Filmmaking | Interviews

Toxic Comedy

1 May , 2002  

Written by Chris Donner | Posted by:

NewEnglandFilm.com talks with filmmakers Judith Helfand and Dan Gold about 'Blue Vinyl' -- the award-winning Sundance 2002 Film premiering on HBO this month.

On the Web site, "Blue Vinyl" is described as "a toxic comedy look at vinyl" — and that it is. The apparent contradiction between toxicity and humor in fact expresses the very essence of what filmmakers Judith Helfand and Dan Gold have accomplished with this documentary film. On one hand a powerful piece of activism, on the other a slightly dry comedy with a very human face, "Blue Vinyl" challenges viewers as consumers to take responsibility for their choices and to consider the entire life cycle and impact of a product when determining what is "cheap" or "easy to use." But "Blue Vinyl" does this in a way that has people laughing at themselves despite the importance of what they must face. As Helfand says, "Nobody is too precious to be made fun of."

CD: Perhaps it’s a bit obvious to start out discussing the blend of humor and activism in "Blue Vinyl," but I can’t help asking. It’s just such an effective mix. Did you consciously set out to make a film that combined a serious tone of criticism with a sense of levity and self-deprecation?

Helfand: We were totally conscious — we set out from day one to mix the seriousness of the issue and the horror we were encountering with that sense of levity and self-deprecation… with a sense of irony. Irony was driving the car.

Gold: It was about exposure too, about giving the film a welcoming tone for a viewer. We were not interested in preaching to the converted; instead, we wanted to reach an audience that might not normally be interested in an environmental film.

CD: I think one of the most striking aspects of "Blue Vinyl" is the juxtaposition of humanity — your family, Habitat for Humanity’s projects and volunteers, the bikers, the Venetian widows, the casual first meeting with the Vinyl Institute reps, etc. — with the more serious and somber scenes of court cases, factories bellowing smoke and fire, the boarded up houses of relocated communities, and so on. How did you feel about maintaining this balance throughout the film, and even maintaining it for both sides of the controversy?

Helfand: Being a cancer survivor, I look at life in a completely different sort of way. When I was younger, I had fantasies about a different future, a different sort of life — I had a fantasy of a long, healthy life where I had children. But with the cancer, everything I assumed got turned completely inside out. We tried to show how the people in these concurrent worlds were all being affected by vinyl — the consumers, who are unknowing and naive, the workers, the people living across the street from the plant, Habitat for Humanity… We were trying to convey this sense of irony that we encountered in the world.

CD: The story of your struggle with cancer is the story of your first film, "A Healthy Baby Girl." With the HBO screening of "Blue Vinyl" in May and other screenings in the future, it’s likely that you’ll reach a much broader audience with this film than with your first. Do you think people who haven’t seen "A Healthy Baby Girl" will be missing something here?

Helfand: People who see "A Healthy Baby Girl" will see the impact of that film on "Blue Vinyl" and will go with this film even further, but if you haven’t seen that film, it’s fine. People will still have fun with "Blue Vinyl."

Gold: People who haven’t seen "A Healthy Baby Girl" really aren’t losing anything at all. In fact, for a long time in the editing of "Blue Vinyl," we never even mentioned Judith’s experience with cancer. I’m glad we did eventually… Production-wise there’s an evolution here too. In "A Healthy Baby Girl," Judith shot nearly the whole thing herself, and it wouldn’t have been appropriate for anyone else to shoot it. It was all about the intimacy… a family who has suffered toxic exposure. But with "Blue Vinyl," with me acting as the DP, it freed her up to be more of a character and gave her the opportunity to do something more visually.

CD: Were you ever tempted to be more heavy-handed in your portrayal of the vinyl industry?

Helfand: No, we were never tempted to be more heavy-handed. Although, in fact, they might think we are heavy-handed. I think we’re pretty fair and accurate. We did want to expose the control dance that they went into when we approached them though. How they made these rules — what I could and couldn’t talk about, no props, no press kits, no questions that went beyond the scope of knowledge of their expert — that control dance was as much a part of the story as the interview itself.

CD: Getting back to the element of humor for a moment, I found the animated sequences of titles and short skits to be both refreshing and unexpected. Can you comment on the conception and execution of these segments? Did you ever think you might be risking too much in terms of serious activism by using so much animation in the film?

Helfand: Not at all. Did you see "Hedwig And The Angry Inch"? We worked with the same animator [Emily Hubley] who did "Hedwig." From a narrative perspective, I knew that I had to show all of this information I was gathering in a way that I could understand it… that the viewer could understand it. How do we expect to give it in a visual way to the average consumer without becoming self-righteous and didactic?

Gold: The animated scenes weren’t there from the beginning — they were the result of our struggle to tell the story with a certain level of scientific substance and content. We tried voice-over with a variety of images, both archival and live action, and we felt that it fell flat and drained energy from the film. So this was well into the editing process, and we decided that we really needed help telling that part of the story. The balance between humor and pure information varied widely, and we saw the possibility of having humor, information, entertainment, and a sort of visual relief all done through the animation. The animation gave us this wonderful sort of relief, and it simply helps people learn too.

CD: I’d like to talk a little bit about the production process. First of all, you worked with the Center for Independent Documentary on this. What was their role in the film? Did they get involved in the concept and execution, or were they more involved in areas like budget, equipment, distribution, etc?

Helfand: Sure… they were great. The Center for Independent Documentary was our fiscal sponsor, and they helped with budgeting, economics, keeping things in perspective for the long haul. I mean, this was a very big project and it cost a bunch of money — they helped administer it, they did things like special reports for foundations that were involved. Also, I think we’re going to be self-distributing, and they will certainly be helpful on that end of things. They are always there though with input wherever you need it. What we primarily needed help with was the budgetary side of things, so they weren’t as involved in the concept or execution so much as the administration.

CD: Can you talk a bit about shooting at so many locations around the country and in Italy too?

Gold: Well one of the particular challenges with this film was shooting in Venice — there are no cars in Venice. Everything is moved by boat. So we had to fly in and drive as close as we could get and then go the rest of the way by boat. We had a couple of handcarts, and we’d have to schlep everything on these handcarts through the canals of Venice.

CD: How were you able to do it all in terms of maintaining a crew, acquiring or transporting equipment, and making local contacts?

Gold: We used a pretty typical ENG set-up. There was me and Judith — I was the DP as well as coproducer and codirector — and we had Gabriel Miller on the sound and Chris Pilaro, who was our still photographer but who also acted as PA, gaffer, and whatever else we needed. While we were in Italy we also had Daniela Pastega along as our translator… Gabriel did an interesting thing with Daniela for the Italian interviews. He had her voice isolated on one track using a wireless microphone and a headset, and her feed would go directly into my headset. She would translate for me simultaneously with the interviewee speaking, which helped me shoot more intelligently. With the scenes in the courtroom he did the same thing. Daniela was set up in the back of the room whispering a translation into a wireless mic, so we had a feed of Italian in one channel and the English translation in the other. We even used the translation track for editing and to put together the subtitles… of course, we rechecked to be sure that it was an accurate translation as we did so.

CD: So what do you see "Blue Vinyl" leaving people with?

Helfand: We’re really asking questions of our consumption. If you don’t know and you buy something, that’s one thing. If you know and you still buy it… then there’s an element of intention there. My family was changed by the cancer experience, and even though they were upset by the mess and hassle and expense of what I was proposing — they were asking why do we have to save the world along with you? — now they make these connections. They wonder what things are made of. In fact, my mother is currently the Environmental Liaison to the South Shore Long Island and Brooklyn Branches of the Women’s League for Conservative Judaism. She’s spreading the word on PVC to them, and they are a powerful bunch of consumers.

‘Blue Vinyl’ screens this month on HBO on May 5, 8, 11, and 16, and on HBO2 on May 6 and 10. Visit www.bluevinyl.org for more information about the film.


'Blue Vinyl' screens this month on HBO on May 5, 8, 11, and 16, and on HBO2 on May 6 and 10. Visit www.bluevinyl.org for more information about the film.

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