Artificial light poses as an extreme threat to migratory birds. When migrating at night, birds use the stars and moon to navigate to their destination. However, because birds are attracted to artificial light, they frequently find themselves trapped in areas with a high density of artificial light such as major industrialized cities. Flying in a city with large artificially lit skyscrapers is terribly dangerous for migratory birds and, a majority of the time, results in the birds hitting buildings or exhausting themselves—both of which can be fatal. Each year, about one billion birds die from the effects of artificial light. Lights Out Northeast Florida is a program in Jacksonville aiming to curtail the issue of artificial light by advocating for building and household owners to turn off their lights at night during bird migratory seasons. The objective of the present project was to create a documentary outlining Lights Out Northeast Florida in order to provide education to viewers, create awareness of the negative effects of artificial light, and to gather support from viewers for Lights Out Northeast Florida. Specific tasks related to this project included creating a script, filming various types of footage, and editing the documentary. Interviews from Tony Vecchio (Executive Director at Jacksonville Zoo & Gardens), Mike Taylor (Curator of Birds at Jacksonville Zoo & Gardens), and others were implemented in the documentary to provide a professional perspective to the negative effects of artificial light as well as the main objectives of Lights Out Northeast Florida.
