Use of Graphics in The Hunting Ground

The Hunting Ground was an amazing film on multiple levels, but I thought that it had the best use of info graphics out of any documentary that we’ve seen this year (in all honesty, probably better than most documentary films that I have seen recently). I thought that they were not only visually beautiful, but they could be both funny and heart-wrenching at the same time.

The scene that really stood out in my mind was the “Commercial Scene,” where a narrator discussed different college’s punishments for sexual assaults (including having to write a paper to discuss your feelings about the situation). Instead of just showing these facts listed against a black screen however, they showed the different college seals and actually animated them to change from a positive to a disappointing negative when the narrator discussed how foolish the punishments actually were. I thought that this was incredibly well-animated and was much more effective than simply reading the facts, because, in addition the narrator’s sarcastic tone, we, as an audience, visually saw that the colleges were disappointing, and were not properly addressing the issue of sexual assault. Not all graphics work well, but I feel like these not only fit the tone of the film, but added a huge amount of depth to it.

One thought on “Use of Graphics in The Hunting Ground”

  1. I agree with you completely. I hadn’t actually thought about it though. Thinking back to the film, this section actually was one of the most effective parts in conveying just how lacking many colleges and universities are in their appropriate reactions and disciplinary actions towards sexual assault victims and their assaulters, respectively. The seemingly never ending list of schools and lack of punishment flashing by on the screen really emphasized just how many schools don’t respond appropriately to such problems.

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