THE MAJESTIC PLASTIC BAG

A film that comments on society through its ironic presentation of the plastic bag in our everyday lives and

habitats attempts to raise awareness regarding the severity of environmental pollution.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLgh9h2ePYw

Short film by Jeremy Konner

Director Biography• Jeremy Konner is a director of television, film, and music videos, born and

based in Los Angeles.

• He is also the is director, writer, and executive producer of Comedy Central's "Another Period. His other noticeable work include the Yahoo! series "Ghost Ghirls," music videos for She & Him and Tenacious D, as well as comedy segments for "Jimmy Kimmel Live" and HBO.

• He has been nominated twice for a Primetime Emmy award for  "Drunk History“, a sketch type of TV series where A-list talent reenacts historical events.

• He has also been nominated twice for the short filmmaking award at the Sundance Film Festival; and had won the award during his first one for “National” meanwhile had only been nominated the second time for “The Majestic Plastic Bag” .

Reception and AudienceThe short film is quite popular on YouTube as it has garnered 2,360,391 views with the video being widely approved of by the audiences as the number of likes (13,175 ) outnumbers the dislikes (182) by a wide margin.

It is narrated by Academy Award-winner Jeremy Irons, which ahs helped promote it to the wider audience and raise awareness for its pro-environmental message.

It has a 7.7 rating on IMDb showing that it is well-received by the mass audience.

Its director was also nominated for this film at the Sundance Film Festival for the Short Filmmaking Award.

Created by Heal the Bay, the video is a call to action. Campaigners are urging Californians to support to support AB 1998, a California bill that would ban plastic bags at major retailers.

Short Film AnalysisSetting:The film takes place in modern society as it is a critical commentary about present day pollution and how it affects the wildlife. The short film follows the plastic bag, using all the codes and conventions of nature documentaries, to show how it goes from the man-made concrete jungle into the ocean harming the environment it passes. It uses different setting such as the city during day and nighttime and the ocean to portray the effect on any type of surrounding due to being non-biodegradable. There is also the use of the narrator to help move the story along and set the tone and comedy for the film through his deep style of voicing, which could be seen as a parody of David Attenborough’s

Lighting:Throughout the film natural lighting is used as it is supposed mimic the conventions of a nature documentary, as everything is shot according to the time of day.

Music:The non-diegetic score in this film is using the stereotypical grand music sued for portraying the majesty and beauty of the studied wildlife specimen, with having short changes during moments of tensions. The diegetic music is also present to convey the presence of the city and real animals.

Short Film AnalysisEditing: The film uses standard continuous editing to achieve its goal to show its intentions, and follow the journey of the main subject.

Camera Work:The film uses extreme long shots quite frequently in order to show the environment and stress its significance, and the city, beach and ocean are displayed in full view in order to show the contrast between the human concrete jungle where the bags comes from and the ocean and hot it masses and pollutes it.The film uses an extensive amount of long, medium-long and medium shots in order to successfully follow the journey of the plastic bag yet also keep a level of interest through the shot variety to keep the audience engaged and also aware of the effect. Close-ups are used when the bag is seriously harming the environment to portray the effect more vividly such as during it’s scene with the dog and the riverbank.Lastly a bird eye shot is used to show a non-diegetic map of the area of pollution that the plastic bags occupy within the pacific ocean.