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Remember The Titans was released in 2000 and was based on a real story in which Herman Boone, a black football coach during the 1960s, is hired to work for a football team which is having its first ever integrated season. There is much conflict and racism that arises between the football players but as the season goes on, the players learn to respect and get along with each other, slowly winning the people of the community and setting a prime example of positive integration. The team goes on to be undefeated the entire season (paraphrased from Rotten Tomatoes).
One of the major signs that showed the integration process between the black and white football players in Remember the Titans was the sound. Even though sound in film had been around for sometime, the sound is a very integral part because it shows the unity and coherence between the team.
Lighting is an important element that shows the gradual integration of the football team as well. In many scenes, lighting is used to show the differences with one race from another, but in others, the lighting is the same for everyone, indicating they are united.
Lastly, the use of different shots helps show the integration and unity of the team. By using shots like close ups and even accelerated montage, the audience gets the feeling that the team is coming together and uniting, disregarding the predispositions they had earlier about the other race.
-Oh, I want a victory!
-I want a victory!
-No, I want a victory!
-You all want a victory?!
-Yeah!
(Remember the Titans CSWAP)
-Let me ask you something,
Mr. Campbell.
-Uh-huh.
-What kind of power
you got?
-Oh, man, you know
I got some soul power.
-What kind of power
you got?
-What kind of question
is that?
-I got soul power!
- Yes, you do!
- Right on!
-Let me ask you something
now, Mr. Bertier.
How strong are you?
-I'm too strong!
- What?!
- I'm too strong
- How strong?
- Too strong!
-I want a victory!
This clip is a great example of how shots can be used to show the integration and realization of the team. During the training camp, Coach Boone takes the players on a run in the morning to what they find out to be the same place where the Battle of Gettysburg took place. Coach Boone starts to give his speech, about the destruction of the battle, and the camera switches between close-ups of Coach Boone and different players on the team. The close-ups of Coach Boone helps deliver his message of unity and putting things aside because the audience (and the players) are able to see his emotions. The emotion in the close-up is so strong that the players realize this is the only way to be successful as a team: they must put aside their differences and become one united entity. This moment in the movie is the actual birth of the integration process, and after this point on the players start to get more comfortable with each other disregarding the color of the person's skin.
This clip is noteworthy because it shows through the lighting of the set how the team has come together and form into one body. When the football players first walk into the restaurant, the lighting of the room is eye popping. It is very bright, but as the camera pans over to the owner, it gets very dark quickly, which signifies the attitude the owner has towards the football players. When the owner confronts them, the players have their backs to the camera, creating a shadow effect: this reveals that although they are lit darkly from everyone else in the restaurant, the players are unified and their differences have been shelved. It also shows that there is a clear distinction with the two groups: the owner, and the rest of the restaurant who are lit up nicely, giving a "white" look, while on the the other hand, the integrated football team are given a shadow in that scene.
*Stop at scene where players backs are towards camera looking at owner*
Significance of the Clip continued
The clip is important because it shows the integrating of the team by using the lighting on the set. The scene seems to take place in a room with very big windows in the back, where much natural light is coming in. Coach Boone and his staff are standing in between the players and the windows and on the other side of the room stand the players, with the light shining on them. During this time, Coach Boone is giving a speech about how he wants his players to be perfect in every aspect of the game, and indirectly leading to the fact that the players need to put their differences aside if they want to achieve this perfection. The use of lighting is genius in this scene: the light is used as a tool of revelation and realization for the players. It is being shined on all of them and in synchronization with Coach Boone's speech, the lighting acts as a powerful metaphor of realization. The players understand that they must put their differences aside in order to become perfect as a team, which begins the process of integration for the players.
This use of sound/dialogue is imperative because it helps the team unify: the chanting in unison, the questioning, and even the yells of the football players at the end all help show that the team has in fact come together and put their differences aside to play football. At the end of the clip, the players are all sitting on the bus singing and laughing and are fully integrated in comparison to before, when the players were forced to do so by Coach Boone.
Remember the Titans was an award winning movie that brought up issues we still deal with today. By showing the integration of the football team and portraying the brotherhood of the football players and staff in the movie, the director shows that although America has a racist past, people of all colors and background should come together and unite under one common cause, even if its playing football.
Hammad Ahmad