Research

Blackfish Documentary

This is a documentary following the lives of whales at Sea World, particularly following a performing killer whale called Tilikum who had killed several people whilst in captivity.

Blackfish was informative about how the whales were captured and treated whilst in the care of SeaWorld, it also makes us as the viewer challenge us to consider our relationship with nature and how little keeping these highly intelligent mammals in cages has taught us.

Although SeaWorld refused to actually take part in the documentary to get their own point of view across they did comment on it saying, "Blackfish... is inaccurate and misleading and, regrettably, exploits a tragedy". After the documentary was released SeaWorld had a loss of $15.3 million suggesting that the documentary had a big impact on it's audience to the point where people no longer wanted to visit the park. The documentary's view on SeaWorld was very much against the captivity of these wild animals and didn't really show the positives of SeaWorld, for example, it meant that people had the chance to do research on the animals and the public were able to see them up close. 

During the documentary many different interviews were conducted (mainly with the trainers), this was done so that the audience could get an idea why people would want a job that was so dangerous and could potentially cost their life. Most of the trainers said that their main reason for staying was because they had an attachment to these animals and they felt a responsibility towards them, they also said they didn't know who would take care of the whales if they didn't which further exposes the poor treatment that Sea World was giving them. However, the response from the trainers towards the documentary wasn't very positive. Mark Simmons, who was now of Tilikum's first trainers, said that he believes few of his interview comments were used "because the things I said flew in the face of the movie's clear agenda".

Poetic documentaries I have looked at

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https://youtu.be/JSSqa9RD3mw - Time

This short documentary is a series of moving images showing visuals such as, moving traffic, a ticking clock, a grave stone, and rain to convey our perception of time. The filmmaker has used particular shots such as a grave stone as a metaphor to relate to the passing of time without explicitly showing it to the audience.

https://youtu.be/1cnf3RnMtG0 - Tonal range

This is a poetic documentary presenting the audience with various black and white visuals, whilst using techniques of slow motion shots this is done to make the scene seem more dramatic and for a more aesthetic tune. Furthermore, dissolves are also used as a transition between two shots to make the audience feel as though time is passing, this contrasts with the slow-motion.

Modes of Documentary

Poetic
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The audience is shown an abstract, subjective, representation of reality. This is archived through techniques such as emphasised visuals and a narrative organised to fit the mood of the documentary rather than having a linear, logical organisation films followed prior to this.

Expository
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This mode of documentary one of the main four types and exposes a person or a topic. It's well known for having a commentator talking over the pictures or videos to explain the story.

Observational
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The documentary maker will follow the person around to observe that are happening in their life, it's usually informal so they can use hand help cameras. This modes doesn't include interviews or voice overs to explain the story.

Reflexive
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In this documentary the film maker will acknowledges their presence in front of the camera and provides a narrative to the story.

Participatory / interactive
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This is when the documentary maker and crew interacts with the subject, interviews tend to dominate the film but are usually informal.

Preformative
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For this mode, just like participatory,  the documentary maker and crew interact with the subject. The documentary will often be shaped into the narrative of the investigation or search; the audience is addressed in an emotional and direct way.

About stress

In the past year studies have shown that 74% of people have experienced overwhelming stress at least once, to the point where they couldn't cope. Also, stress not only has a large effect on people's work and ability to perform during day to day tasks but also has some psychological effects, for example 51% of adults who had been feeling stress also reported having symptoms of depression and 61% said they felt anxious.

One of the main causes of stress is related to people's discomfort with their appearance and body image (36% of women and 23% of men). Furthermore,  49% of 18-24 year olds how had been experiencing stress say that comparing themselves to others was contributing to their stress, this statistic was a lot higher than the older age groups.

https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/statistics/mental-health-statistics-stress

Research essay

"How can creative choices affect our perceptions?"

Within media there are many different creative choices made in order to change the audience’s perceptions of the material being shown to them, various creative techniques are often used in documentary to make to audience think/feel a certain way about the topic at hand. An example of a documentary that has made different creative choices is, ‘Blackfish’ – an informative documentary based around SeaWorld, throughout this documentary it’s clear to the audience that the argument is about how poorly the company is treating the animals in their captivity and suggests that it should no longer be open to the public. The documentary shows various formal interviews, mostly held with the trainers, these interviews were edited to show only the answers given by the interviewees that were beneficial towards the argument of the documentary. Mark Simmons, who was one of Tilikum’s (one of the whales in captivity and the focus of the film) first trainers, said that he believes few of his interview comments were used "because the things I said flew in the face of the movie's clear agenda".

Furthermore, the film ‘The Duchess’ – a 2008 British drama film, uses many different implicit techniques to suggest certain ideas to the audience.  In the beginning sequence the camera moves through an arch way, using unmotivated camera movement, emphasising the poverty which is presented to the audience as they continue to progress surrounding them with market stalls and lower class people. Soon after, we cut to a shot within the carriage where the Duchess is shown looking out the window at the lower-class characters, this is done by using a high camera angle to show the vulnerability of those less fortunate during these times (18^th century), and further showing the high status and wealth that she possesses. The camera then moves through two more arch ways as the scenes continues, with each arch way exposing the main character becoming more isolated from the lower and middle class society. Also, the filmmakers use different lighting to show the different status between each location, for example, when in the market place the lighting is dull and seems ‘dirty’ whereas when we arrive at the mansion the lighting is very bright and the camera is always at a low angle when it is on the Duchess to show her powerfulness.

Another example of a documentary that uses many different creative choices is the film ‘Bowling for Columbine’ – a Michael Moore documentary exposing gun crime in America. One of the techniques in which he uses is, during an interview with someone he uses extreme close ups of the interviewee’s eyes to make the moment more intense for the audience and helps show the person’s emotions in detail. Furthermore, he also uses the technique of juxtaposition when showing the audience archival footage of war and death whilst playing a happy song over the top; this was done to make the audience uneasy and more engaged with the material. Near to the end of the documentary we are shown an interview between Michael Moore and Charlton Heston, where Michael argues against gun violence in America and that people shouldn’t have a gun on their person and Charlton argues that it’s their right to be in possession of a gun/guns. This technique is called contrasting characters and has been used by Michael to create tension and show the audience the different views on the argument.

An example of a micro element that is often used in media is audio, one of which is diegetic sound, this can be voice of characters, sounds made by objects etc. Diegetic sounds are often used to give the viewer information about the plot/story, an example is in the movie ‘The Impossible’ – a film based on a natural disaster that occurs whilst a family is on vacation. Before the tsunami hits subtle sounds are used to cause tension, such as the sound of harsh winds, flocks of bird flying past etc. These sounds are very quiet which makes the viewer uneasy and causes them to be startled by the loud impact of the tidal wave. As well as diegetic sound in film, there is also non-diegetic which is sounds you wouldn’t hear in real life such as, a narrator’s voice or a sound effect. Non-diegetic sound is usually used to create a dramatic tune and make the audience feel a certain way; background music is almost always used in movies and films. For example, during an action scene you’d hear a fast-past song in the background to make the scene more intense, whereas if you had an emotional scene a slow-past song would be played over it.

Mise en scene; everything you see on screen, this is another micro element that is always used to help with the plot and narrative of a story. One aspect in which mise en scene has is facial expression and body language, this can have a huge impact on a scene as the audience can read into a character just from the way in which they are standing or whether they have a smile on their face or not. For example, if a character is shown to be stood up straight and is smiling then the viewer will automatically know that they are a confident and happy person. Whereas, if a character is slouched over and frowning then it shows us that they are unhappy, moody etc. Furthermore, another aspect of this micro element is props and setting, this can tell the audience about when the story is being told and what kind of situation the narrative is set in. For example ‘Hacksaw Ridge’ – an American world war II movie based on true events, shows the soldiers using the same guns which would’ve been used during 1939-1945. 

In conclusion, creative choices in media can easily change the audience’s perception of what a story is telling them. There are many different techniques in which film makers can use to give off a certain mood or tune and how they decide to do this can have a huge impact on the material.