My Octopus Teacher Reflection
I chose to investigate the techniques and aspects used by James Reed and Pippa Ehrlich in their documentary My Octopus Teacher. I was interested in this film because I always try to watch the nominees for the Academy Awards before the final results and this particular production had appeared several times in suggested areas. Released in mid-2020, the relatively new documentary follows a modern filmmaker, Craig Foster, through his exploration of Cape Town waters where he has developed a trust with a local octopus. While the filmmaker of a documentary holds more power in the direction of photography, cinematography, and most likely holds some power in the final edits of the film, if a separate director is included in the film, they would have more power in deciding their directorial intentions to influence the audience. Documentaries were actually some of the first-ever films made and were originally called very literally, “actuality films''. Their minimal requirement for preparation allowed for early filmmakers to explore the different aspects of cinematography without the need for large teams or complicated scripts. I think that documentaries are extremely useful to evaluate directorial intentions. Because the raw footage is of real-life subjects, it is completely up to the crew to manipulate the audience’s perceptions. I remember when I directed a musical during the MSU, one of my production’s main intentions was to leave the audience wondering who the murderer was. Although we had to hint at this factor, we tried to edit and direct our play to move the audience’s attention or opinions in different areas. I think that this greatly connects with how directors are able to use their film techniques to influence their viewer’s experiences. Documentaries have an incredible ability to shift mindsets or completely alter their audience’s perceptions of a topic. This can be very beneficial when it comes to topics like the environment, meat industry, or civil rights because it allows for the spread of needed information, but documentaries are also dangerous in their ability to present false information to large audiences. The lighthearted documentary My Octopus Teacher does not really fall into this category, but it does very effectively use techniques to influence it’s viewing experiences.
Directorial Intentions - Tension and Performance
Differentiating from many films, documentaries can begin production with a small team or even a single person with an extremely flexible and open-minded outlook on the final product. Because scenes are not staged, choreographed or even scripted, there is some loss of control when it comes to directorial intentions in terms of cinematography. It is interesting, however, as to how much power the edit of a film has on the outcome of its footage. The audience can be enticed into a story regarding real people or creatures through the use of screen coloration, music and sounds, clip speed, and many more aspects. A moment where I noticed that the directors depicted a shift in tension appears early in the film where Craig Foster describes his filmmaking process and how it impacts his personal life. At this moment, techniques such as voice-over, speed, and music are used to move the viewer from a state of concern to a relaxed and curious mindset. Craig begins the moment sitting in a house performing an interview at normal speed with melancholy music in the background. His stature is calm and a bit solemn to convey a sort of guilt regarding his situation of needing to leave his son in order to create his film. The filters used on-screen are cool-toned to portray the intention of a lack of warmth in his journey which suggests uncertainty while beginning his journey. After this clip, it cuts to Craig entering the water while he describes his mindset of how he feels when he does this. Excitable music begins and a slow-motion video of waves plays while a more hopeful tone is created. The maintenance of cool tones allows for the audience to respect the still fresh and full of potential failure in the production, but Craig’s new setting allows for a new sense of possibility to be created at this moment. Later in the film, I noticed another impactful moment that used techniques such as timing, music, and voiceover again to control the tension of a moment. Now containing brighter tones on-screen, Craig explores an area full of plants and animals underwater while describing his first interaction with the octopus which will be the subject of the film. Delicate piano music plays and there is a still shot of a mound of large shells on-screen as a voiceover suggesting confusion of the subject is heard. There is some movement of fish surrounding this mound and there are some slow shots of them as if they were the focus of this moment and there is no language used for a good few seconds. Then suddenly there is a cut back to the mound as the music abruptly stops and the mound falls down as a large octopus shoots out of frame quickly. Craig prefaces this with the words, “And then, suddenly…” but then stops as a new frame following the octopus is shown as new gentle orchestral music plays again. The viewer has been manipulated into believing that this octopus is beautiful or celestial with this use of tension control. A moment where I think performance is best used to control the audience’s perception during the film is how Craig uses his body language and movement to parallel and explain the behavior of the octopus. He is describing the timid and defensive actions of the octopus in their early encounters and the edit is extremely useful in creating a personality or even personifying the octopus. At this moment, clips of Craig having his interview on land swap between him and a still frame of the octopus hiding behind rocks. Playful music plays throughout the moment as he describes the octopus’s actions as “holding up a shield” and mimics this action while sitting. The cut back to the octopus shows her pushing a rock while exiting her location slowly. The connection of the two shots creates a sense of humanity in the octopus and the viewer definitely sees her actions as indeed holding up a shield. The undirected performance of Craig to use his hunched over and nervous movements while describing the octopus work to enhance the audience’s perception of the octopus as a complex character. This is important to the directorial intentions of the film even just analyzing the title. If this octopus is meant to portray My Octopus Teacher, the director needed to ensure that she came off as an intelligent being with thoughts and emotions which is achieved through this moment of performance.
When trying to come up with an applicable parallel to this production, I was attempting to find another product that was able to excessively manipulate the audience into a certain point of view. Although My Octopus Teacher used this aspect of cinematography solely as a method of applying their directorial intentions of creating a bond with the octopus, many forms of theatre and television use it to change their viewer’s opinions or create a sense of shock. A nice example of this would be an episode of Black Mirror, Shut Up and Dance. In this production, the audience follows their protagonist in his painful journey while being forced to perform illegal acts in order to prevent private information from spreading to his friends and family. As a viewer, you believe that he does not deserve these struggles and are very hopeful that he succeeds in getting out of his situation. In a specific moment, the director shows the protagonist in an embarrassing act and the audience assumes that they have been given all the necessary knowledge to understand his conflict. Short cut, however, and the use of limited bright lighting and dialogue allow for a large portion of the story to be omitted and revealed later in the episode. The viewer has been effectively manipulated throughout the production just as a viewer of any documentary would be. Had the directors of the documentary used dark lighting, ominous music, and derogatory language, an entirely different relationship between Craig and the octopus would have been created. Although different in their styles and production styles, these two shows use similar aspects and parallel well in their ability to persuade and push their audience into a desired state of mind.