The Cove is a 2009 Oscar-winning documentary that exposes the secret dolphin slaughter that occurs in Taiji, Wakayama, Japan. Filmmakers and activist Ric O'Barry traveled to Taiji with a team to reveal that hundreds of dolphins are captured and killed in the cove each year, hidden from locals and the world. Through graphic footage, interviews on both sides, and help from celebrities, the documentary sheds light on the covert dolphin hunting industry and the bloody aftermath hidden beneath the surface of the water.

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Case Study
http://www.thecovemovie.com/
The Cove (2009)
‘Shallow water. Deep secret’
Directed by Louie Psihoyos
Written by Mark Monroe
 Critics Choice Award
Awards:  BSFC Award
‐ Won an Oscar  Audience Award
‐ Another 24 wins  Eddie Award
‐ 5 Nominations  CFCA Award
‐ Audience Award (and many more)
Sundance Festival (2009)
“A CROSS BETWEEN ‘FLIPPER’ AND ‘THE BOURNE IDENTITY’
‐ Peter Travers, ROLLING STONE
The Cove is an American documentary that shares the horrific secret occurring in Japan. The secret
revealed is the captivity and slaughter of dolphins within Taiji, Japan. American filmmakers, celebrity
from the original TV series ‘Flipper’ (1984), Ric O’Barry and other helpers travel to Taiji to revel the
secret that is hidden from the world, including Japanese locals, at the Wakayama National Park.
The documentary is informative as it exposes the informative that is cut off from the world. It is an
emotional documentary and purposely does so to capture their audience. The documentary is also
very graphic however; some camera angles are symbolic for example, seen in The Cove trailer, the
change of colour in the sea, from misty blue, to dark red. This duration of the change of colour in the
sea, lasts 5:00 seconds, this is also real footage taken from one of the underwater cameras the unit
secretly place in the cove, which makes this more effective.
The Cove Trailer (2009) ‐ Youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KRD8e20fBo
To make the documentary more attractive to the global audience, they make their documentary more
as a top‐secret mission. The trailer engages the audience to think this as one of the helpers state that
while making this documentary “We tried to do this story legally”.
Another method to engage the global audience, is by contacting celebrities around America to help
out with the mission. The celebrities (mostly actors) included:
• Jennifer Aniston
• Hayden Pannettiere
• Ben Stiller
• Jason Mraz
• Paul Rudd and many more.
This Cove includes many of the documentary conventions including:

2.  Interviews with both sides of the story
‐ Japanese locals who haven’t seen the footage
‐ Japanese workers who are secretly involved with the dolphin slaughtering industry
‐ Dolphin specialists
 Celebrities
‐ Ric O’Barry
‐ Hayden Panetteire
 Camera Angles
‐ Underwater Cameras
‐ Hidden Cameras in props (Rocks, Bird nests)
 Footage of background information
‐ Local stores and supermarkets which sell different kinds of meat including whale and
dolphin meat.
 Voice‐over narration