Chasing Corals is a documentary that I watched on Netflix during the spring quarter Turn Events week at SCU. I developed an interest in coral reefs when I was younger when I saw glowing coral reefs at an aquarium. I soon found out that coral bleaching was a major issue since before I was even born and the accelerating deaths in coral reefs really scared me at the time.
In April of 2021, I decided to watch a documentary on effects of global warming on coral reefs to refresh my knowledge on the topic. Frankly, it was heartbreaking to watch since the documentary emphasized on the devastating state of coral reefs throughout the world. However, it was an inspirational documentary and a must watch for all!
The majority of the documentary highlighted the struggles of documenting coral reefs in the ocean and the lack of recordings thereof. The engineers and camera crew were working on designing a camera device that can be placed under water for a long period of time to record the bleaching of the corals. The documentary illustrated the complexity of technology and the many failed attempts resulting in wasted time. The camera crew placed their devices under water for months just to find out that they obtained no useful images and had missed out on the opportunity to document the bleaching. In the end, the camera crew went out to sea everyday for months to capture images of a certain area and time-lapse the pictures instead of placing a device under water for months.
The documentary focused on the missed opportunities to document the corals and it represents the time-sensitive state of global warming and marine life affected by rising water temperature. Once the crew failed to document the bleaching, there was nothing to be done. Coral reefs were dead in a span of months and they were not going to be able to document the same corals again. It was evident that coral reefs were dying at a speedy rate and the urgency of the camera crew helped emphasize the point. The documentary did not provide in depth scientific analysis and complex biology, but it put forward the urgency and devastation through the work of the camera crew.