Beautiful scenery, a distinctive main character and a fluid story. Hollywood blockbusters costing millions of dollars are expected to have elements such as these, but when a short film made by a university student with a simple digital video (DV) recorder has them, too, it's worthy of note.

Wang Han, a sophomore at Renmin University of China in Beijing, made the film, entitled "The Observer of Lashi Lake" about an environmentalist at Lashi Lake, a nature reserve in Southwest China's Yunnan Province. It won the top award at a DV contest with the theme of environmental protection.

"The achievement for me is not only for my DV work, but for awareness of the need for environmental protection," said Wang, a second-year student at Renmin's school of journalism.

"Experiencing the life of an environmentalist for myself, I have learned to think deeply about environmental problems."

And environmental consciousness is one of the three concepts of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. The DV competition was organized by the Environmental Activity Department of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) and Coca-Cola, one of the worldwide partners of the coming Olympics. More than 200 entries came in from students of 80 colleges and universities in Beijing.

"The Observer of Lashi Lake" began with shooting during Wang's Spring Festival holiday.

"While spending my winter holiday at Lashi Lake, I met He Zhao, the hero of my work," Wang said.

"As a member of the Naxi ethnic minority, he chose to go back to his hometown after playing music for 12 years in Shenzhen (in South China's Guangdong Province)."

Lashi Lake has suffered from excessive tourism in recent years. Deeply moved by He's spirit, Wang and his partner, Zhang Han, chose him as their main character.

"When we came to know that He returned from Shenzhen to pursue his environmental activities, we became very interested in his story," said Wang. "So, we found that he is the suitable character for our work."

The shooting took its toll.

"We were very tired during that week," Wang said. "I had to carry the camera from 7 in the morning to 10 at night, following his all-day activities. Although it was a hard time for us, we still felt excited and happy about it since we practised our shooting skills and came into close contact with nature for the first time."

Wang recorded more than eight hours of material and finished the post-production with the help of his three classmates. The resulting work is 13 minutes, 42 seconds long.

Through He's eyes, the short film recorded the impact on the environmental situation of Lashi Lake due to historical changes and raised the environmental problems for the audience to think about.

Four other productions also received awards.

"A Question Concerning the Green Olympics," made by Li Xiaoniu, Luo Meiniu and Niu Xiaoxi from Renmin University of China, was named best creative concept; "The Messenger of Clean Water" by Liang Yu of Beijing Forestry University, won the award for best scenery; "The Young Promoter of Green" by Shen Yufeng of China Agricultural University, won for best theme; and "A Nightmare of Garbage" by Cui Yanjie of Beijing Normal University won for best production.

The subjects of these works covered various aspects of environmental protection, such as the garbage disposal, the quality of water and the education of the younger generation.

"The college students are the main force in promoting the Green Olympics," said Yu Xiaoxuan, director of the BOCOG Environmental Activity Department.

"Although Beijing is the host city of the Olympics, the idea of green Olympics should be spread to every corner of the country," Wang said.

"I hope our simple production could carry the concept as far as possible."

Source: China Daily