Introduction
Documentaries are nonfictional films or records that document reality. Documentaries’ principal purposes are to educate audiences, preserve historical documents, or provide viewers with instructions. Some of the fundamental parts of a documentary are subjects, objectives, production techniques and processes and the type of experience they impart to the spectator. When individuals measure situations, there are several nonmathematical and scientific assumptions at work in the background. Humans cannot interpret the message that the universe is attempting to convey unless they learn the language and characters that it employs. The purpose of this paper is to compare the documentaries Chaos and Nova Great Math Mystery, concerning mathematical problems, in terms of the themes they cover, comprehensibility, entertainment, value and appeal.
Discussion
Chaos concentrates on a subfield of mathematics known as chaos theory, whereas Nova Great Math Mystery investigates mathematics as a whole. According to determinism and chaos theories, spontaneous activity in systems appears random or unexpected. Since it combines two well-known and widely held contradictory ideas, the more precise term deterministic chaos implies a contradiction. Randomness or unpredictability is a feature of the first category, which can be seen in a gas, a molecule’s path, or the vote that an individual casts.
In other words, the idea that the world is unpredictable due to its complexity was widely accepted. Since Isaac Newton, deterministic motion, such as that of a pendulum or a planet, has been recognized as an example of science’s ability to predict something previously challenging to forecast (Discovery Space Universe, 32 min). Newton’s theory of gravitation contributed to this recognition.
NOVA explores how and why the human brain is so adept at mathematics. Furthermore, art and architecture heavily rely on the application of mathematics. The spiral that forms the center of a sunflower, the whirl that forms the nautilus’s shell, and the vortex that forms within a galaxy are all vortices. Both the elliptical orbits of astronomical bodies and the first wireless radio transmissions were explained by mathematics. The discovery of the Higgs boson will enable rovers to explore the surface of Mars. Both Chaos and Nova Great Math Mystery are written for different audiences but are entirely dissimilar.
Both of these videos appeal to pathos and logos to evoke strong reactions from their viewers, however, each video has its own tone and aesthetic. The documentary Chaos utilizes both logos and pathos to elicit feelings of empathy from its viewers. It employs logos when it recounts historical facts, such as that millions of people died due to conflict (Gnosis Documentaries, 33 min). The motion enhances the film’s emotions by using glitches in sad moments, muted colors throughout the video, and smoke to represent danger, as if the audience should almost expect a fire to occur. For example, one can see a man smoking a cigarette while thinking about something and later see the same man put a gun to his head, which is the type of action the viewer expected to see.
Nova Great Math Mystery, on the other hand, employs logos but not by discussing past events; instead, it employs logos by referring to relevant things in the here and now. For example, one can see a man taking a picture of a lake, which is then zoomed in to show that the picture is just pixels made up of three colors, red, green, and blue, each with a different number or degree, causing excitement in an audience. The film’s vibrant and eye-catching colors heighten the range of emotions felt while watching it.
The two documentaries provide a comprehensive and in-depth examination of their respective subjects. Chaos provides an exhaustive examination of how developments in mathematics during the twentieth century have affected worldview, specifically how the natural environment and the financial economy of the earth are inherently unpredictable. The video uses numerous historical examples to demonstrate how unpredictable certain events can be.
Similarly, Nova Great Math Mystery attempts to explain why mathematics works so well with the physical world. The film illustrates various examples of how mathematics and the real world can be well matched. After watching both videos, a person will have a thorough understanding of the topic covered in each video and a plethora of facts to support their claims. The documentaries are excellent examples of what a good documentary should look like because each one is unique and accomplishes the goal stated at the beginning of the video.
The documentary Nova Great Math Mystery evokes enthusiasm and identification, whereas Chaos produces feelings of sadness and confusion. The clip uses moving visuals of the PI symbol superimposed on mountains to demonstrate how a simple theory like PI relates to the real world. It demonstrates that pie may be as accurate when predicting a needle’s fall. Such slicing and dicing, along with the manner of demonstration, renders the audience virtually invisible in terms of PI learning (Gnosis Documentaries 33 min). Displays of multiple mathematical calculations, some of which fade on the screen, increase tension and dread. However, the repeated use of terms such as “anxiety,” and “problem” mixed with constant films and images of ruined structures, mathematical computations on dark, moving clouds, and climatic turbulence elicits compassion and empathy.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Nova Great Math Mystery creates excitement and excitement from the audience, whereas chaos encourages sympathy and disorder. Both clips employ pathos and logos to elicit emotional responses from their viewers. The contents covered by each documentary include a wide range of topics. Both documentaries set a high standard for others to follow. Both the documentary Chaos and the television show Nova Great Math Mystery employ logos and pathos to elicit diverse responses from their listeners.
Works Cited
Discovery Space Universe. Nova Science: A New discovery of the great math mystery documentary HD 720P. 2017. Web.
Gnosis Documentaries. High Anxieties – The mathematics of chaos – BBC Documentary. 2017. Web.