An estimated 1.8 to 2 million chicks hatch every day in the Netherlands. Becoming Bird shows the small miracle that precedes each one. Filmmaker Jan van IJken condenses the chick’s entire 21-day embryonic development into nine minutes. To capture the time-lapse and video footage, Van IJken positioned a digital camera with ultra-macro lenses above incubators with transparent lids.
The process begins as the fertilized egg cell starts to grow on the yolk. The first major milestone is the embryo’s tiny heart beating rapidly. Blood cells flow visibly through its veins. Then the eyes, wings, and legs appear, the head develops, and feathers begin to grow. There is no commentary, and the music composed for the images by sound artist Sytze Pruiksma doesn’t steer the viewer’s emotions. The short film is thus as astonishing as it is forthright, a record of both the emergence and the fragility of life.
Van IJken’s earlier film about embryology, Becoming, has been viewed millions of times online.
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