Restoring Mangroves in Minecraft and Real Life with Sound Off Films

Minecraft’s ‘Rooted Together: The Mangrove Restoration Project’ is a campaign that aims to raise awareness - and money - for mangrove ecosystems around the world. Vital to the environment and local communities globally, the plants are surprisingly unknown - leaving the teams involved with quite the PR challenge.

Turning gamers into mangrove enthusiasts and raising over $200,000 for The Nature Conservancy, Xbox and Mojang Studios, the Swedish developer behind Minecraft, partnered with creative agency 215McCann and mission-driven boutique production company Sound Off Films to create a documentary about mangrove conservation, shot half in the real world and half in Minecraft’s virtual world. A custom map was also built inside the game by Everbloom Games, a 50-minute experience visualising 50 years of mangrove restoration.

Working with director Haimy Assefa, and several remote units in Kenya and the Philippines, Sound Off’s global partnerships and in-house scientists allowed them to create a sustainable and inclusive production in three different countries. The project has now won two Gold Medals in the Sustainability, Environment and Climate category at the Anthem Awards, and been nominated for three PRWeek Purpose Awards for its impact in this area.

To find out how the film was crafted, block-by-block, LBB’s Ben Conway spoke with Sound Off Films’ creative producer, Sophie Morgan.

LBB> How did 215McCann get you involved in this project? What excited you when you saw the brief?

Sophie> We are a boutique production studio with an established track record in high end mission-driven branded content and have an existing collaborative relationship with the brilliant team at 215McCann. The innovation involved in these concepts is so exciting to us, it’s a prime example of thinking outside the box when it comes to environmental storytelling and it also leads to direct, measurable results.

The translation from virtual mangrove planting to actual plants being planted in real life is a tangible goal with visible impact created in a short amount of time - a rare thing with conservation campaigning. We also know the power and size of the Minecraft community and the access to a young audience that might not see conservation messages elsewhere. 

LBB> You’re a mission-driven production company, and even have ocean and conservation experts on staff - how did they help this project succeed?

Sophie> Sound Off was formed to make content that makes a difference and specialises in presenting important messages as part of a shiny and entertaining package (the Trojan horse method). Although today this spans a wide variety of social and environmental causes, we cut our teeth in conservation content. 

The SOF team includes scientists and filmmakers who have worked on science and wildlife projects around the world including branded content for some of the world’s biggest brands to PSAs for NGOs such as UNESCO and the Plastic Pollution Coalition to landmark productions like the BBC’s ‘Blue Planet II’ and the multi-award winning feature documentary ‘Racing Extinction’. 

This was a very fast turnaround project and we approached it with an already strong understanding of marine biology and the logistics of water-based nature shoots. We were also able to use our existing scientists and filmmaker network in this field to cast incredible scientists and hire world-class remote crews in this area in a short window. We were confident about these elements in advance and it gave us a clear edge in bidding. 

LBB> Why was Haimy Assefa the ideal director for the Rooted Together film?

Sophie> We love working with strong female directors - a category still majorly underrepresented in advertising and across the board in content creation. Haimy is a real multi-tool; she has experience spanning quick branded content, more journalistic reporting and doc verite documentaries, all of which we wanted to bring elements of to these films - grounded in science, but also fun, engaging and beautiful. 

She has an excellent rapport with crew and talent, and is a reassuring presence on a busy location shoot. Like the rest of the Sound Off team, she cares deeply about making content that matters and engaging the younger generation. We also had two fantastic directors leading elements of the creative across the remote units - Tasha Van Zandt (Philippines, remotely) and Jahawi Bertolli (Kenya).

LBB> What were some of the challenges of filming across Miami, Kenya and the Philippines? How did you make it work?

Sophie> Sound Off already has an established global network of both trusted filmmakers and on-camera experts. This allows us not only to reduce our carbon footprint, but provide high-end remote shooting options economically, and ensure inclusivity both on screen and behind the camera. Having shot in more than 50 countries globally, we are able to make informed recommendations to protect our clients and deliverables to maximise success in tight timeframes. 

For our filming in Kenya, we worked with our frequent collaborators at Africa Underwater. The decision to include this was made within a week of the shoot. Our existing relationships allowed us to feature the NGO that would ultimately benefit from the campaign, The Nature Conservancy, at late notice. In order to film with one scientist, Camille Rivera, in a remote area of the Philippines, we did have to find local creatives new to our roster. However, due to our other contacts in the region we were quickly introduced to a great female-led production team and DP to both scout and execute filming, with remote direction from the Sound Off team. 

LBB> You also had to shot-match the live action with some in-game footage from Minecraft - how did you work with the virtual production team, editors and creatives to achieve this?

Sophie> This was one of the coolest parts of the project. The directive from Xbox was to mirror the true in-game experience players find when they launch the game and we felt very supported by the Minecraft developers in this endeavour. The in-game footage featuring our talent avatars (and in fact the avatars themselves) was actually created after the fact, giving us a fair amount of creative freedom. However, we had to be conscious of the limitations of the game and 215McCann took great care to think about the shot scope in advance with Haimy - everything from how the game moves to the clothing and object options that could be recreated in game. 

We were sad not to be able to recreate the classic ‘Minecraft boat’, but a wooden tub isn’t practical on a real ocean, so the virtual team built us one more in line with our safety requirements! Certain shots were specifically crafted to capitalise on the in-game footage - such as when our mangrove scientist Dr Lola Fatoyinbo leapt from the boat into the water in snorkel gear for a perfect transition. It also meant a lot of takes in strong current to get it right, so our trooper of an underwater DOP, Phoebe Fitz, got a real workout!

LBB> What are some of your favourite shots or moments from the films?

Sophie> Aside from the virtual matches, some of our favourite moments in the initial film are the moving camera and aerial shots that find our cast in the mangroves. It is wild that this magical marine jungle exists in places like Miami and I think it’s great to be able to highlight these incredible plants and let them speak for themselves. However, the human shots, and the playful way they are tracked onto and past, gives a real sense of scale and awe to the place. 

Plus all the cast members spent the shoot days grinning like big kids on the best day out ever! There really was a genuine sense of wonder on set and I think it translates in the film. In the impact film we love the inclusion of live gaming and the energy it brings. And of course hearing from Zulfa Hassan (a.k.a. Mama Mikiko) from the Mtangawanda Women’s Association, who have been planting mangroves since 2018, inspires us all to take action. 

LBB> You were committed to making this a very green production - what did that entail? How did you specifically reduce your footprint and waste on this project?

Sophie> We strive for all of our productions to be green but when working in the area of conservation content, it is even more of a moral obligation. All of our catering was 100% sustainable, 78% of our waste was compostable and 7Ibs of plastic was kept out of our oceans. We served all food and water in compostable containers, coordinated carpooling between crew and used local and remote crews as much as possible. In addition, we brought mesh bags with us and did some impromptu trash clearing and collection in the mangrove areas - with the teams from Sound Off, 215 McCann and Xbox all getting their hands dirty! 

LBB> You also ensured that the production crew and cast was diverse - why was that important?

Sophie> Sound Off Films is led by women and here for everyone. Since inception, our USP has been telling community stories from the inside. This was demonstrated on this project both in front of the camera and behind. More than 75% of the production team are women and of the crews on location across our US-shoot in Miami, the Philippines and Kenya, more than 70% identify as BIPOC. This project had a young target audience and we know that representation here matters, especially when it comes to STEM (a historically non-inclusive field). 

Of the four experts featured on screen in the piece, three are women and two are BIPOC. Of our featured and Sound Off casted scientists - 100% were women and 100% identify as BIPOC. The Minecraft brand has unique access to a future generation with huge potential - we wanted to inspire them to not only join the conservation community but to feel a sense of belonging. 

LBB> The project’s main aim was to get Minecraft players planting mangroves, and thus raise money for the cause in real life - how did you persuade gamers to do this? And how does it feel now, knowing that over $200,000 has been raised?

Sophie> The Minecraft community is an incredible one, so the obvious choice was to target from within and work with trusted influencers in the game to spread this important message. With interest generated by the films, the Minecraft Mangrove restoration project generated $227,000 for The Nature Conservancy and raised global mangrove awareness. 

It’s incredibly cool to see the instant tangible effect this had on mangrove restoration and the communities supported by it. Mangrove forests support over 4.1 million fishers globally. The recipients of this donation were featured in the follow-up impact film – the Mtangawanda Women’s Association in Kenya. Raising money for a cause is always great, but we feel the really exciting impact is on the players of Minecraft, many of whom may feel inspired, by the films (over one million combined views on Youtube) or simply by playing the game, to go out and spend time in nature, and maybe even work to protect it.