A Pollen's Journey

Author

Emily Friswell

Computer Animation Arts

Year 1
Story
Fantastic Voyage
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***. EXT. NATURE ENVIRONMENT. DAY

Establishing shot showing the sky. Appearing in the sky is
the animation title: 'A Pollen's Journey'. Camera moves up
through/past the title, and down towards the ground where
some flowers are growing. Nothing else is seen in the shot
except the green (grass) floor, blue sky and flowers which
have grown up from the ground
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Here begins the process of flower
pollination... these particular
flowers are lilies.
Camera is moving in closer and closer to the lilies. You
can also start to see a bee buzzing around the area where
the flowers are growing. The camera focuses in on the red
lily.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Lilies are insect pollinated
flowers which means that insects
are the ones that help to pollinate
them... As you come in close the
different parts of the lily will
become clear.
Action freezes on a frame once the camera has an extreme
close up of the lily showing the different parts of the
flower. The stamen and carpel are clearly visible.
(Possibily some petals dissapear when the frame freezes so
the inside of the flower is more clearly visible.)

Arrow pointing to the stamen with an annotation appears on

screen when "stamen" is said.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
So, here you can see the stamen
which are the male gamete, or sex
cells, of the lily.
Arrows pointing to the anthers and filament with
annotations appear on screen when "anthers" and "filament"
are said.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
The anthers and filament are what
make up the stamen. On the anthers
is where the pollen is found.
Arrow pointing to the carpel with an annotation appears on
screen when "carpel" is said
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NARRATOR (V.O.)
Then there is the female gamete
called the carpel.
Arrows pointing to the stigma, style, ovary and ovule with
annotations appear on screen when "stigma", "style",
"ovary" and "ovule" are said.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
This is made up of the stigma,
style, ovary and ovule.
Action unfreezes and the bee flies into shot. Starts by
flying around the outside of the flower and then works its
way into the flower, brushing past the anthers multiple
times before trying to get the nectar located inside the
flower.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
The bee is attracted to the lily
because of its brightly coloured
petals and sweet nectar.
Action freezes on a frame where the bee can be seen inside
the flower with pollen all over its body.
Arrows pointing to anthers and pollen on bee with
annotations appear on screen when "anthers" and "pollen"
are said
NARRATOR(V.O.)
So, here you can see the bee is
inside the flower trying to get to
the nectar. However the anthers are
positioned inside the flower so
that the bee has to brush past them
in order to get to the nectar. This
means that the pollen will
successfully transfer onto the bee
ready to be transported to another
flower.
Action unfreezes as the bee finishes with the nectar and
begins to fly out of the flower and away from it.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
So now, as you can see, the pollen
is attached to the bee and...
yes... now the bee is going to
leave the lily... lets follow shall
we?
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Camera follows the bee with a TRACKING SHOT showing the
bee's movement from the lily on its way to find another
lily. The camera pans its way around the bee as it flies
keep pace with it and showing off the surroundings of more
grassy areas with flowers growing all around.
The bee flies towards another patch of flowers that have
grown up from the ground. The bee chooses the yellow lily
to land on, and also the camera also focuses on this
flower.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
So, the bee has found itself
another lily to get nectar from...
But what we're interested in is
whats going to happen to the
pollen.
The bee once again tries to get to the nectar in this lily
and in doing so brushes past the stigma.
Action freezes on a frame that shows the bee at the nectar
having brushed past the stigma and so pollen has
transferred onto the stigma.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
As the bee tries to find the nectar
the stigma is also in the way, just
like the stamen were. Therefore,
the pollen has been transferred
from the bee onto the stigma as it
has brushed past due to the sticky
nature of the stigma.
Action unfreezes as the bee finishes with the nectar, and
leaves the lily, flying out of shot.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Now as the bee leaves this lily
we're interested to see what
happens next... but we might need
to go in a bit closer.
Camera goes in closer to the flower, meaning some petals
etc. have disappeared in order to give a clear view of the
inside of the flower- predominantly the carpel.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Once the pollen is transferred onto
the stigma, thanks to the bee, the
pollen tube starts to develop.
The pollen tube is seen to be both growing up the style to
the stigma and down into the ovary where is stops once it
reaches the ovule.
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NARRATOR (V.O.)
This small tube grows up the style
to the stigma and down into the
ovary where is stops once it
reaches the ovule.
Action freezes once pollen tube is fully formed. Arrow
pointing to the pollen tube with an annotation appears on
screen when "pollen tube" is said.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
The pollen tube acts as a passage
for the pollen's nucleus to travel
down to reach the ovary.
Action unfreezes as one pollen nucleus emerges from a
pollen particle that is on the stigma. The nucleus moves
towards the opening of the pollen tube and starts to decent
into the ovary.
Action freezes when the pollen nucleus is about half way
down the pollen tube. Arrows pointing to the pollen nucleus
and ovule nucleus appear on screen when "pollen nucleus"
and "ovule nucleus" are said.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Therefore the pollen nucleus is
then able to travel down the pollen
tube to fertilise with the ovule
nucleus.
Action unfreezes and the pollen nucleus carries on moving
and once it reaches the bottom of the pollen tube it moves
towards the nucleus of the ovule. They fuse together which
is shown by the pollen nucleus going into the ovule
nucleus.
The action freezes on a frame once the two nuclei have
fused together. Arrow pointing to the fertilised ovule with
an annotation appears on screen when "fertilised ovule" is
said.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
The male pollen nucleus is able to
fuse with the female ovule nucleus
to form a genetically complete
fertilised ovule. Once formed the
the fertilised ovule goes through a
process in which it transforms into
a seed.
Action unfreezes to show the fertilised ovule turning into
a zygote. The word "zygote" appears on screen when said.
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NARRATOR (V.O.)
When the fertilised ovule first
starts to develop it is known as a
zygote.
The zygote then turns into an embryo. The word "embryo"
appears on screen when said.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Then, when it develops further it
is an embryo.
Embryo develops further into a seed. The word "seed"
appears on screen when said.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Finally, when it is fully formed it
is a seed.
Camera zooms out slightly to show the carpel transforming
into the seed pod and the petals falling away.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Now, while this process of the
fertilised ovule growing into a
seed is happening the carpel
develops into a seed pod or fruit,
depending on the type of flower.
Action freezes on a frame once the seed pod has developed
and the petals have fallen. Arrows pointing to the seed pod
and lack of petals with annotations appear on screen when
"seed pod" and "petals" are said.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
In the case of a lily a seed pod
develops from the carpel which
holds and protects the seeds. But
in the case of other flowers this
can also be a fruit. The petals
also usually fall away leaving just
the seed pod.
Action unfreezes to show the fully formed seed pod. The
camera slowly moves backwards, away from the flower to
reveal the other flowers next to it are also now seed pods.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
So, now the process is complete...
two lily flowers have reproduced
and created seeds. These seeds will
then go on to become flowers of
their own, but maybe I should leave
that explanation for another
day...?