Content by Owl Eye Media

The Ask

In August of 2020, following a historic lightning siege, a vast majority of Central California erupted in flames. For those of us who live in Santa Cruz County, it’s a summer that we’ll never forget. Many of us were in danger of losing our homes to the ensuing fires, and tragically, some of us did.

We also lost 97% of the beloved state park that’s right in our backyard: Big Basin.

Two years later, Big Basin Redwoods State Park is set to open to the public again in a limited capacity. And to coincide with the reopening, the Mountain Parks Foundation, along with California State Parks, knew they wanted a video looking back on the historic event.

Many of the State Parks staff had the great foresight to document as much as they could both during and immediately after the fire.  But their problem two years later was what to do with all this footage now?

Enter Owl Eye. 

The Result

We knew the best way to tell the story was primarily through the voices of the Parks people who were there during the fire. Using them as guides to take us through the story would give the viewer an intimate experience, in the way only people who loved the park, who lived in the park, and who felt the loss of it in a deeply personal way could provide.

As fire played a main role in the telling of this story, we also decided to create original animations to help explain how the wildfire started and how it became so catastrophic. The animations were a great way to take complex matter and make it both visually engaging and easy-to-follow.

By weaving together archival footage, original interviews and motion graphics animation, the resulting video is a short film that will resonate with park visitors of all ages, from all over the world, and one that will honor a beloved park’s history as well as its future.