As part of my research I have decided to look into an existing media product that fits into the documentary genre; Blackfish (on Netflix). I wanted to do this to get a better idea of how documentarians use interviews effectively, how they address their target audience and what they are trying to communicate throughout their work.

Text & font & narrative
Throughout this film there are is a range of text and audio used, I think that in this particular film it works really well. Even though they are communicating the story through the use of cinematography they also use a range of audio from real life phone calls and interviews to make the storyline clear to the audience, I believe this is very informative for the audience and builds interest for the viewer. To clarify what the image or footage means the voiceover is added, this makes it more clear and understandable for the audience and I believe this is really effectively used. The audience feel connected to the storyline instantly because they understand that what they are hearing is a real life conversation from a real phone call made on the night of the tragedy that happens further into the storyline. Hearing someone calling the police/emergency services straight away at the start of the film, grips the audience and creates a thought process of what could happen next, making them want to carry on watching.

Text is subtly used throughout the interviews to give the audience clarification of who each person is, allowing the audience to know straight away who the subjects are gives them the chance to work out why they’re being interviewed and builds more suspicion as to why they’re talking about SeaWorld.

The fonts that are used are very simple but also look very eye-catching, it contrasts with the background well and stands out from the rest of the shot. I think that they did this as this gets the point across very clearly but also communicates to the audience exactly who they’re listening to in the interviews and makes the audience look at the text straight away. Reading what the text says allows the audience to understand the story and interviews more easily.

I believe that they chose not to add a lot of text over the top of the shots because it would take away any focus upon the storyline and what the subjects are talking about in the interviews. The range of shots used in the interviews express the facial expressions and body language of each subject, this tells a lot to the audience and so text wouldn’t need to be added to tell the audience any more information as they can see it straight away in the interviews.

Seeing how well text and narrative/audio worked in this video it has made me think more about whether I want text in my video or whether to have it similar to this video: without any text or fonts at all when the subjects are being interviewed and only have small amounts of text with a simple description of who the subjects are.

Examples of shots used: Opening Scene

  • Film opens with a plain blue background that represents the sea, the colour is faded and looks like the colours you would expect to see in the ocean. The music sets a strange tone, it creates mystery and suspense by using deep tones, it gives the impression that something bad is going to happen. The credits are in bold white writing which tells the audience the audience the date and location of where the filming is set. Voice over of real phone call starts just before the cut of the next shot.
  • Cuts to a shaky real footage shot, underwater- having the shot unstable and shaky may represent the actual structure and organisation of SeaWorld and so this gives the audience a feel of a chaos and mayhem. There are no signs of any animal or human in the shot however the voiceover is talking about a tragedy that has happened with a whale and trainer. This makes the shot slightly tense as the audience expect to see something tragic happening, as this is what the voiceover phone call describes. Voiceover is a real phone call that has been recorded from the time that ‘a trainer was attacked by a whale at SeaWorld’ using this gives the audience realisation and confirmation that what they are about to see is real. The music creates even more tension by using deep tones and gets gradually louder when the voice over is talking.
  • Cuts back to the plain water coloured background with text (opening credits), music continues building up and phone call is still playing over this. Water can be heard whilst this shot is on screen (non-diagetic sound), it then fades out. Using this sound before the next shot is on gives the audience a chance to imagine what the next shot is going to be, this builds pressure and nervousness for the audience.
  • Cuts into a wide shot, real footage video of a person in the water with a whale, the shots shows the whale swimming around and a person looking like they’re trying to get out of the whale tank, the use of real footage gives realisation to the audience. Diagetic sound is used, the audience can hear water and splashing sounds from the water- this also makes the shot reliable and believable. The shot correlates to what the phone call is saying, this gives the audience a good idea of what is going on in the shot.
  • Cuts back to credits shot on plain water coloured background, music is the only sound used in this shot. The music is still intense and intriguing and carries on building up throughout. The shot is at a really fast pace and isn’t on screen for long, I believe this is because of the amount of times they repeat the cutting between real footage and credits.
  • Cuts back to a wide shot of real footage: the shot shows the size of the animal and how small the person looks next to the whale, the voice over is talking about sending emergency help to SeaWorld to get the trainer out of the water. Using this voice call with that clip has been used very effectively, it makes the audience nervous and unsure of what we will see next. Diagetic water sounds are heard, which shows that the videos are real footage. Cuts back to credits

The opening scene is very repetitive, it is made up of a lot cutting between real footage and opening credits. The quick cuts builds suspense and nervousness for the audience and the use of music supports this.

Location
Although this location is unique I believe that this has worked to the films advantage as it makes it stand out from other documentaries; I have never seen another documentary about SeaWorld or any other animal park that is known globally, and so this stood out to me and made me intrigued about the storyline to the film. Documentaries don’t have a ‘typical’ film location however I think that this location is really striking. People globally know of SeaWorld and so see a documentary made about this made me question what the film could be about. As there is a lot of online stories and rumours about SeaWorld and how the animal are treated there it was really interesting to see that this documentary has actually been made about the disasters that has happened there.

All of the interviews are set in different locations, the backgrounds are bright and seem to be quite bright and colourful, to me this was quite striking as the subject of the documentary was really sad and not a happy storyline in any way. I believe this could’ve been used in contrast to show that SeaWorld isn’t the place of dreams that children all over the world from a young age are brought up around and it is in fact an unorganised animal park that many people have suffered from. The location has a big effect on how the audience feels throughout the film, the location that has been chosen for the interviews draws the audience into to the film because of the beautiful colours and views which actually contradicts the whole storyline. People for years believed that SeaWorld was a happy place however they didn’t know the ugly and devastating truths that they were hiding from the public.

Characters and Interviews
The interviewee’s in the film look like a young adults, in their 20’s/30’s and I think that this is one of the main reasons as to why the film would appeal to this age range. All of the subjects wear very ‘normal’ casual clothing throughout, this makes them seem like normal people just like someone who would watch the video this gives the audience a connection to the film and relate to the subjects on-screen (both the subjects and the storyline).

The interviews use a range of shots set up using multi cameras; typically a medium shot and a close up. Each shot shows the expressions, thoughts and feelings that the character has, which makes the film more engaging for the audience as they get to look at the subject’s body language and how they act throughout the interviews. The use of cutting to different shots in the interviews is really effective, the close ups are used when the subjects are talking more about personal stories, this forces the audience to be close to the subject which also forces the viewer to connect to the subject on an emotional level. Using medium shots give the audience a chance to look at the subject and judge them based on their body language.

Sound
Throughout the film there is use of diegetic and non diegetic sound, during the opening scene specifically the use of non diegetic sound creates tension and suspense for what the next shot will be, this makes the audience more engaged with the film and storyline. An example of this is when one of the credit shots is on you can hear sounds of water and the next shot that comes on is a shot underwater of a whale swimming around. The switch between diegetic and non diegetic sound at the start of the film is a clever way to introduce each shot and really creates more interest as the storyline starts to be revealed to the audience.

Most of the sound used in the film is diegetic, the interviews use only the voice sound from what is recorded in the interviews and there is no added music or sounds. I believe this is because adding in any other sound or music would take away focus from what each subject is saying, keeping the sound simple and having only voices keeps the tone serious  and makes the audience focus on the subject of SeaWorld.

The music that is used in the film creates uncertainty and doubt for the viewer, it makes the audience unsure of what is about to happen next. The music is only played of videos when the whale is on screen or when there is use of real footage videos, this uses the similar effect as the ‘Jaws’ soundtrack, making the audience realise that every time the music is played it links to the whale and the attack that they are talking about.

Target audience
I believe the film is targeted towards young people (I think that it is aimed for teenagers and people in their 20’s), I think this because people in this age range tend to stay up to date with social media and news stories and SeaWorld are known for their disasters getting in the media and online. It may also be targeted at ages that are quite young, young people may not have heard about the stories of SeaWorld and so this doc may make them think twice about visiting an animal park like this one. I think there is no certain gender for this target audience as the film appeals to both females and males. Having the interviewees be quite young/in their 20’s and 30’s allows the audience to connect with what they’re saying as they might be of similar ages. The music used in this film isn’t used to appeal to the audience but more to create more emotional effects throughout. However fast editing is used to keep the audience engaged and is mainly targeting the younger ages in the target audience as it is jumpy and quite fast.

Images and Colour
In this film I noticed that this documentary uses a lot of bright and beautiful colours in the interviews (as the backgrounds), I think that having really bright colours used in the interviews which contrasts to the fact that the subjects are still overcoming something really sensitive and horrible that has happened in the past, which they have had to put behind them.

Colours used throughout the film are typically blues, whites and greys all of which represent the sea and SeaWorld as a whole, the deep blues and dark colours also represent the sadness and disaster that has been caused at Seaworld. Having the style and tone of the shots link to music gives off a really sad but interesting feel to the video, which is known as one of the typical codes and conventions for documentary films, shown in the previous research I have done.

Structure
The structure of this film is not in order, it first off starts with the phone call that is placed after a disaster at Seaworld, at this moment the audience have no idea what has happened and so are thrown straight into the story but from after the emergency has happened. Some of the film does have an order but a lot of it jumps from storyline to storyline. As there was more than 1 disaster at Seaworld, the interviews are with people who have been effected by them and people who have worked there before and so it jumps from one persons story to the next and back and forth. The real footage shots that are put in are in order of who is talking in the interviews and the cutaways of SeaWorld are inserted when relevant to what is being said in the interviews. Even though the storyline and structure is jumpy, there is still a flow. After the interviewees have spoken about their experiences with Seaworld, they talk about how they’re going to move forward from it and it also shows how Seaworld reacted to the disasters that happened. The ending is clear and concludes on the interviewees spotting whales in their natural habitat; the ocean. This type of ending creates an emotional feel to the film and makes the audience realise the lasting effect that SeaWorld and their actions have had upon a lot of people.

There is a range of real footage shots used, these show the audience exactly what happened when the tragedies occurred, and gives the audience a chance to come up with their own perception of the event. I believe this is a clever way of making the audience more connected to the storyline and more emotionally involved with what has happened at Seaworld. Although the narrative isn’t in a linear narrative, the events of the story are presented in an order that makes the storyline clear and easily understandable for the audience. This makes the audience connect personally to the story and interviewees’s stories and also tells the audience exactly what happened at SeaWorld and why the disasters happened.

Overall I believe that analysing this video has helped me think more about how I will personally communicate with my audience in my film and also create a certain tone and mood to my video using a range of colours and images/videos. I will use a range of shots but I may also use recreated videos similar to how this film used real footage videos, I really liked how the real footage shots looked in this video so I am thinking about creating something similar to this in my film. I think the interviews in this film are shot beautifully using multiway cameras and I believe these shots will work really well in my film, I hope to create shots similar to the ones in this film as they are very aesthetically pleasing and draw the audience in.