The lecturer in cinema and television arts served as the directory of photography on Vox’s recent project highlighting water pollution in the Tar Heel state.
Water pollution, North Carolina and … the Hulk? They might not seem related initially, but Lecturer Ryan Witt helped connect all three as the director of photography in Vox’s recent YouTube video, “How ‘forever chemicals’ polluted America’s water.”
The 12-minute video project focuses on the Cape Fear River Basin, a massive water system from 29 different counties that provides drinking water for millions before eventually emptying into the Atlantic Ocean near Wilmington. That water, however, has been polluted with a toxic assortment of substances described as “forever chemicals,” which don’t naturally break down and don’t have any known method to destroy them. These chemicals, under the umbrella acronym PFAS, have been linked to high levels of cancer, autoimmune disorders, kidney diseases and other health problems. The Vox video, published on Aug. 4, features several local activists as well as actor Mark Ruffalo, who starred as the Incredible Hulk in Marvel’s cinematic universe.
“I got involved through my freelance work in the area,” said Witt, who helped shoot the video in early March. “Vox is based out of New York City, so they contacted a production company here in the North Carolina for local shooters. The production company here then called me about filming for Vox on a three-day shoot.”
Witt was hired as the project’s director of photography, responsible for the setup and lighting of interviews, as well as capturing necessary b-roll footage. Shooting b-roll in the massive area encompassing the Cape Fear River Basin, however, meant a significant amount of driving.
“The challenge was this was a three-day shoot that went from Wilmington the first day, back to Pittsboro/Burlington/Raleigh for day two, and then back to Wilmington on the third day. Lots of driving and lots of different setups and shooting,” Witt said. “It was typically 12-14 hour days including the travel.”
But the travel come with a few perks, notably that Witt met with the Avenger himself, Ruffalo.
“My favorite part was meeting Mark Ruffalo and chatting with him,” the School of Communications faculty member said. “He was very personable and down to earth. We did his interview in a hotel room in Wilmington and only had a 1-2 hour window to setup and interview, and he was polite and patient the whole time.”
Ruffalo, an environmental activist, was touring the state and screening his recent movie, “Dark Waters,” which chronicles a water pollution lawsuit in West Virginia against the chemical manufacturing corporation DuPont. The actor starred and produced the film, and it led to his involvement with Vox.
Since its Aug. 4 release, the video has garnered nearly 600,000 views and more than 24,000 likes, and the Raleigh News & Observer recently reported that North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein plans to probe the sources of “forever chemicals” such as PFAS and GenX in the state.
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Vox was launched in 2014 by founders Ezra Klein, Melissa Bell and Matthew Yglesias as a way to further explain the news to online audiences. The company focuses on everything from politics and policy to business, pop culture, food and science. Its YouTube channel has amassed more than 1.7 billion views since its launch in 2014 and currently has more than 8.5 million subscribers.