MyFlik Environmental Green Story Ideas For Films

Back To Story List

How To Do Environmental Film Stories

8. Biomass Energy

Theme: Dairy Digester Technology

Main Points To Communicate:

1. Produces Methane Gas
2. Methane Gas is Main Ingredient of Natural Gas.
3. Natural Gas runs Electricity Producing Generators.
4. Biomass is a Renewable Energy Source.

Detractor: Expensive to implement and requires a large area to store waste.

Links and Source images:

www.eia.doe.gov/kids/energyfacts

After the chart below of random story ideas, there are some ways to combine them into fast film scripts and example films to watch for more ideas. These environmental story ideas for student short films are evolving and will be added to over the course of the next year.

< Back To Main Environmental Film Story Ideas List

Any questions or story feedback requests from this group of schools can be sent via email. Please put DASP Story, SMUD Story or TOY Story in the subject line, so that I know your email is not junk mail, and let me know which school you attend. It would also be helpful to know who the main character is, their plot goal, antagonist, theme and conflict for your story idea if possible to help with the feedback process. Please thank MyFlik in your film credits if you end up using any story ideas we help inspire.

* More information about how biomass energy works below this chart

Characters	Set Ideas	Antagonists/Conflicts	Plot Goals	Visual Story Ideas
grease pools with talking lips (DV/Photo)	new dairy manure digester in Sacramento	biomass haters - prissy people who think it is gross - really play up the prissy/gross factor	To explain how biomass energy works	Animated 2D, DV, 3D School House Rock type film (see example YouTube videos below)
cows talking about producing manure in funny ways	cow farm	ignorance about biomass power - 2 people talking	To educate people on biomass energy information	Interview a dairy digester about how it works
animated food waste in trash cans and dumps	sewer treatment plant	people who think it smells - talk about how it reduces smells by eliminating wastes	To explain how well biomass energy works	Place a DV face on a biomass waste to make it look like it can talk
talking symbolic empty soup can army singing about biomass energy in 2D or 3D marching through a town	funny animated gross grease farm	residents near biomass plants	To show the best places for biomass gathering	Do a singing biomass farm story where a group of dancing 3D cows explain how they work like a musical (do one cow then duplicate into a dancing heard)
talking piles of manure in 2D or 3D - see how gross you can get like on CSI	trash cans, dumps or landfill sites	funny anti-biomass people who think it just is not right	To explain biomass energy to kids in simple way	Play with the sound of biomass energy in story - how could biomass plant sound funny?
cow manure biomass extreme energy farmer	forests with wood waste or factories	biomass gatherers competing with each other for waste		Merge narrator voice with the sounds of biomass being produced
biomass maintained workers	Biomass superhero ultimate headquarters - under a sewage plant? cow farm?	3D cows protesting for not getting paid for their biomass		Shoot a bunch of slick and beautiful biomass shots with a voice over explaining how it works
funny biomass engineer explaining the process	biomass plant			Do a fake funny ad for biomass power
kid asking parent about how biomass energy works	SMUD biomass locations available for shoots			Show how a funny or interesting character's life changes by learning how biomass energy works
biomass farm tour guide or teacher	famous local biomass sites - see information below			Have an ridiculous expert give a funny tour of a biomass farm with an smart kid asking silly questions
Biomass as a character (how would this look?)	traveling inside a biomass energy system using 3D			Play with how gross and funny you can make each part of your biomass story
funny biomass expert talking about all the "crap" that is wasted - use a play on words like in Austin Powers 2				Do 2D animation to show amount of waste produced by a heard of dairy cows each day and how far it would go and how much is being wasted (use huge piles to show size)
biomass energy fanatic - crazy about the idea and trying to convert others				Show how much of a city could be powered each day if all biomass waste were used for power
two piles of biomass talking in two pools about how they work
biomass energy superhero - think up a great name!
cows explaining to other cows how biomass power works after people keep taking their manure away in funny ways in background
wood wastes and fuel loaded forests talking about their power to produce energy - talking DV/2D/3D trees
people talking about the benefits of biomass in front of sewage sludge plant with clothespins on their noses or doing funny things
group of extreme biomass activists with funny slogans on signs "Save Our ____" protesting waste in funny locations (dairy, food places, forests, landfills)

BioMass Energy Information: Biomass is any organic matter that is available on a renewable or recurring basis. Types of Biomass include:

Dairy waste (methane gas from manure)
Grease waste
Food waste (232,00 tons per year enter Sacramento landfills)
Landfills
Wood wastes and fuel loaded forests

Biomass waste can be converted to electricity by a variety of methods, including biochemical and thermal processes.

Currently, biomass and waste energy makes up 9% of the electricity for SMUD customers, and 21% of the renewable energy.

Biomass is good for the environment by converting problem wastes into green electricity. This green energy helps to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming. Local air, water and odor qualities are improved by using biomass energy. Sacramento contains lots of biomass resources, and it is relatively low cost to produce this energy.

Interesting Biomass Facts & Stories:

The first dairy digester project for Sacramento started in July 2008 with 500 milk cows. Manure from these cows produce enough methane to power 60 single family houses a day!

A mature dairy cow produces 120 pounds of manure and urine per day.

School House Rock Film Examples: The following cartoon short films "How A Bill Becomes A Law" and "Conjunction Junction" are great ways to convey a process with of lots of information at once. How can you update the look and feel of the films below using DV, 2D and 3D combinations or styles? How could you come up with a catchy song that rhymes to explain how biomass energy works?

Fast Wind Energy Film Ideas:

1) Show a biomass farmer talking about how he harvests biomass power for his home and others. Then show his house all lit up with crazy electrical things like Christmas lights, rotating statues, inner disco lights, an electric fence and spot lights.

2) You could also do a series of funny monologues with different outrageous characters talking about how they think biomass energy works. Or kids trying to figure out how biomass energy works but getting it wrong.

3) Do a cow monologue where it talks about his friends and how hard they work to provide biomass waste. Maybe the cow explains how it works or what they worry about in their jobs.

4) Do a superhero bio story where the goal is to educate people about how biomass energy works. Think of funny names such as Wonder Waste, Super Crap, Waste Wood Wonder, Super BioMass, Grease Lightening or Manure Man. SuperHero runs around stopping people from throwing waste out and figuring out funny ways to turn waste into biomass. Or superhero could move huge piles of cow manure using special effects or piles of garbage at dump.

< Back To Main Environmental Film Story Ideas List

MyFlik Movies On Visual Storytelling:

Watch some movies below from the online Story Engine on Storytelling Goals, Creating Themes and Using Symbols and Metaphors. These short films are samples from the new 20 hour step-by-step "Writing A Great Script Fast" DVD Workshop:

Follow along and create a great film or story idea fast! Download the Workbook PDF file or DOC file to edit. You can also use a notebook or paper and the Online Workbook or watch it in 20 Steps.

Sample Movies

Below are some sample movies from the 94 minute version above on Storytelling Goals, Creating Themes and Using Symbols and Metaphors. These short films are part of the new 20 hour step-by-step "Writing A Great Script Fast" DVD Workshop: