Every project offers a multitude of lessons, which is why I’ve titled this entry “part 1". I’m imaging a series of lessons from different projects, and I could certainly do more than one entry for this film. But for now, here are three things I learned while working on The Story of Plastic:
1. Documentary Animation – This was my first time considering a heavy use of animation in a documentary film to handle a significant amount of storytelling. I had used it plenty for explainers to illustrate something like a scientific point, but not in situations where whole scenes would play out. Director Deia Schlosberg knew from the beginning that this would be a big factor of the film, and it was a lot of fun getting to work with animator Ruben DeLuna. The main thing I learned was to not use the animation as a crutch. It was tempting to slate animation for every hole in the story that needed coverage, but for the animation to be a vibrant component of the film, it had to be used in places that lent themselves to a whole scene coming to life.
2. Competing Chronologies: System, Timeline, and Storytelling Arc – One of the biggest challenges in the film was figuring out how to tell a story that explained a linear system (the plastic supply chain through disposal), but where we didn’t want the arc of the film to follow that system in order. Everyone knows how that system ends and the urgency around it (pollution), and the big reveal about halfway through the film is all about the beginning of the system (fossil fuel extraction). So telling it in order would be anticlimactic. On top of that, there is also a chronological backstory developing over the decades leading up to the present moment. A key part of the solution was developing distinct visual language for each chronology, so new information could be easily tracked by the viewer. It was as if they weren’t just getting a new puzzle piece, but they also had to be told which puzzle it fits into. Additionally, we addressed the overall concept that there is a supply chain system early on, including the fact that there a many little-known stages to it. I believe that simply addressing that there is mystery there allows a viewer to relax, as they realize they aren’t supposed to get it all yet, and that the information will come sooner or later. In fact, I think it makes it more exciting.
3. The Power of 90 Minutes – The film is full of vignettes of people’s lives who are very rooted in the places they live. Every one of them could have been their own complete film, and each would be an incredible film. Yet being forced to keep their collective story to 90 minutes brings the system into sharp focus. Ironically, if we got to know them better, we might not be able to hold our focus on the system. And the way these seemingly disparate stories are connected is in many ways the point of the film – to not just intellectually know it, but to feel that the Filipino fisherman and the Texan living by a refinery and the Indian recycler (and maybe even the viewer on some level) are all bound together.
One of Ruben DeLuna’s animations from The Story of Plastic