Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s Blackfish (2013) and Louie Psihoyos’ The Cove (2009) both use music and sound effects to reinforce and compliment the visuals, keep the audience engaged, and highlight conflict, as well as employ interviews and archived footage to add a degree of credibility to their films and persuade the audience to sympathise with their cause. Both documentaries focus on animal rights activism, more specifically Blackfish is centred around the captivity of killer whales at SeaWorld, whereas The Cove addresses the mass dolphin slaying in Japan.
Both Cowperthwaite and Psihoyos use music and sound effects in their documentaries to reinforce and compliment the visuals. For example, at the beginning of Blackfish, a recorded 9/11 emergency call complements a visual transcript, giving the
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Psihoyos does much the same thing in The Cove, at the beginning of the film they use short shots of them driving in the car and some of the equipment they use. To compliment this, Psihoyos uses music with dark undertones and Japanese flutes throughout the intro sequence to not only set the scene in Japan but also the emotions the audience will experience throughout the film. Both Cowperthwaite and Psihoyos also use music and sound effects – or lack thereof, to keep the audience on edge and engaged. For example, Psihoyos employs long moments of silence in The Cove during a whale massacre scene, only later moving onto some soft Japanese flute in the background. Cowperthwaite does something similar in Blackfish except with whale sound effects, for example the whales bashing on their cages. This builds emotion and atmosphere in the scene, helping the audience to sympathise with the film. Both Cowperthwaite and Psihoyos also use music and sound effects to highlight conflict. To do this, Cowperthwaite employs aural elements that contrast the visuals in Blackfish. For example, Cowperthwaite uses upbeat and endearing music