Codes And Conventions Of A Sports Drama

I decided that in order to make my product similar enough to existing products of the same genre, I would undertake some research into what codes and conventions some trailers contain. Once I had obtained this information I could then use, develop and challenge them, in order for my piece to attract my desired audience, and complete the ultimate purpose of creating this successfully. Settings; sports stadium, training pitches- to show the difficult struggle the protagonist will have to overcome in order for them to reach their dream, prison, rougher areas (inside school or council estate) Camera work; exterior establishing shot sets the scene- zoom out from pitch (used in one scene in 'Gridiron Gang' when the scene moves from the harsh conditions of inside the prison, to the harsh conditions of the football pitch) , close-up/extreme close-up reveals characters' emotions- happiness, sadness, euphoria, guilt (creates empathy), high angled shot- looking down on character shows their vulnerability, low angled shot- looking up at character which their shows authority, tracking shot- shows tracking characters dominance within the shot, could be tracking a moment of play within their sport showing their amazing ability. Props; sports equipment- balls, whistles, chairs (all make regular appearances in all sports themed films- some examples; Mean Machine, Gridiron Gang- one exception; Rocky) Sound; cheering fans, heavy beats of drums, dialogue, non-diegetic sound (theme song or other music) (in Rocky, the setting is slightly different, however the noise of the crowd- including cheering and drumming, is heard a lot throughout the main feature) Narrative and structure; losing team full of conflict between players, suddenly become good (the idea of this narrative structure came form Coach Carter- the team is rubbish and although there is no conflict between players, they dislike their new coach at first, however he makes them a better team as a whole- on the court and in the classroom); sports team used to reform prisoners and deter them from committing further crimes when they are released (this one comes from Gridiron Gang, in which a convict is offered the chance to play American football when inside- when he is released he goes on to play semi-pro football) ; normal person uses sport as a method of escapism from harsh times. Representation; protagonist could first be shown as a great achiever, performing well- but throughout the film is subjected to several incidents of bad luck, but regains his greatness by the end. Coach can be presented as the antagonist if he constantly pushes the protagonist to better himself, but eventually we realise that he is doing it for good reasons (this is used in Coach Carter, as he wants the boys to achieve well academically as well, so makes up some harsh rules to make sure they end up in college and not prison). Another antagonist could be a fellow teammate or player from the protagonists' rival team- whom he learns to respect by the end. In this still, from the 2005 film Coach Carter, we can see the use of chairs and sports equipment in use as props. The low angled shot and the positioning of his outstretched arm over his rivals, shows that he has the dominance in this shot. The use of sports team attire is also in use.

This shot is from the 2006 film Gridiron Gang. Through the camera shot placed a eye level of the convicts in the background, we are able to establish that because they're eye line is higher in the shot, that the to coaches have dominance in this shot. The use of some sports attire for the coaches and none for the convicts reinforces this point. The fact that the actually players cannot be definitely established though their unison in clothing suggests that the popular setting of inside a prison is being used here.