Practice Visual Analysis

Dayna Higashiyama

February 25, 2016

English 214

                                                                Practicing Visual Analysis

                In the two films that we watched in class, visual analysis was brought up throughout the films. During the first film, Cowspiracy, they use changed the way they interviewed people. By that I mean, instead of interviewing them in a white, four walled room, they used the background of cows grazing on a ranch. When they changed from their typical background to a natural surrounding that focused on their main topic of discussion, the agriculture industry. The first video clip was simply how cattle raised in America produce more greenhouse gases than the transport sector including cars and planes. Their message is to warn Americans how raising non- grass-fed cattle is ruining the Earth. In the second video clip, it is based on a review analysis on Cowspiracy whether it was accurate or not. Each had their own way of persuading viewers to understand what their argument was about. I began my visual analysis practice on the first film clip, which is the documentary, Cowspiracy.

In the beginning, they began with a man speaking about the serious topic on how we are killing our Earth and eventually will disappear. Then they start with bringing up a website with an article written on cattle produces more greenhouse gasses than automobiles. You receive a visual on cattle releasing fertilizer and greenhouse gases being released into the atmosphere. Bringing that image on the screen and annotating helps those who are watching the film understand and know what he is arguing. The next image that is brought to the screen is a pyramid of cars and automobiles on how much greenhouse gases are released while they are running. On the side, a cow is compared next to the pyramid of automobiles with a higher percentage of greenhouse gases than the combined amount of the transportation sector. Towards the middle of the website images on how many acres of grass fed cattle would need in order to feed the United States population. That alone opens your mind to the amount of room it would take along with billions of dollars farmers would need to spend to feed every American. Although these were simple images that were broadcasted on the documentary, they were able to relay the message on the consequences cattle have to our atmosphere and Earth.

Lastly, the second video clip was a review and analysis on the first clip of Cowspiracy. They began with interviewing two specialist that study and experiment different ways to improve our drought. Those two conservationist are Kamyar Guivetchi and Manucher Alemi who both work for the California Department of Water Resources. They were able to explain ways for homes, individuals and companies can use to cut back on the water that is used daily and alternatives to ensure no water is wasted, but then they were asked about how much the agriculture business uses water. They both had no clue on the use of water and it seemed that they were hiding something. In fact, most people know little to no information on the amount of water is used for agriculture and the meat industry. They gave a huge and important demonstration using a kid pool and letting the water pour over until gallons of water were shown. That demonstration helped visualize the thousands of gallons used and wasted daily on a meat and agriculture. They also stated that the animal agriculture companies have 0 water usage. They also included statistics on the water usage, carbon footprint and greenhouse emissions from cleaning the meat, processing and finally on a dinner table where an individual consumes it. With those statistics being reliable and truthful, it educates viewers with the facts. In the end, with the growing number of population, the power of the government and the greed for money, processing and eating of meat will always be in our culture.