Marine Debris Monitoring

Here at Sparkworks, we love new clients that bring fresh challenges. It’s kind of our thing. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (better known as NOAA) approached us to create a video about surveying marine debris (better known as counting beach trash). Also, the video had to be fun and engaging, while still maintaining the austerity of a government-funded video. We heard, “teach people how to count trash, but make it cool, but also professional.”

The Approach

When it comes to showing ‘how it’s done,’ sometimes a combination of motion graphics and video footage can really explain it best. So, we strapped on our galoshes, weathered a chilly beach, and showed an actual survey process. Then, we needed a birds-eye-view (literally) of the entire beach to see the big picture. We then utilized fancy camera-tracking techniques to overlay motion graphics atop the footage, seamlessly integrating the info and the footage.

We produced four of these training videos—the one here is number three in the series—and helped NOAA overhaul their training and make it easy for people to help keep beaches clean.