Back story: The NOAA Ocean Today team that worked on this video has been collaborating with the NOAA Marine Debris Program since 2015. We have collaborated on a full collection of "Trash Talk" educational videos to teach middle school students and the general public about the problem of marine debris, which impacts the ocean environment and wildlife, and how to help.

Impact on our organization: This video was well received by our audience and allowed us to grow our educational resources so that schools and parents can go to the NOAA Ocean Today website as a top choice for learning about marine debris and other ocean topics.

How the project created an amazing experience for our constituents: We created this video to show to our audience of educators and students during an interactive webinar about marine debris. The use of animation allowed us to communicate the problem and solutions in a new and engaging way. The video gave our audience easy actionable steps they could take away and put into practice in their own lives and communities.

How it met our organization's objectives: This project was created in order to meet our objective of increasing ocean literacy and educating a middle school audience and the general public about the problem of marine debris. We have distributed the video on social media and will include it in our museum kiosk network to spread further awareness about the issue and how to help.

Creative techniques used: In conveying the simple “four Rs,” we also wanted to keep the video short and simple, using creative transitions in After Effects to go from one R to the next. We started off presenting these “four Rs” as four superhero kids, implying that any kid watching can be a hero for the environment. A simple and clean blue and green color scheme throughout also emphasizes the ocean and recycling themes.