1. Gone With the Lawn
Production Book
Jake Cirksena
Shayna Muller
Nate Raiche

2. 2
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Original Outline………………………………………………………… p. 3
Original Script…………………………………………………………… p. 5
Google Document……………………………………………………… p. 10
Interview Transcript……………………………………………………. p. 12
Lookbook/Pintrest……………………………………………………… p. 21
Rough Cut Notes……………………………………………………… p. 21
Final Script…………………………………………………………… p. 22
Motion Graphics……………………………………………………… p. 28
Original Storyboard…………………………………………………… p. 34
Production Stills………………………………………………………. p. 36
Resources……………………………………………………………… p. 42
Archival Footage……………………………………………………… p. 43

3. 3
ORIGINAL OUTLINE
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
Introduction
a. Introduce the idea of pristine lawns and how beautiful they are. Segue
with “What caused lawns to become the social norm? Where did they
come from?”
Section 1
a. History of lawns
i. 17th century
1. Sign of wealth in Europe
2. And used to feed animals
ii. 19th century
1. Invention of lawnmower increases ability to care for
lawns
th
iii. 20 century
1. Americans travel to Europe and see beautiful, expansive
lawns and want to emulate them when they get home
2. Invent new combination of grasses and
pesticides/herbicides/fertilizers
iv. 20th century (later)
1. Age of lawn care
a. American Garden Club
i. Set the standard for lawn maintenance,
how tall grass should be, how green it is.
Do whatever you can to keep it like that!
Led to people using more and more
chemicals to increase the longevity of
their life
b. The club had a major effect on the American
Dream,
Section 2 (Crazed neighbor)
Section 3 (Xeriscape/greenscape/ecolawns)
Section 4 Lawns are bad m’kay
a. 2,650,000 lbs of fertilizer used annually
b. Fertilizer runoff
i. Nutrients lead to algae buildup depleting the dissolved oxygen
content which in turn reduces the amount of fish a water
system can sustain
ii. Contaminate ground water, increasing levels of nitrate in
drinking water to unhealthy levels, causing nervous system
impairments, birth defects, cancer, and blue baby syndrome
(oxygen content in infants’ blood falls dangerously low, turning
them into blue babies, Violet Beauregard)

4. 4
VI.
VII.
c. Pesticides
i. Kill between 60 and 90% of earth worms (important for soil
health)
ii. Tracked into homes where they can buildup in carpets and
clothes which will cause chronic exposure to families and
children
iii. Linked to solid tumors, Leukemia, nervous system, birth defect,
fetal death, growth retardation
d. Energy Use/Waste
i. Energy used transporting water can be more than energy used
to mow lawns
ii. Standard 19 liter per minute sprinkler uses more water in an
hour than a combination 10 toilet flushes, two dishwasher
loads, two 5 minute showers, and a full load of clothes
1. Why is this amount of water use bad?
2. Why conserve water for lawns
a. Save energy, money, environment
iii. Process of refueling lawn equipment every summer
1. What would happen if the amount of oil from the Exxon
Valdez oil spill were spilt every year?
a. Well it actually does
2. 17 million gallons of gasoline are spilt every summer =
50% more than Exxon Valdez spill
Possible vox-pop interviews
a. What does the average American on the street really know about
lawns?
b. Giving them alternatives
Final section
a. Ideally, you would either get rid of your lawn, xeriscape, greenscape,
etc.
b. What can you do realistically?
i. Compost
ii. Mow without bag on mower
iii. Reasons to not mow as often
1. Bad for environment (emissions)
2. Longer grass holds water better
3. More likely to be fatally injured from mowing than if
you were a police officer
iv. Let your grass grow longer
v. Save money and the water supply by not buying fertilizers,
pesticides, herbicides
vi. Don’t water as often = less mowing and water conservation
vii. Celebrate lawn care month (April) by not adhering to your
typical care-routine

5. 5
ORIGINAL SCRIPT:
Introduction
NARRATOR naps on a lawn, snaps awake
NARRATOR
I was just laying in my favorite thinking spot
earlier when I was rudely awoken.
Sprinkler or hose sprays narrator. Narrator gets covered in grass clippings.
Narrator spits grass clippings from his mouth.
NARRATOR (CONT'D)
And I asked myself 'why do we, as
Americans, take care of our lawns so
much? What's the point?'
ACT 1
NARRATOR
To gain a better understanding let's take a
look at the history of lawns.
17th century classical music plays. (1812 Overture)
NARRATOR (CONT'D)
Lawns in the conventional sense originated
in 17th century Europe.
Sound effect as people pop up, that isn't the 'Whoosh' sound.
NARRATOR (CONT'D)
The wealthy used lawns to show off their
vast amount of fertile land.
Monty Python clip: "One day all of this can be yours. What the curtains?"
NARRATOR (CONT'D)
To replace the sith--

6. 6
Cut to Star Wars reference/joke. Darth Vader rising up (perhaps have it "reel
out" as the narrator corrects himself)
NARRATOR (CONT'D)
I mean scythe.
Cut to image/video of scythe.
NARRATOR (CONT'D)
In the 18th century, Edwin Budding
invented the reel lawn mower, which made
maintaining lawns easier and more
affordable.
Americana lawns.
NARRATOR (CONT'D)
Later, in America, because of the new
affordability, the popularity of lawns was
taking hold. Along the same lines, the
agricultural industry exploded with many
new inventions. Fertilizers, pesticides,
herbicides, gas mowers, trimmers,
sprinklers, and hoses
Edward Scissorhands (Hedge shot, most clips)
NARRATOR (CONT’D)
There are still some people who haven’t
bought into the social norm of lawns.
NARRATOR (CONT’D)
So, basically rainwater runs off our lawns
and overflows our sewer system causing
sewage to end up in our drinking water.
ACT 2 - AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT- OTHER
LAWN
QUESTIONS:
What type of lawn do you have? Why did you make the switch?
How does this type of lawn help the environment?
How much money is needed to make the switch?
How much time is needed to maintain the eco-lawn?
If you use water, how much do you need to water it?
Do you think eco-lawns should be required by law? Is that even possible?

7. 7
Was it easy to make the switch from a "normal" grass lawn to your eco-lawn?
How does a "normal" lawn effect our environment?
Do you know what a xeriscaped lawn is? Could you explain it?
ACT 4 - THE DARK SIDE - STAY TUNED TO DAVID'S INTERVIEW
Here we're planning to base what we include on the interview with our
xeriscaping subject. But here's a list of some facts we found that are important.
a. 2,650,000 lbs of fertilizer used annually
b. Fertilizer runoff
i. Nutrients lead to algae buildup depleting the dissolved oxygen content,
which in turn reduces the amount of fish a water system can sustain
ii. Contaminate ground water, increasing levels of nitrate in drinking water to
unhealthy levels, causing nervous system impairments, birth defects, cancer, and
blue baby syndrome (oxygen content in infants' blood falls dangerously low,
turning them into blue babies, Violet Beauregard)
c. Pesticides
i. Kill between 60 and 90% of earthworms (important for soil health)
ii. Tracked into homes where they can buildup in carpets and clothes which will
cause chronic exposure to families and children
iii. Linked to solid tumors, Leukemia, nervous system, birth defect, fetal death,
growth retardation
d. Energy Use/Waste
i. Energy used transporting water can be more than energy used to mow lawns
ii. Standard 19 liter per minute sprinkler uses more water in an hour than a
combination 10 toilet flushes, two dishwasher loads, two 5-minute showers, and
a full load of clothes <--We think this would make for more fun visuals!
1. Why is this amount of water use bad?
2. Why conserve water for lawns a. Save energy, money, and environment
iii. Process of refueling lawn equipment every summer
1. What would happen if the amount of oil from the Exxon Valdez oil spill
were spilled every year?
a. Well it actually does
2. 17 million gallons of gasoline are spilled every summer = 50% more than
Exxon Valdez spill

8. 8
ACT 5 - WHAT WE CAN DO INSTEAD!
NARRATOR
So what can we do? Ideally, we could all
have eco-friendly lawns but not everyone
has the time or money to do that. Here are
some simple ways we can reduce our
environmental impact with our green space.
NARRATOR (CONT'D)
1. Allowing grass to grow longer which
means more water intake by the grass, less
time spent mowing, less pollution from the
mower.
NARRATOR (CONT'D)
2. Consider mowing alternatives like
goats... In reality using more efficient
mowers, low energy mowers, and reel
mowers will greatly reduce the emissions
released into the air.
NARRATOR (CONT'D)
3. Using natural fertilizers (i.e. composting)
and pesticides (certain plants that help
keep away certain insects).
NARRATOR (CONT'D)
4. Using native species of plant/grass that
will need less maintenance.
NARRATOR (CONT'D)
5. Water your lawn deeply or slowly and
thoroughly, but less often. An example of
this would be using a soaker hose to allow
water to soak 6-8 inches into the ground.
And only when grass begins to wilt.
NARRATOR (CONT'D)
Inherently lawns are not bad, but the types
of lawns we have and the effects of
maintaining them are the major causes of
environmental problems.

9. 9
GOOGLE DOCUMENT
Audience
General population? Policy makers? A specific set of the population? A specific
region?
Born and raised in America, used to lawns, regular joe-schmo, someone who lives
What are our intentions?
• To inform people who have lawns about why lawn maintenance is harmful to
the environment
• To use humor to get our points across
• Entertainment
General Ideas
• As Larry said at the end of class we should think about the history of lawns
and why they came about.
o We could use the history of lawns and compare it to perceptions now
through pop interviews
o An extension on the history would be looking into local policy on lawn

10. 10
maintenance -- Weed Laws
• Incorporating all different types of lawns and yards and the various level of
upkeep (assuming we can find them around town)
• Jake you mentioned letting your lawn go as an experiment, if you were to do
that it would be cool if you could take a photo of it every day for ...lets say a
month depending on due dates, then we can make a time-lapse video out of
the photos (if it fits into the story).
o To make this work I’d have to figure out how to make it from the same
angle each time...hmm I will mess around with some ideas :)
Major points/sections (Why are lawns good/bad?)
 Find a hook or something interesting to draw the audience in
 What are alternatives to lawn maintenance?
 Why spend so much money on lawns?
 What’s the draw of lawns
 Beginning of Film Ideas
 Daydreaming person looking up at the sky, gets grass
clippings in their face
 Lawn mower across a lawn
• History of lawns (incorporate global view somehow?)
o Flaunting wealth in 17th century Europe
o Recreations/interviews of a couple people on the lawns from olden
times
• Someone who cares about their lawn a lot (In Jake’s neighborhood)
o Find out why
o What is the reasoning behind it
o Do they have kids? Pets?
• Someone who has an “enviroscape” (1x1 neighbor)
o Why did he/she switch?
o What are the benefits
o Drawbacks? (Maybe it’s ugly)
• Vox-Pop interviews
o Around Jake’s neighborhood
o Maybe in DC
 Georgetown
o What do everyday people think of lawns?
o Do they like them?
 Do they hate them?
o What purpose do lawns have to everyday people?
•
RELATE IT TO WATER
o Wasted water through sprinklers or hoses from watering lawns
 Fertilizer runoff
o What’s wrong with wasting water on lawns?
o Do fertilizers affect our drinking water? Our ecosystems?
o Carbon footprint

11. 11
Fertilizers, lawn mowers, other lawn care equipment
o Public Health
 Relate it to this as well
Class 10/30 (handy notes to remember for filming and our project)
• Define any terms we use
• The rationale etc. Why is our film important
• Think about intensity and “casting” non-human things (i.e. the lawns, grass,
not simply just shots of these things.
o Characterize!
• How much water is needed to live in this country?
• Comm 380 people (three assigned to every group for final projects)
• Make sound good!
o Over/under modulation are things of the past
o Use our ears
• Light coming from the north is the best kind of light
o For painters
o Just keep it in mind
o Think about where the light is coming from
• Inverse square law
o Lighting and sound
 Move the light 2 times away it decreases light hitting the
subject 4 times
• 1 foot to 4 feet when using a boom
• Not complicated clothing when we interview people
• Always pay attention to continuity when dealing with motion/actions

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT
I: Just tell us who you are
D: I am David Cottingham. I live here in Washington- Upper Northwest Washington
DC.
I: What type of lawn do you have?

12. 12
D: We've got a, we pulled out what grass we had. We've been in this house about 25
years. And Anne and I had never been ones to use pesticides or lawn care
companies, so we decided a few years back that we wanted to go into more of a rain
garden/natural landscape sort of yard. And so, two years ago, it's now November
2013, but in 2011, we worked with John Shore Landscaping to come up with rain
gardens and native vegetation in our front yard and so we've converted the front
yard to pretty much, uh, we've gotten rid of almost all the grass. There's a little bit
left and we've installed rain gardens. Our backyard, we're very fortunate that we
back up to a little portion of Rock Creek Park, called Little Creek Forest. And when
we moved into the house 25 years ago. It was already pretty much natural and we
have a lot of, if you were here in the spring we'd show you lots of Virginia Blue Bells
and Solomon seals, and wonderful natural wild flowers that are native to this area,
but you can't see those now. We do back up to the park, we've got a lot of native
vegetation there and it's been a wonderful way to have very little lawn to cut, grass
to cut. And it's really improved, but more importantly it's great for reducing storm
water run-off, which is one of the big issues in the Potomac River and Rock Creek.
I: What is your opinion on other people who take care of their lawns? (Paraphrasing
Shayna)
D: Well, I'm not one to criticize what people do with their lawns. There's no doubt
that the records will show that there are a lot of well manicured lawns that look
perfect, are the result of having lots of pesticides. Either herbicides for the weeds, or
insecticides or fungicides. They have lots of nitrogen and phosphorous fertilizers on
them. And all those things wash off. We get episodic rain events here, so if you get
into a situation where you've just applied some of those pesticides or fertilizers a lot
of it will wash into the bay. There's a tremendous amount of, I don't know the exact
numbers, but a tremendous portion of the nitrogen and phosphorous that gets
washed into the bay comes from lawns and chicken manure on the eastern shore. So
that's why we have not used those.

13. 13
I: You mentioned what you call your lawn...What do you call it exactly?
D: Well, we've got rain gardens. We've got rain gardens, which use native vegetation
and then we dug some holes in the front yard and fill them up with gravel. And then
we planted native vegetation that was/is the kind of vegetation that is similar to
what you would see along the creek. Because here in the summer we get
thunderstorms and that's when a large majority, a large portion of our rainfall
comes. And so the ground around those rain gardens stays moist and they're
suitable for plants that would grow in moist habitats. And we've got a lot of other
plants that you'll see in- that you'll see in the front yard.
I: We noticed as we walked around your house that you have a rain collection
system.
D: In addition to what we have in the front yard, because this is a brick colonial style
home in upper northwest Washington and it is what it is. And so we have gutters on
there and the gutters in the front of the house go into the rain gardens, or onto the
driveway, which has permeable pervious surface, but the backyard, we have- it was
-- the gutter system goes into a rain barrel and then we can use the rain barrel, the
water from the rain barrel, to spread it out- spread out the rain water, into the
garden, or into the little fish pond we have back here. So the whole idea is that we're
capturing the water from these episodic events, because when you have these high
flows, where it rains an inch an hour. The first thing it does is it goes down the hill,
into the storm sewer system. The storm sewer system overflows and we are very
close to Rock Creek Park. That storm water goes down Broad Branch Road, and
Broad Branch. Those storm sewers leak into Broad Branch or into the combined
sewer overflows down near the zoo and so that dumps all sorts of bad stuff that we
don't want to think about into Rock Creek and the Potomac River, which of course
ends up in the Chesapeake Bay. So the more people can keep these, that episodic
storm event water on their property. And have it go off slowly or seep into the
ground, the better off that is for reducing the pollution load in Rock Creek and the

14. 14
Potomac River, and the Bay.
I: So you don't water your lawn at all?
D: I don't have enough lawn to water. No, so we don't. We don't have enough lawn to
water; there were a couple of times this summer. Where some... So some of the
plants that we planted are only a year or two old so we did put the sprinkler out a
couple times, but it's pretty rare here. So we're not using much and that's the good
thing. Not only is the water not flowing off of our yard, but we don't have to use
much water to water the lawn. Because we don't lawn that we're trying to keep
looking like a golf course.
I: With your experience with your job you're doing and your schooling. What is that
and how does that attribute to what you're doing now?
D: Well, I have a long career as an environmental person, both in the government
and as an active member of several, many, local environmental groups and, so... As
an undergraduate biology major and worked as an aquatic ecologist for three or
four years, before deciding I wanted to do environmental policy. So as a career, I've
been a federal employee for 30 plus years, working at NOA or the National Refishery
Service or the Fish and Wildlife Service. These are all ‘and’ and not 'ors.' Doing
environmental policy work usually on endangered species and, but conservation. So
I'm in touch with a lot of the environmental literature both at the scientific level and
at the laymen level. And, so, when you see reports of things like: Chesapeake Bay
pollution. I try, I'm not... I wouldn't say that I'm an expert on Chesapeake Bay
pollution, but I'm fairly knowledgeable about it. I also spend a fair amount of time in
the Potomac River, canoeing or kayaking and swimming in areas where I probably
shouldn't be from a safety point of view. But I'm an active white water and flatwater canoe-er/kayaker. So, we get out and enjoy the rivers and bay here. And so,
it's good for use to try and do what we can to...and encourage our neighbors and
other homeowners to take those steps that they can in their yards and we wanted to

15. 15
sort of, as much as we could, be almost a demonstration for that.
I: You say you're involved with the policy-making. Do you think it's possible to
enforce a law, somehow, that will get people to change their personal green spaces?
Their lawns?
D: Changing lawns and patterns and things like that are personal preference.
Everyone wants their home to look nice. And so, I don't think you can...It would be
very difficult to require people to do what we did. Not everybody, I'm sure some of
our neighbors think this is totally nuts, but we're fortunate that we don't live in a
neighborhood that has restrictive covenants that tell you to plant certain kinds of
grass. We have the flexibility to have the kind of yard that we have. If you tried to
mandate it, I don't think it would work very well. But EPA through their Chesapeake
Bay program, through the alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, through a lot of other
avenues, they've been trying to do this through public education. And in some cases,
what EPA will do to encourage the volunteerism. Well they will offer some financial
assistance to help people convert their... For instance our driveway was concrete.
We got a small grant to do some of the yard/landscaping work. Including removing
the concrete driveway from the District of Columbia. The department of the
environment. And through the watershed program. And then I think that was
federal money that actually came from EPA. So EPA has, and the Chesapeake Bay
program have realized that you can't just do this by cleaning up the sewage
treatment plants or the chicken farms. Washington DC has a lot of impervious and
the surrounding areas have a lot of impervious surfaces and the degree to which we
can get people to have rain gardens and give them a little financial incentive... Ya
know, the DC government came in, I think that rain barrel that we have was about
30 dollars to get it installed. So they are doing that and making those sort of things,
Montgomery County is and I think other counties are too. To make these sort of low
impact developments available and so encourages people to do it.
I: So you talked about the grant money. How much does it actually cost to convert

16. 16
your lawn and turn it into a rain garden? As opposed to just having grass.
D: Ya know. The cost of converting our front yard. We did it as a part of a much
larger project. I think pulling out the concrete in the drivew--- We had a lot of crew
over here. We had it done commercially. John Shore Landscaping is really been a
pioneer in this area in doing this. And they had a crew of four big guys out here
moving those rocks around. I mean when... You'll see the rocks in the front yard.
These are rocks, pavers, that are four inches thick and so they had a whole crew
over here. It was several thousand dollars. I don't remember exactly what it was.
The rain gardens were part of that. And I think we got about 12 or 15 hundred
dollars, back, reimbursed on that and that...we came... they came out and did a
calculation of the square footage of our roof so we figured out how much rain... If
you have that many square feet how much rain falls on that when there's a one-inch
rain event. And they had to have the capacity of the rain gardens to take, I think it
was one inch of rain in an hour or two hours. And so they figured out how many
gallons that was and made the rain gardens so they fit that size and then the with
the driveway. So I'm thinking it was about 10,000, of which we got about 1500 back,
but I'd have to go look at the numbers.
I: What can people do quickly and easily and more affordably to help with this issue?
What can viewers do to help conserve rainwater and to also help their environment
by polluting less?
D: I think people who aren't, who may not be willing to go the steps that we did can
very easily think about taking their downspouts, instead of just running them out
into the street, which is what most of them do. And they of course go into the storm
water. You can pretty easily devise ways to get that storm water out onto your
garden. You can have rain barrels. Rain barrels are not that expensive. They're not
attractive, many of them. You may not want them in the front of your yard. But you
can dig some holes and put some Swales (SP??) in like that. And just changing the
vegetation. The grass is generally very hard. I mean, the soil under grass is very hard

17. 17
and you can actually see, once you start looking at it, you can see, if you're on a hill
at all you can see the water just washing through the grass. So if you can slow that
down and get it to seep into the ground, those are very useful ways to do it. You
don't have to go whole hog like we did.
I: Why is rainwater going into the sewer system a bad thing?
D: Municipal areas, particularly on the east coast, have what are called combined
sewer overflows. That means that the sewer system, which is where all of your
sewer water goes; your dishwasher, your toilets, your washing machine. All of that
goes into a sewer system. It flows usually by gravity from... in Washington DC it
flows down to Blue Plains, which is right down across the Potomac River from the
airport. It's a huge state-of-the-art municipal sewage system. But the pipes that get
the water there are very old. In some cases 100 plus years old. And so, they weren't
built for the level of development that we have here. They're perfectly fine to carry
the capacity of sewage, but water from the rainwater, frequently goes into the sewer
systems. And when the rainwater, when we have one of these episodic rain events,
gets in there, it overflows the system. The pipes can... literally cannot handle it.
They're relief valves more or less. And those relief valves allow the water, and it's
now mixed. At that time it becomes mixed: it's rainwater with the sewage water. If
there's just so much fiber water it can't handle it. So it releases the water into the
streams and those are called combined sewer overflows. That's exactly what it is:
combined sewage. So every now and then if you're down by, at the mouth of Rock
Creek, where it flows into the Potomac River, you'll see a red light flashing. And, it's
going off, and it's saying within the last 24 hours there's been a storm sewer
overflow event. And so it lets you know that the fecal coli form level is pretty darn
high and you really don't want to be in that water. I think, I stand to be corrected, I
think there's six or seven combined sewer overflows in Rock Creek. Along Rock
Creek, between roughly the zoo and the mouth, about a mile or mile and a half down
stream. So when we have those events, but if you think about how much of
Washington is paved. Not just paved, but is impervious. Impervious. That the

18. 18
rainwater can't go into the ground, it's the rooftops, it's the sidewalks, and it’s the
pavement. Water can't go in there so all of it comes in, it collects, and *whoosh* it
really goes down in a hurry. So that's where you see that.
I: Do you know how those regulations affect people? Or what they are?
D: I really don't, but there are some communities, where. That have much more
restrictive covenants. They're sort of planned communities and you know, you can
only paint your house certain colors, all that. And you have to maintain lawns in
certain standard ways. That's not my deal. I don't know about that. I don't live in
one, so I don't know it.
I: You're the rebel in this area aren't you?
D: No, there are some other people doing it too.
I: Could you explain how you're neighbors have reacted your lawn change?
D: Most of the neighbors have really liked it and the ones that haven't liked it
probably haven't said anything. We are neighbors and look this is an urban area. Our
neighbors live 10/15 feet on either side of us. It is a pretty densely developed, it's
not downtown, but it's an urban neighborhood, and so it's uh... Some of our
neighbors have very manicured lawns and that's fine. That's what they want to do.
And we decided to go our other way, but most of the people who comment on it say
it looks sort of different, but they like it. I'm sorry you guys aren't here in the spring
because, the wildflowers and things and when there are a lot of flowers that are
blooming you're going to take some video now and it is the end of November and
things have pretty well died back.
I: Did you have anything else that you wanted to say, that you didn't feel like was
said or anything else you want to explain. Explain more why you made the switch.

19. 19
Leaf blower interruption again.
D: As we talked, this is the end of November here in Washington. We're very
fortunate that there are a lot of trees in this neighborhood and they're big trees, but
big trees are hardwood...Deciduous hardwood trees, and they produce a lot of leaves
and so Saturday morning in Chevy Chase people are out here blowing leaves. I mean,
we've blown some of ours and gotten rid of them and mulched some of the rest of
them and got them in the mulch pile in the backyard. But sorry for the noise here in
the background. It's usually pretty quiet on Saturday mornings.
I: What are your thoughts on the pollution that leaf blowers and mowers do on... Do
you know anything about that?
D: I don't know. I'm not gonna get into that. I'll address your other question, while it
was quiet. But let's talk a little bit about, really what people can do and how they
might do it. There's no doubt in my mind, that things like phosphorous, nitrogen
coming off of lawns is a huge problem. Pesticides going into the creeks. And when I
say pesticides I mean herbicides, insecticides, and all these, whole mix of chemicals.
So the degree to which we can contain those things is really helping the streams, the
tributary streams. They're helping the big rivers, like the Potomac and the
Susquehanna and the James. And of course that's going to the Bay. Because one of
my friends a Potomac River keeper always talks about "we're 98% water" and we
get our water here from the Potomac River. And we've gotta be careful what we're
drinking and so it's pretty important, to me, this was a little step that we could do to
try to do what we can to help on our property. Our little one third or one-quarter
acre, whatever it is, here in the district. To do our portion to try to clean up the bay.
And not cause those impacts because we're one tiny little yard in the district, but
there are hundreds if not thousands of yards like ours and the degree to which more
people can take those efforts voluntarily, the better it will be for the Rock Creeks,
the river, the Potomac, as well as the Bay.

20. 20
I: Do you happen to know how much pesticides, herbicides, insecticides effect
health?
D: On the human health issue, I don't know. I mean, there are whole studies on that,
about the pesticides and stuff and I think a lot of it is conflicting. So I wouldn't...It's
not my...I don't know it.
I: Final thoughts question.
D: I appreciate what you guys are doing because if this becomes public awareness
there are many organizations out here. The River Keeper organizations, the
Chesapeake Bay foundation, the alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, Rock Creek
conservancy. There are all these different groups working and the degree to which
young people like you are getting this message, it's really good and it's also that you
are producing these types of materials to get other people. To explain to other
people exactly what they can do in their yards, on their farms, or however they can
help to cut back on these things. Because it's gonna take all of us to do it.

21. 21
LOOKBOOK/PINTREST
http://www.pinterest.com/AUFILMGRAD/lawns-are-bad-m-kay/
ROUGH CUT NOTES
0:29
-Ramp jib movement
-Remove “not let’s take a look…”
1:10
-But there are some people who have not bought into the social norm of
lawns
Interview
-Start with “the soil is really hard”
-Looking for “Lawns not being much better then roads”
-Add humor “apocalyptic water scene”
-cartoon poop, “yuck!”
-open up between explanation and what his solution (possibly add narration
in between)
-cut out we are 98% water quote
Tips
-Start sound of leaves before cutting to Nate getting hit with them after David
-Not “or natural”
Facts about rain and lawns (in the middle of interview)
-average urban lawn has “X” amounts of water run-off -average amount of
water saved by a water garden -average amount of rainfall in a year
-weeds not flowers
-effects of pollution

22. 22
FINAL SCRIPT/TRANSCRIPT OF VIDEO
EXT. GRASSY FIELD DAY
An overcast sky covers the NARRATOR standing in an open field.
NARRATOR
Why do we as American’s have such an
infatuation with grass?
Clip from Half Baked.
NARRATOR
Not that kind of grass.
Camera pulls back and lifts up revealing the expansive field of grass.
Narrator spreads his arms out.
This kind.
NARRATOR (CONT’D)
HISTORY OF LAWNS--MOTION GRAPHICS TIMELINE
17th century classical music.
NARRATOR (CONT'D)
Lawns in the conventional sense originated
in 17th century Europe.
Sound effect as people pop up, that isn't the 'Whoosh' sound.
NARRATOR (CONT'D)
The wealthy used lawns to show off their
vast amount of fertile land.
Monty Python clip: "One day all of this can be yours. What the curtains?"

23. 23
NARRATOR (CONT'D)
To replace the sith-Cut to Star Wars reference/joke.
NARRATOR (CONT'D)
I mean scythe.
Cut to image/video of scythe.
NARRATOR (CONT'D)
In the 18th century, Edwin Budding
invented the reel lawn mower, which made
maintaining lawns easier and more
affordable.
Americana lawns.
NARRATOR (CONT'D)
Later, in America, because of the new
affordability, the popularity of lawns was
taking hold. Along the same lines, the
agricultural industry exploded with many
new inventions.
Edward Scissorhands (Hedge shot)
NARRATOR (CONT’D)
However, there are still some people who
haven’t bought into the social norm of
lawns.
INT. DAVID COTTINGHAM’S HOUSE DAY
DAVID COTTINGHAM sits in a chair with a tree and his brick wall behind him.
DAVID
The soil under grass is very hard and you
can actually see, once you start looking at it
you can see the, if you’re on a hill at all, you
can see the water just washing through the
grass.
Jumanji clip.
DAVID (CONT’D)
Municipal areas particularly on the east
coast have what are called combined sewer
overflows.
Clip of spinning manhole cover.

24. 24
DAVID (CONT’D)
That means that the sewer system, which is
where all of your sewer water goes, your
dishwater, toilets, washing, machines. All of
that goes into a sewer system, but the
pipes that get the water there are very old.
In some cases a hundred plus years old.
And so, they weren’t built for the level of
development we have here. They’re
perfectly fine to carry the capacity of
sewage, but water from the rainwater
frequently goes into those sewer systems.
And when the rainwater, when we have one
of these episodic rain events, gets in there,
it overflows the system. The pipes literally
cannot handle it. They’re relief valves more
or less. And those relief valves allow the
water, and it’s now mixed. At that time it
becomes mixed. It’s rainwater with the
sewage water. There’s just so much water it
can’t handle it. So it releases the water into
the streams.
DAVID (CONT’D)
The fecal coli form level is pretty darn high
and you really don’t want to be in that
water.
South Park clip.
NARRATOR (CONT’D)
So, basically rainwater runs off our lawns
and overflows our sewer system causing
sewage to end up in our drinking water. So
what are people doing to lessen this water
runoff.
DAVID (CONT’D)
We’ve got rain gardens, which use the kind
of vegetation that you would normally see
along a creek. Because the ground around
those rain gardens stays moist and they’re
suitable for plants that would grow in moist
habitats. That’s the good thing. Not only is
the water not flowing off of our yard, but we
don’t have to use much water to water the
lawn.
NARRATOR
It is estimated that rain gardens absorb 30
percent more water than an equally sized
patch of lawn.
Motion graphic representing the fact appears on screen.

25. 25
DAVID
And the gutters in the front of the house go
into the rain gardens, or onto the driveway,
which has permeable- pervious surface. But
in the backyard, the gutter system goes into
a rain barrel and then we can use the water
from the rain barrel to spread out the rain
water into the garden or into the little fish
pond we have back here.
NARRATOR
A single rain barrel can help homeowners
save around 1300 gallons of water
annually.
Motion graphic representing the fact appears on screen.
DAVID
We’re one tiny little yard in the district, but
there are hundreds if not thousands of
yards like ours and the degree to which
more people can take those efforts
voluntarily, the better it will be for the Rock
Creeks, the river, the Potomac, as well as
the Bay.
EXT. LEAF COVERED GROUND DAY
NARRATOR lies on the ground, relaxing.
Leaves get kicked on top of him. He wakes up.
NARRATOR
Inherently, the lawns that we have are not
that bad, however water runoff they
produce and the pollution from maintaining
them have very negative impacts on our
environment. So here are some things you
can do at home.
Leaves smack the narrator in the face, completely covering him.
NARRATOR (CONT’D)
If you don’t have the time or money to
create rain gardens in your own yard you
can purchase a rain collection barrel from a
home improvement store.
NARRATOR (CONT’D)
If you hate mowing like I do, here’s my
favorite tip: mow less. It’ll let your grass
grow longer and prevent water runoff.

26. 26
NARRATOR (CONT’D)
Here’s another easy one: water less. You
should only water when your grass starts to
wilt. But when you do have to water make
sure it soaks six to eight inches into the
ground, allowing the roots to grow deeper
and retain more moisture.
NARRATOR (CONT’D)
Sometimes watering and mowing your
grass just isn’t enough and you have to use
chemicals to get the desired look. So when
you do have to use your fertilizers,
herbicides, and pesticides make sure they
are organic.
NARRATOR (CONT’D)
For you homeowners and future
homeowners: be mindful of your
environment when taking care of your
lawns. And take action.

27. 27
MOTION GRAPHICS:

28. 28

29. 29

30. 30

31. 31

32. 32

33. 33
ORIGINAL STORYBOARDED IDEAS

34. 34

35. 35

36. 36
PRODUCTION STILLS
Jake and Shayna discuss filming and recording techniques.

37. 37
Jake gets creative with how he films.

38. 38
Shayna poses with sound equipment.

39. 39
Jake injured himself. Shayna watches as Nate laughs.
Nate sits up covered in leaves.

40. 40
Nate flips Jake off due to Jake’s injury on his middle finger.

41. 41
Shayna poses with Nate’s dirty backside.
Nate poses alone with his dirty backside.

42. 42
RESOURCES
http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/faqs.cfm?program_id=6 (storm water runoff fact)
http://www.cbtrust.org/site/c.miJPKXPCJnH/b.5458177/k.891D/Rain_Gardens.ht
m (rain gardens)
http://www.epa.gov/Region3/p2/what-is-rainbarrel.pdf (rain barrel fact)
http://faculty.rwu.edu/lbyrne/papers/Byrne_Looks_laws_lawns.pdf
http://www.welovedc.com/2011/04/28/mow-your-lawn-dc-or-face-theconsequences/
http://www.epa.gov/greenacres/weedlaws/JMLR.html
Books:
http://amzn.com/1560984066
http://amzn.com/0300086946
http://amzn.com/0393329305
http://www.amazon.com/American-Green-Obsessive-QuestPerfect/dp/0393329305

43. 43
ARCHIVAL FOOTAGE
Half Baked
Monty Python: And the Holy Grail
Jumanji
Star Wars
South Park Season 2 Episode 9: Chef’s Chocolate Salty Balls
Edward Scissorhands
Weird Science: I Didn’t Know That: Sewers (from National Geographic)
Online videos:
•
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ce6-95fq7PQ
•
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uty6OTt9ysk
•
http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/science/weird-science-sci/idktsewers/
•
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfXNMMDfcgU
•
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrdYLISfW-w
•
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqUUxtynay4
SOUND EFFECTS
http://www.freesound.org