Nautilus: A cephalopod mollusk with a chambered, coiled, pearly shell. They have up to 94 suckerless tentacles and use jet propulsion to traverse the oceans.

Learning about different cultures, English, writing, and science are all interests of journalism student Deanna Isaacs; and she found a way to bring them all together by producing documentaries.

Isaacs began writing for The Daily after becoming a journalism major. It was during her second article that involved biology professor Peter Ward that wheels started to turn about becoming a documentarian. Ward was inspired by a talk given by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service about a mysterious marine creature called the Nautilus, of which they did a three-year study finding that more than 500,000 shells were being imported to the U.S. alone for material purposes. Ward has traveled to Australia, the Philippines, and America Samoa to conduct research on these squid-like cephalopods. He’s going back to the Philippines in June and asked Isaacs to come along as the expedition’s communication person.

The Nautilus, a marine creature that not many know about, is the subject of a documentary being created by journalism undergraduate Deanna Isaacs, along with two other students and in partnership with UW biology professor Peter Ward.

“This film is not just about a disappearing sea creature that many haven’t heard of,” Isaacs wrote, “it is about humans and their impact on the world – what we destroy, we can also save. It is about people. We have caused its precarious situation, now it is time to spread the word about the Plight of the Nautilus and what people are doing to end it.”

Isaacs created a Kickstarter campaign to support her efforts in bringing awareness to and stopping the plight of the Nautilus, and hopes to enter the Sundance Film Festival in July 2014.