The Big Five Critics
The world has many different mysteries. Some are uncovered and some are still hidden from the world. When we uncover something, there are still instances that we have different views on that specific object uncovered. On Earth, we are surrounded by water. We have not explored half of the ocean. But through the decades, we did explore and found different species and new ones are still being found today. One species that has us, humans, on our toes while we are swimming, are sharks. In the Sharks, Jaws, Great White, The Big Five documentary by National Geographic, explains the biggest shark species in the world. From passive and harmless sharks to aggressive ones like the well known great white. Throughout the documentary, they structured the film in a good educational way. By the end of the documentary, your views will change about these creatures in the waters. The use of different techniques transformed the views towards sharks, plus the added descriptions of the narrator to top it off. Therefore, the things that made the film effective to persuade the audience is through the shots and production to display these amazing shark species with back up narration.
To begin the dissection of this film, I would like to start on how they used their information to tell a story about sharks. In the beginning of the documentary, the narrator explains how our society changes the way we view things. In this case, he is referring to the movie Jaws showing what a great white can do. That movie perceived sharks to be killing machines. But that is not the case, with studies, researchers state that sharks mainly mistake humans for different animals like seals. The sharks would only attack when and if it feels harmed or for curiosity. Their explanation of why sharks are feared and why they truly kill is different from what a regular person would have thought. As they said, “The more we find out about great whites, the more we turn previous beliefs about them upside down”. They create a small storyline before making their true persuading statement. This is the use of pathos. They hit you with common thinking and would have the audience agreeing, but then would soon follow with facts and data after. This is one thing that was very effective on explaining how not all sharks are harmful.
The next effective strategy they used is the shot composition or transitions. Referring back from the last paragraph, the documentary started off with how people misunderstood sharks and how people thought they were killers. Well after that clip, the documentary transfers to a calm soothing section. From a dangerous great white, the next shark to get shown is the whale shark. This is smart. With this transition, it switches the minds of the audience. The dissolve edit was a good choice of transition for the moods of the audience. Switches your mind from “the ocean could be a really dangerous place” to “not everything in the water is dangerous”. They explained how the whale shark is one of the different species to be passive among humans. It may be bigger than the great white but it is the most peaceful among the shark species. To a point it became a national attraction in some countries. When explaining the different details of the whale shark, they combined soft music and the transitions were not too aggressive like the great white section. They continued this style throughout the documentary. When they announce a passive shark, they follow it up back to an aggressive shark. It bounces the feelings and emotion of the audience.
This documentary is about the sizes of these species. The different camera angles on displaying these sharks are structured in the best possible way. Different techniques are incorporated. For example, for great whites and the hammerhead shark, the low-angle shot was used to show their strength and to strike fear to the audience. For the sharks that are not too aggressive around humans, they used high-angle and long shots. They used these types of shots to show the size of the creature and to show they are not dangerous, as long shots are used to show how the subject is powerless from its surroundings. Camera shots are very crucial in a film. As it may seem specific camera shots do not matter, they do matter. They describe a scene with no words. This documentary passed the standard of using these techniques. They were able to show hidden meanings about the subject, even with just the shot and music.
In conclusion, my rating for this documentary is high. It hits all the aspects of film and you can really see each technique being used. Transitions, camera shots, and details were all clear. Nothing was out of place. Everything made sense. The National Geographic team did a great job on this film. This documentary is like a jenga block tower, bringing a balance between informational and interesting facts. This is crucial as if one detail or shot is out of placed, like a jenga tower it will fall. You would expect a documentary like would have you get bored at a point. But when watching the whole film, I never lost any interest. With the constant change of shots and different music tones kept me on my toes on what to expect next.