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
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
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