Mason C

Ms. Mewshaw

AP English Language and Composition

11 November 2020

Jeff Orlowski, in his documentary Chasing Coral stresses that global climate change is causing

coral reefs to bleach more frequently and severely than thought before. Orlowski utilizes cinematic music,

the juxtaposition of past and present reefs, as well as compelling visuals of coral bleaching to support his

argument. His purpose is to sound the alarm about humanity’s negative impact of Earth’s marine

biodiversity. Orlowski establishes a formal tone to an audience most likely skewed towards younger

people becoming more aware of our effects on the environment.

Orlowski changes the tone of the music to affect how the audience perceives certain scenes. As

divers survey the dead coral reef in the Caribbean, as well as the bleached Airport reef in American

Samoa, the music becomes more mellow and depressing. He uses this as a signal to the audience that

what they are seeing is not a healthy reef, instead, one that is greatly damaged. Choosing to change the

tone of the music gives the scene more weight and makes the footage increasingly powerful, adding to his

point that we are increasingly destroying Earth’s marine ecosystems.

The use of juxtaposition effectively conveys the negative change to coral reefs, as well as their

increased loss of biodiversity over time. As divers survey a dead coral reef in the Caribbean, Orlowski

chooses to show footage of what the reef used to look like in 1975, crowded with large coral colonies,

because it shows the drastic decline in health over time. When divers survey the bleaching event at

Airport Reef in American Samoa, pictures of healthy corals from past surveys transform into their present

bleached state. Orlowski is trying to make it known to the audience that the reefs they are studying is not

what coral reefs are supposed to be, that bleaching is not a normal occurrence.

Introducing high quality, compelling visuals gives the audience an up close and detailed look at

what is happening to corals during bleaching events. When scientists found that some corals start creating

their own neon sunscreen to protect them from the heat, while diving in New Caledonia, it was something
they had never seen before. Positioning the corals in the center of the frame and zooming in provides

detailed visuals as to what is happening. It becomes clear that this is not normal and not what corals are

supposed to look like. Most people have never seen corals up close in high definition, but now, Orlowski

gives the audience a front row seat to what exactly is happening. This solid, unarguable evidence makes it

challenging for some viewers to develop counter arguments or excuses, as to why coral reefs are

declining in health worldwide.

Jeff Orlowski, the filmmaker behind the emotional documentary Chasing Coral, creates a

powerful argument as to why coral reefs have begun to bleach more severely and widespread. He evokes

emotional responses from the audience with regards to the manipulation of the tone of the music. He uses

juxtaposition to portray the negative change many coral reefs have experienced over the course of

decades within the span of a few seconds. Then, furthers his claim with the use of cinematic techniques,

to provide the audience with foundational evidence through the documentary’s impressive collage of

compelling visuals. These rhetorical choices are significant because the documentary has little dialogue to

support it’s argument, therefore it strongly relies on these devices to convey its message. Orlowski’s

argument brings light to what is happening to coral reefs, in hopes that we can stop our impact on marine

biodiversity and save coral reefs.