4. Voices from the Visual Volley

This second of three chapters featuring examples of arts-based approaches to environmental communication drawing on the book’s case study presents an audio-visual documentary script in which diverse documentary filmmakers, government communicators, hired public-relations specialists and others dialogue on the stewardship of Alberta’s bituminous sands as an issue of public health. The script is followed by discussion of the author’s choices of initiating idea, research sources, format, voices, the world of the story, its structure and visual style, and other notes on the meeting of synthesis, analysis and (re)presentation in the script. Included are analysis and commentary on scriptwriting theory, the creation and dissemination of the script, and reflections to help ground an initial framework for engaging broader publics through arts-based research in environmental scholarship.