Changing seascapes at the dawn of Animal Life

Описание: This short film explores the profound changes which occurred on ancient seafloors, when animals were first beginning to evolve, over half a billion years ago. The timeline of events begins with early prokaryotic life, before moving to the peaceful inhabitants of the Garden of Ediacara, which included many highly unusual life forms, quite unlike modern animals. Finally, we arrive at the Cambrian time period, which saw the dawn of all modern animal groups.

Throughout the film, the evolution of different animal groups which have inhabited the seafloors is explored. Context is provided as to the changes in chemistry and physiology which accompanied these developments.

The film was created by five undergraduate students as part of the History of Life module in University of Galway, Ireland:
Julie O’Grady: research, illustrations, and storyboard
Jane Hurley: research, script, and narration
Craig Ferguson: animations, editing, and storyboarding
Grainne Perryman: research and script
Ben Hunter: research and script

The filmmaking assignment provides students with valuable science communication and teamwork skills as well as providing the public with educational content relating to the history of life on Earth.

The team at Trilobite Me Productions would like to thank Dr John Murray of Earth and Ocean Sciences, UG for providing guidance on all aspects of film production.

The film uses animation and completely original artwork to bring these organisms to life for a general audience.

Music by Craig Ferguson and Hurle

We hope you enjoy watching!