Research- Blackfish Documentary

Blackfish Documentary

As part of my research for my FMP, I will continually be watching animal/nature documentaries to not only fuel my knowledge of my chosen animal. But also observe how other documentaries have been success and why certain aspects of the filming make them so successful.

One of the first documentaries that I decided to watch was 'BlackFish', directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite. The film premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival on in 2013 and was picked up by Magnolia pictures and CNN films for wider release. Blackfish focuses on Tilikum, as orca held by SeaWorld, and the controversy over captive killer whales.

For me the documentary was a big eye opener to how horrible captivity is to whales. Having been to SeaWorld at the age of 11, I thought it was amazing to see a killer whale.  However after watching this documentary I felt ashamed that I had been there, regardless of the fact that at the age of 11 I was naive and didn't know any better.

I liked how the documentary was produced completely in support of the whales. The film consisted of a lot of footage from interviews with old trainers at SeaWorld. These interviews made me sympathise a lot with the trainers as they put their hands up to being naive when they first started working there. They were also told a lot of lies, which made them believe what they was doing was good for the whales.

However I think the main part that stuck out for me was when the documentary was when, the film pulled away from the story of Tilikum for a while and compared Orcas to Humans. They showed footage of experiments where they scanned an orcas brain, which revealed that orcas have an extended part of the brain that humans don't have. They have a sense of self and can channel their emotions. As a being that can do the same, I was able to relate to this and put myself in the whales situation and it was really upsetting. The documentary also showed footage of people catching Tilikum when he was a baby, although its hard to watch I think it is good that footage like this is shown. As it brings out the truth more. This is something that I will look to do in my documentary.

I think for my own documentary it will be important to draw some comparisons between animal and human, as it will make the audience be able to relate to my documentary more.

I like the framing of this shot

I liked the quotes of the person put onto the screen