At the opening of the Gettysburg scene in his movie ‘Remember the Titans’, Yakin starts with a long shot of the camp building and its surroundings. By using this shot, it tells the audience where the scene is taking place and at what time. As shown by the long shot, the audience can recognize that the setting of the scene is at the campsite, around midnight or early morning, because of the lack of lighting. When the fog-horn blares, all the lights in the building turn on quickly. This suggests that the characters in response were startled and surprised. Using a long shot to capture the building allows the audience to see the reactions of the characters to the loud noise.
In the next part of the scene, Yakin uses a mid-shot of all the players meeting the coaches in the courtyard. The character’s body language and facial expressions are shown in this shot. The characters are in white clothes, hunching their backs while they yawn and rub their eyes. The clothing of both the players and coaches symbolize how much power they hold. The color white wore by the players often represents people who are weak or under the command of someone else. The red wore by the coaches represents power and authority. However, the colors of both coaches are different. Coach Yoast has a dark red shirt on, which is almost margining into the background. Coach Boone has a vibrant and brighter red shirt on. This shows to the audience that Coach Boone holds more power and is the ‘boss’, as he is standing out more. His stance, when conversing with the other coach, is of an authority’s type, promoting this idea more. An important element of this scene is the entry points of the characters into the shot. It is observed that most of the black characters are entering from the left side of the building, while most of the white characters are coming from the right. This suggests to the audience that there is still tension-based of prejudice ideas between the two sides. Another mis-en-scene noticed is the lighting. The lighting is more present over the black characters, creating a contrast between them and the dark walls. This helps the audience better see the expressions of the characters.
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In the next fragment of the scene, there is a sequence of long shots, mid-shots and close-up shots. The long shots are used to show the audience how the characters are moving, when and where the characters are. From the long shots and close-up shots, the audience can tell that the characters are running through the woods and water puddles. The mid shots help the audience see how tired the characters are through their actions and expressions. In this shot, they are bending over, while panting with beads of sweat on their forehead. This tells the audience that the players have run for quite some time. The lighting also establishes this idea, as the lighting is brighter giving the impression that the time is around dawn. Another element that adds meaning to this scene is the background music. The type of music being played is identified as a blues tune, which was played by African Americans when they were enslaved. The idea behind the music was to reflect how unfair and prejudice people were to them. Using this tune suggest to the audience that during this film black Americans were still facing racism, prejudice and unfairness, which causes the tension between the team.
The beginning of the graveyard scene starts with a long shot, showing Coach Boone and the graveyard behind. This tells the audience where the scene is taking place and who the main person is in this scene. Following the long shot is a mid-shot of the players who are panting, and a close-up shot of Coach Yoast rising with an expression of realization. This is an acting mis-en-scene that adds a sense of meaning as it conveys to the audience that Coach Boone is making an honorable point on how being racist or having prejudice ideas isn’t going to help anyone. Coach Boone gives an inspiring speech to his team, in which he encourages them to work together. He points out the destructive effect of fighting against your ‘brothers’ and motivates the players to overcome their differences. Throughout the speech, different camera angles were used. In the initial parts of the speech, a low angled close-up shot was used. This created the effect of power and inspiration. The camera then pans out into a close-up shot of Gerry Bertier, who is the captain of the team. His facial expressions indicate to the audience that Gerry is starting to realize the racial hatred. At this point, a slow instrumental start playing. The background music conveys a sad and inspiring tone to the audience. A mid-shot is used to when Coach Boone turns around to address his team. In this shot the gravestones are more defined and in focus, giving the impression of the futility of racial hatred. The camera cuts back to a close-up of one of the players, Ray, who looks thoughtful of his own racial actions and thoughts. The camera goes back to Coach Boone, who is slowly walking towards the team while saying, “I don't care if you like each other or not, but you will respect each other. And maybe, I don't know, maybe we'll learn to play this game like men”. This statement causes Gerry to realize the role he has, as captain, to play in unifying the team and removing any racial and prejudice ideas. This is shown through the close-up shot in the ending of the scene.
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