PhotoDiversity™ Films Productions

PhotoDiversity™ Films support the work of The Zoological Lighting Institute, by providing a mission-advancing income stream and by creating content that accessibly gathers and presents the best in photobiology research to a diverse range of international communities.

Winners of the PhotoDiversity™ Film Festival will be given the opportunity to direct a PhotoDiversity™ Film!

Brilliant Darkness: Hotaru in the Night Trailer

Brilliant Darkness: Hotaru in the Night (12 min) explores the importance of darkness, and erosion of it, through the study and preservation of firefly habitats in Japan and the United States. Fireflies disappear as artificial night lights disrupt their 'languages of light'. Brilliant Darkness: Hotaru in the Night features artists and scientists on different continents working to understand firefly flash patterns and how to live among wildlife in urban settings.
Director Emily Driscoll, BonSci Films

Purpose and Method

PhotoDiversity™ Films creates bespoke international and multi-lingual films on environmental and animal care topics related to light and lighting. Each film includes interviews with respected persons, in addition to stunning footage of featured species. This content can serve many roles, spanning STEAM learning, wildlife conservation advocacy and animal care training.

Investors, including science museums, aquariums, zoos and environmental advocates, commission a film of established complexity and length first. In exchange for funding a film project, investors receive all profits from the film up to cost, along with an additional 20%. Profits beyond this limit then attain the status of a tax free donation to The Zoological Lighting Institute, a 501 c(3) Nonprofit.

Budget and Cost

Film production costs can vary greatly due to subject matter, complexity, quality and length. Our experience can serve as only a rough guide to a general approach to pricing, and multiple income streams (such as grants and donations in addition to investment) can often serve to add resources. With this in mind and to give investors a general sense of project scope, we are able to set an investment base of $5000/minute of final product, minus travel expenses, to achieve the kind of quality that will be come expected from PhotoDiversity™ Films.

In the coming years, we seek to produce multi-lingual films specifically in Tagalog, Mandarin, Thai and Japanese, in addition to Spanish, English, French and German.