Tree’s Blood

With the collaboration of industry volunteers, Reel Start students were able to highlight a compelling narrative on environmental issues and one’s ability to detach themselves from the digital world and reconnect with mother nature. In Tree’s Blood, self-absorbed eco-influencer Elviria livestreams loggers to bolster her brand when suddenly, she is confronted by a mystical creature who is desperate to save the forest she calls home. The two strangers come together and are forced to put their egos aside to save both humanity and the forest.

Tree’s Blood is the seventh Reel Start short, and the first of two made in collaboration with animation non-profit Exceptional Minds made possible by the support of Nickelodeon Paramount Animation. Written, developed and produced by Reel Start’s LA ‘23 classroom, our young filmmakers wanted to take their anxieties and concerns about humanity’s environmental impact and shape those fears into an ambitious and compelling narrative on our responsibility to nature and the importance of making real impact, over performative actions, regardless of the difficulty. Once their script was in place, EM artists experiencing Autism, brought the story to life through animation.