Ocean The Cove Psihoyos

Intro

Documentaries have their own way of a hidden opinion through its text of the one who wrote it. They create different interpretations of the ones who observe it which adds an opinion and a point of view. There is ‘no neutral text’, nothing is written without the inclusion on an idea or opinion. One director who naturally expresses his opinions is Iowa born Greek-American, Louie Psihoyos, he is an award-winning photographer and documentary filmmaker. He first made his filming debut with a documentary which won several awards and an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature, ‘The Cove (2009)’. In the years, Psihoyos has become well known for his contributions towards to National Geographic. He is co-founder of the non-profit organisation, Ocean
Preservation Society (OPS). Since the documentary’s release, Japan’s country-wide dolphin catch is down to less than 6000 animals from 23000. Members of the Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) were officially banned. Psihoyos positions the audience to a theatrical biased perspective dolphin being slaughtered in Taiji using various film techniques such as camera angles, stock footage and music to create a lack of neutrality which was intended by the film makers. Although, the documentary can be perceived from many viewpoints essentially changing or influencing one’s opinion.

Film Makers Purpose

When Louie Psihoyos presented his documentary at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, the audience was shocked. Most of them had likely never heard of the Taiji dolphin problem, and even more had likely never witnessed it. Psihoyos and the rest of his crew had wanted to show the world what was happening, to bring awareness to this problem, and they did just that. His purpose was by raising awareness, Psihoyos and his team hoped to bring an end to the dolphin and porpoise hunting season that occurred at the start of each September. Throughout the documentary it is shown that he will do anything and everything to protect these animals from being brutally murdered by the fisherman in the cove. The documentary outlines the act of courage and heroism from all the volunteers. The Cove takes us right behind enemy lines to see the risky and dangerous activities taking place. To convince his audience that the hunting was a problem that needed to be stopped, Psihoyos used the three rhetorical appeals: logos, ethos, and pathos--in abundance in his documentary.

Film Techniques

The Cove is a clear representation of positioning the viewer to be part of the journey to stop the dolphin slaughtering through various film techniques such as camera angles, music and stock footage.
In ‘The Cove’, Psihoyos has a good relationship with dolphin activist, Ric O’Barry as he constantly is interviewed and provides most narration in the documentary. Stock footage is a dominant film technique which can take the audience back in time to compare how things are now. When introducing O'Barry and his past, Psihoyos cuts to stock footage of him training the five different dolphins who portrayed the well-known star, Flipper. As O’Barry is interviewed, he is captured by a close-up shot to capture his emotions as he is telling his experience with training the dolphins while on the show. The amount of experience O'Barry has with activism is truly a staple to the film's extrinsic ethos because Psihoyos relies on him to provide much of the narration. Psihoyos assimilates scenes from dolphin shows and "smiling" dolphins entertaining large groups people. He uses this to show that the smile of a dolphin is much like an illusion, as it hides their real feelings, as O'Barry describes as he is interviewed and captured by a close-up shot to his genuine emotions towards the
slaughtering.

When the crew plans to stealthily set up remote control cameras and audio devices that will record and expose what the fisherman in the cove are doing.
Due to the use of high-tech equipment, such as underwater and infrared cameras, it sets the audience to stay on their feet. The handheld and thermal cameras produce the audience to feel a part of the danger created by the activists to expose the slaughtering. As the high-tech cameras capture the slaughters of the dolphins intensely, the audience understands what the film makers see. An extreme close-up shot of the infamously named ‘Private Space’ who got his name by yelling Private Space directly at the film makers. The extreme close-up shot of Private Space creates an unsettling impression upon the viewers as if he were in their faces. There are many well-known film techniques which the film maker incorporates, the documentary uses many diverse emotions of music during different scenes to highlight the moods felt in the scene. Music is the only thing used but also the sounds of the dolphins that communicate underwater as the slaughters are occurring. These sounds are played spontaneously throughout the documentary causing the sounds to be implanted within the audience’s
head.

Societal Constructs

Viewpoint

Subsequently, we connect an incentive to all other life shapes as we regard fit. It is usually accepted fact that cows are nurtured for beef, milk and other products. The film completely ignores the context in which the dolphins are slaughtered in. In Japan, all forms of life are considered as equally important. Yet, in the United States, some lives are attached more significance in comparison to others. An appropriate interpretation and viewpoint from ‘The Cove’ is that is insincere in passing judgment that slaughtering dolphins for food is bad and should be stopped.