ROLE: Producer/Director/DP/Editor
CLIENT: Vantuna Research Group, NOAA
RELEASE: Initial release in 2021, update to the project provided in 2022 release
The rocky reefs that are home to countless species of fish and invertebrates and support the lush giant kelp forests of the Palos Verdes Peninsula (California) are under threat. They have historically been ravaged by landslides, burying the rocky structure and killing off plant and animal life on the reefs. Fortunately, there is a team of scientists at the Vantuna Research Group and NOAA who are working to bring these beautiful rocky reefs back to Palos Verdes. Join us as we watch the team put their decades of research to use to create a new system of reefs, restoring the underwater world of Palos Verdes.
ROLE: Producer/Director/DP/Editor
CLIENT: Vantuna Research Group, BOEM
RELEASE: 2022
Offshore wind is coming to the west coast of the United States to help increase the supply of renewable energy and combat climate change. Underwater cables transfer energy from offshore wind turbines to shore – but do the associate electromagnetic fields affect marine species in a way that negatively affects the commercial fishing industry?
Erin Jaco (Vantuna Research Group at Occidental College), Donna Schroeder (Bureau of Ocean Energy Management), and commercial crab fisherman Captain Steve Escobar guide us through the issue, the experiment, and the result.
ROLE: Underwater Cinematographer
DIRECTOR: Justice Nnanna
CLIENT: NOWNESS
RELEASE: 2021
This film channels black joy and pain through the fictitious religion of Octavia E. Butler called Earthseed: a way of life that embraces our intangible and fluid universe. This video poem crosses divides of climate change, economic disadvantage, and race relations in diaspora communities. To make this piece, Justice Nnanna collaborated with people in California, Lagos, Brooklyn, Saõ Paulo, and London. I was lucky to be one of them.
ROLE: Producer/Director/DP/Editor
CLIENT: Boy Scouts of America, Camp Emerald Bay/Pennington Marine Science Center
RELEASE: 2019
The Pennington Marine Science Center at Camp Emerald Bay had a problem. They wanted to bring the deeper parts of the ocean to their aquarium guests but couldn’t find a way to successfully collect fish from deep. Their solution was to build a cutting edge fish recompression device that would allow them to do so without harming the fish.
ROLE: Aerial Camera/Assistant Camera
DIRECTOR: Merete Mueller
CLIENT: New Yorker Magazine, Van Alen Institute
RELEASE: 2019
In six cities along the U.S.-Mexico border, local planners, designers, and citizens work toward cross-border collaboration on shared economic, environmental, and humanitarian concerns.
ROLE: Co-Producer/Co-Director/DP/Co-Editor
CLIENT: N/A — Student Film
RELEASE: 2018
Bernard Friedman has been pioneering shellfish farming in the California for 15 years, while Tessa Emmer, Avery Resor, and Catherine O’Hare are in the earliest stages of testing out their seaweed farm. “The Salty Generations” looks at the unique challenges of each generation of farmers and their motivation to provide sustainable food for their communities despite monumental challenges.
ROLE: Aerial Camera/Assistant Camera
DIRECTOR: Merete Mueller
CLIENT: New Yorker Magazine, Van Alen Institute
RELEASE: 2019
With more and more homes being built in fire-prone ecosystems, architects and homeowners are coming up with thoughtful design elements to help protect homes from wildfires.