Lachlan's Melissa Hive

VISUAL: The Melissa Hive. Industrial Design student Lachlan Major rethinks our relationship with bees to create an alternative urban habitat that protects a dwindling bee population. RMIT University logo.

AUDIO: Futuristic-style music, minimal pulsating, echoing electronic sounds, plays quietly in the background throughout video.

VISUAL: Video close up of Lachlan from waist-up, talking direct to camera. In background is the blurred interior of a building.   

LACHLAN: Hi, my name’s Lachlan and my project is the Melissa Hive.   

VISUAL: Camera pans across a large, egg-shaped structure, about 1m in size, hanging from above. The bottom half of the egg is covered in cream-coloured dried paper pulp and the top half completes the egg shape with exposed slats of semi-oval-shaped wood in varying sizes. Three thick green robes are knotted to the sides of the egg and tied above, off-screen. A hexagonal funnel-shape of wooden slats, wrapped in the same colour green rope that is tied above, protrudes from the bottom of the egg. Background of modern building interior, showing chairs through a glass door, and a wall of white circles of light to the left, polished concrete floors.

LACHLAN: My project offers a way to make a low-cost durable bee habitat using paper pulp.

VISUAL: Video as before, of Lachlan talking direct to camera. Blurred building interior in the background.

LACHLAN: Bees are an integral part of our ego system.

VISUAL: Video of close-up of bees crawling over one another. No background is visible, just bees.

LACHLAN: With over 60 per cent of food crops…

VISUAL: Video of tight close-up of bee crawling on yellow flower.   

LACHLAN: …reproduced directly pollinated by bees.

VISUAL: Video of Lachlan standing facing camera, talking direct to camera as before, footage shot from a greater distance so that we see his whole person standing in the corridor of the modern building surrounds of high-sheen polished floor boards and a wall-mounted television screen to the left of the screen.

LACHLAN: Over the past 10 years global populations of bees have plummeted.

VISUAL: Video of two the same egg-like sculptures from earlier, shot from a greater distance. The eggs have the paper pulp covering both top and bottom. In the background the building wall is comprised of adjoining white circles with the streetscape visible in-between. Lachlan approaches the egg furthest from the camera and removes the top half of the hard paper pulp shell and takes a step backwards, revealing the interior wooden half-oval shaped slats. The camera fades into a second shot of Lachlan affixing the top of half shell of the second egg, closest to the screen,  while in the background we can see the first egg has been left with the top half showing half the paper pulp shell and half the exposed slats. After affixing the top of the second egg with his hands, Lachlan looks up and steps backwards off-camera, holding his gaze upwards.  

LACHLAN: While interest in urban beekeeping is increasing, bees are still seen as working animals and are often exploited purely for their capacity to make honey.

VISUAL: Video close-up of the hexagonal funnel-shape that was shown at the bottom off the egg earlier, of green rope wrapped around the wooden slats.

LACHLAN: My project tackles the human-bee relationship in a different and more empathetic way.

VISAUL: Video of the two hanging eggs shot from a low angle, showing a close up of the bottom half of one egg and funnel wrapped in white rope in the foreground and a whole egg with the green-roped funnel and half-exposed upper egg in the background.

LACHLAN: It aims to enable members of the community to create new and non-farmable habitats for bees…

VISAUL: Video close-up of Lachlan’s hands removing the top of one of the eggs.

LACHLAN:… To help people realise that our relationship with bees goes beyond just their capacity to create wealth.

VISUAL: Video close-up of Lachlan’s left hand holding down an open newspaper on a table while his right hand cuts through the sheets of paper with a yellow box-cutter tool.

LACHLAN: I developed a beehive that can be made using simple tools…

VISAUL: Video close-up of Lachlan’s hands feeding newspaper into a black paper shredder.

LACHLAN: ..and processes…

VISAUL: Video close-up of shredded newspaper being expelled by the machine.  

LACHLAN:… in a backyard environment.

VISAUL: Video of Lachlan removing a handful of shredded newspaper from a small black container and placing it into a clear glass domestic blender then pushing the paper shreds down into the blender with his hand.

LACHLAN: Rather than being centred around honey extraction…

VISAUL: Video of glass blender jug being held under tap in sink while being filled with water

LACHLAN:…this design….

VISAUL: Video shot from below the glass blender jug is placed on top of the blender machine base with a single hand. Florescent lights shine brightly above, to the left a blurred warning sign is adhered to the teal-coloured wall, to the right are large silver tubes.

LACHLAN:… reflects ways in which bees like to live.

VISAUL: Video close-up as the opening shot of Lachlan from the waist-up facing screen, talking direct to camera. He accentuates his points with open hand gestures.

LACHLAN: This is a beehive for bees, not for us.

VISUAL: Video fast-motion footage of Lachlan placing semi-circular plywood cut outs, of varying sizes and shapes, laid out flat on a metal floor.

LACHLAN:  The frame is made from a kit of laser-cut ply and flyscreen.

VISUAL: Video of tight close up of hand on the dial of the blender machine and then the internal contents being blended.

LACHLAN: Waste paper is blended and mixed with hot water to create a pulp…

VISUAL: Video of two hands holding onto two black tubes attached to the wooden ply board fixed across one half of the egg shape, Lachlan from a standing position places the wooden frame into a large black bin. Then in a squatting position he pulls the frame out of the bin, it is covered in the dark paper pulp and water rushes out from the bottom. In the background of the workshop there are empty benches, upright stools on benches, assorted tools, buckets and vacuum cleaners. 

LACHLAN:.. that is placed onto the frame and then sucked into shape with a wet vac.

VISUAL: Video Lachlan’s hands place upright half-egg shape on bench in workshop. The egg is dark grey in colour. Lachlan’s image fades away and the egg shape becomes lighter in colour as camera pans across.

LACHLAN: Once dry, the frame is removed, leaving you with a hard, durable shell, ready to house bees.

VISUAL: Video of Lachlan standing next to hanging egg in building interior. Lachlan holds his arms crossed. Lachlan starts to smile, laughs.

LACHLAN: A change of perspective is needed. One which places the bees’ interests ahead of our own.

VISUAL: Video of opening footage with Lachlan from the waist-up, talking direct to camera.

LACHLAN: The Melissa Hive proposes an alternative way of providing bee habitats and future security for bee populations.

AUDIO: Same music as used in opening titles.

VISUAL: Video fading out to text on white background. RMIT University logo. www.rmit.edu.au The video features footage by Gautier Vervoitte. Available under a Creative Commons Attribution License. 

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