Chasing Ice
Documentry Unit
Discription of the film
Photographer James Balog and his team of glaciologists went to Greenland, Iceland, Alaska and other artic areas to set up a series of camera to create a time lapse of the glaciers. Through these images he showed a significant change in the size and matter from years prior.
Purpose of the film
This film was trying to prove that global warming is actually occuring and that the government and politician are trying to cover it up or say that we wont be effected by it in our lifetime. Balog uses his knowledge of photography and his passion for ice to create hauntingly beautiful images to present to society to show that what's happening is real.
Thesis
Through the documentary Balog makes an impact and moves the viewer by the way he uses his passion for science and ice and by the way he edits and/or lays out the photos to create breathtaking images.
Example 1
The time lapse feature was one of the main special effects feature of the film, and was Balog's original intention for displaying his images. This technique achieved the purpose of the film because the way that the editing was done made the images stand out and have the ability to easily catch the viewers attention.
Example 2
The film achieved the purpose by the way that Balog used the year's prior images and over lapped the images over the most recent image to show the dramatic difference in the height of the glacier and how fast it is diminishing.
Exapmle 3
Even the overall editing and the way that he captured the ice's beauty added more to the purpose of the film. Balog used his passion that he had for science and the ice to be displayed through his images. By creating these glorious images of the ice, he made you feel that you couldn't help but feel guilt on how can we let something this beautiful become nothing.
Conclusion
My overall feelings after watching this film was that I was shocked that the government would want to keep something this big and life changing away from us. The impact it had on me as the viewer was that I wanted to get involve, I wanted to find even the littlest ways so that I could say that I did my part to prevent this issue. A new perspective that I can take away from this film is that theres is still more in my lifestyle that can be changed for the better.