express: I think this topic should be discussed in our OT-forum. Personally I don’t think it’s a good fit for ‘general’ CG discussion.
Everything further on would lead to every sort of political/ ethical/ philosophical issues.

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image

It’s getting hot in here…

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Sorry, it’s my fault. The “save the world” part was a purposefully placed exaggeration for fun but I always forget how misleading jokes are in forums.

I edited the title to be clearer and less misleading.

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No, no, no…
Don’t apologize! I am on your side. Just wanted to give it the perspective it deserves.
And to be honest. I didn’t get the joke.

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Well, I’m very much interested in telling stories that have themes some artists and writers shy away from… My goal as a story teller is to keep my stories raw, unfiltered, and pure. What I mean by that is I want my stories to not shy away from topics and ideas that may be somewhat of a touchy subject. But it’s hard! :sweat_smile: It’s hard to put certain themes in your story. Because even you shy away from it sometimes.
Though of course, I want my stories to be enjoyed by many, that includes kids and adults, I just want to keep the emotional themes of the stories to go places that other writers sometimes don’t go.

That said though, I don’t think every story needs to have SUPER DEEP MEANING in it, simple fun for the sake of fun stories can be great too! As long as the author puts love into their work, and I can see it, it still has meaning to me :slightly_smiling_face:

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why flagged me?
does not like the ethics of observing internally?
if one does not know how one is made inside, observing the world as a mirror of oneself, how can one pretend to “instruct the world”?

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@ChameleonScales please answer the questions in public

Your motivations are valid, there’s no reason you write them in private
I asked you the questions here

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The only reason I responded in private is because I don’t want to fill the topic with unrelated stuff, not because I feared or didn’t dare to share my reasons for flagging publicly, but ok, if you insist (maybe you’re right, I’m probably picky on clean threads):

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Om mani padme hum

The only reason why I wrote about your post is to make you clear, with an obvious trap in which I’m happy that you “fell” in full, that the world is not made of black and white, but think of shades of gray .
The rule of the game is not to try to eliminate what you believe to be the evils of the world.
The opposites are always in balance and turn on themselves.
If you take the short road, thinking that the problems are resolved by “eliminating them” they will knock loudly from the back.

Now it is up to you to reflect and deepen or continue to easily trashing what you think is bad at your current state of consciousness.

Best wishes for your trip just started. :seedling:

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Alright thanks for everything, best wishes to you too.

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I think so, but people’s idea’s of ethics may be different. In regards to things like global warming, I think that’s an issue that’s been politicized in order to (partially) demean western manufacturing practices (China and India are not placing the same “global warming” concerns on their industry, themselves going through a sort of industrial revolution).

Things aren’t black or white, but you’re heart is in the right place. Good luck in your endeavors.

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You are free to make work with the intent to further a cause, but do take note that the massive variance in views on what is ethical could mean it generating a lot of controversy. If you are not prepared for the idea of people disagreeing with your hard work, then it shouldn’t be posted anywhere.

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Maybe “ethics” is not the best word for what I meant. I have to think about how to put it more clearly.

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One of the things that attracted me to filmmaking in the first place was the seemingly wide potential for creative expression, and yet, also to remain profitable. And over time, I think it has proven out that this is the case.

All artists of course, have to find a balance between artistic expression and livelihood.

So when you can find yourself in a place where you have those two ideas in a more or less perfect harmony you are quite lucky. And very few artists ever achieve this.

But I would say that no matter what you do, you not loose sight of the fact that this is entertainment or enjoyment, or pleasure of some kind primarily. And that if it can be entertainment that also lifts people up in some way, then all the better.

For example, people will respond to something, if the message is not over the top. Avatar is a great example of pushing the limits of message almost too far. It is real easy to come away from that movie and think that is entire purpose was to make a statement about the environment. And interviews with Cameron, proved that to be exactly the case. And it was transparent for anyone paying attention during the movie.

But in any case, take that movie as a more or less model of how you do it. It is a formula where you are motivated by a stronger more important message. But you funnel that idea through the concepts of drama, art, inspirational visuals and in this case new technology to see things really never seen in this way on film before. As sad as it is, this is what people will respond to. It is the carrier wave of the message.

So I would say, if the most important thing to you is the message, then start with simple concepts that can be conveyed in a work of animation. And put a lot of work and effort into the aesthetic carrier wave. This is great visuals, story, technical achievement and so on. Make it great art as the priority over a strong message. If you go the other way, people will reject it.

And if the message is so much more important than the art, then I think you should not be making art, but making messages with some artistic presentation. Like documentaries and other ways to simply convey a message.

But if you are going to make art. Make art the priority. And the message should not get in the way. And also the art should not be so ambitious that no message can be conveyed. It is a balance.

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I’ve been wrong too many times to preach on how people should live their lives. Things are not always as they seem.

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I don’t think it is Ethics or Morals or political statements or any of that. In My opinion, it is just, you have a right to express yourself and to live your life how you see it, and to promote the ideas that you think are pro-survival.

As for art, I think it is up to each individual to make the call of what is more important to them.

But I don’t think you can really live life as an artist and keep these things segmented. Your personal expression is after all at the heart of the matter with art. And art is as personal as this comes though. Doe not make it less art. Art is art. It is just that some people have different personal opinions. And varying degrees of interest in allowing personal views to come into art. Some people keep them completely separate - to a large degree. But do also bring their personality and more broad interests largely to the work, without being specific to a particular cause they believe in. That is OK too. It is just a matter of finding what works for you.

But I think to be successful at art, you have to give it the respect of art, and all that comes with that. And if you want to be successful at changing things through art, then you have to tackle how to be successful as an artist.

I am not saying you are doing this or not doing this or anything like that.

I am just vamping on my thoughts on the matter based on the point of this thread. And hoping some of it will ring true to someone. :slight_smile:

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