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Industrialisation & PollutionFilm Group: Fern Gully

FernGully

Director: Bill Kroyer

Writers: Jim Cox (screenplay) Diana Young (original stories)

Stars: Samantha Mathis Christian Slater Robin Williams

Country of Origin & Original Source

FernGully based off of a book by Diana Young

Published in USA by Scholastic Paperback (April 1992)

Created as a children’s book

Storyline & Characterization

Beginning – Crysta (protagonist) sees a dark cloud in an unknown part of the forest. She believes this cloud to be the evil spirit, Hexxus, who was thought to have been defeated.

Middle – Crysta heads to the unknown portion of the forest to see the cloud herself. On this journey she meets a human, Zach, that she shrinks down to fairy size. Zach and Crysta bond as they go through a variety of adventures.

End – Zach admits that it is humans who are destroying the forest. Hexxus arrives in FernGully and Crysta is forced to fight him. Again, the fairies trap Hexxus within a tree.

[Note: View the Wikipedia page or watch the film for the entire plot]

Animation

Fairies flying in a circle was computer animated

Computer Animation The use of computer

animation greatly reduced production time, whereas traditional animation would have taken much longer

Ratings

Ratings: Many people felt the movie told a useful lesson,

even if the film itself was not a masterpiece. “FernGully grossed $32,710,894 worldwide,

including $24,650,296 from the United States.” – Box Office Mojo

Major Film Themes

Environmentalism Preservation – Large portion of the film stressed

the preservation of the rainforest. Focused on trees, plants, and creatures having a “voice”

Long-term Effects – In the end, there is a scene showing the forest destroyed and Crysta comments on the time it will take to rebuild the forest

Blind Destruction – The humans were unaware of the amount of destruction that they were creating. Simply following instructions and keeping a quota

YouTube Films

[Note: Each film is about 10 minutes long]

Beginning of the film (introduction to the plot) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6muQ1g_QC

tM

Middle of the film when she sees all the trees are cut down http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFYFd5G9M

Oc

Created By

Kathryn Martin

Ricky Bagby

Alex Laughnan

Kinley Lally

References

Internet Movie Database: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104254/

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FernGully:_The_Last_Rainforest

Image 1: http://www.helpahospital.org/media/catalog/product/cache/4/image/400x/5e06319eda06f020e43594a9c230972d/f/e/ferngully-the-last-rainforest-family-fun-edition-dvd.jpg

Image 2: http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/4b/69/4364c0a398a0120452f40210.L._SL500_AA300_.jpg

Image 3-8: DesireToLearn & Screenshots from the film

"Ferngully: The Last Rainforest". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved May 11, 2010.

Film Clips: Taken from YouTube and reposted under Alex Laughnan’s account.