The director made the scene to create motivation and inspiration. I noticed that the director would go back and fourth shooting the coach and the player. The players being talked to what be present in the film showing the emotions in their face and body expressions. That would set the mode of the scene. I thought is what interesting how it showed the players reactions to when Mr. Cruz started doing the impossible task that was assigned. Making the task so hard for Mr. Cruz created suspense for the viewers to see if he could actually do that. The angle to camera was at when Mr. Cruz was doing push-ups was unique as well. I liked the scenery. The filmer made it easy to see that the gym was old and worn out.
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This scene would end up setting up other scenes later in movie. It was almost like their was two scenes going on at one time. You would have the basketball team practicing doing drills and scrimmaging. Then, you would have Mr. Cruz doing his push-ups and suicides. I like how the camera would go back and fourth creating that little suspense at what is too come. You could see the expressions on Mr. Cruz's face seeming to be difficult to complete this impossible task. Also, you could see Coach Carter looking over at Mr. Cruz during his practice. The camera was involving everyone in one scene going back and fourth from person too person.
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Towards the end of the scene having all the actors and individuals actions of each person come together as one shot. This ended up building a bond with Mr. Cruz and his teammates that was desperately needed. Later in the scene it shows Mr. Cruz being subbed into the game. It amazed me how fast the camera has to move during the basketball games. Having to zoom in when players are taking shots and going up for layups. It's pretty fascinating. All in all, I like how the camera was able to shot every individual person or action occurring in the scene. It keeps the viewer engaged and sets the tone for the movie. Leading to a great ending.
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Survive and Advance Documentary Review
This story was based on a college basketball coach who led is underdog basketball team to a miracle ending. It was one of the best cinderella stories of all time in sports. The story dealt with a guy named Jim Valvano. Jim Valvano was the head basketball coach at North Carolina State. He coached at different colleges before coaching for NC State. He coach at NC State for ten years. There was one season in particular that this video was directed towards. Which was the 1983 NC State basketball team. This team faced conflicts throughout the season losing key players due to injuries and having his team put against the most improbable odds. Even though his team was looked over by everyone he still sustained a positive attitude and kept believing.
This film, as Mr. Muench said, was the best film I have ever watched. I loved the motivational speeches and the positive attitude being addressed in this film. I also liked the intensity and suspense the film brought because every game they played was so close. I could list a million things I liked about the film. There wasn’t anything I didn’t like about the film. The acting was good because I liked the broadcasters and writers talking about Valvano and this NC State team. Everyone really knew what they were talking about and brought up good points throughout the film. I thought the best part about the film were the shots taken. Every few minutes the shots would change to a basketball game, speech valvano was presenting, practices, etc. That’s what really kept me interested in the documentary. The lighting was great especially in the part about Valvano speech at the ESPYS. I saw some great film techniques including the rule of thirds and the blurring out in the background. You could really see the emotion within the documentary. I like to look for the rule of thirds especially when the basketball games are filmed and when the writers are interviewed. It is very helpful as a young filmmaker to see these kinds of things.
I definitely would recommend this film to people not just interested in sports but interested in motivation and witnessing a great human being in terms of the great Jim Valvano. If you don’t want to watch the whole film then just watch his speech at the ESPY Awards. One of the best speeches of all time. The way the documentary was represented in terms of creating suspense and excitement seen in the film. Especially when it came to the NCAA tournament and how the NC State team would be losing every game and them would come back and win. Also, the tough teams they had to beat including Michael Jordan’s team (Michael Jordan is debatably the best basketball player ever). At first when I was given this assignment I didn’t know what to watch and wasn’t really interested. After I watched this documentary I felt something great. I felt that I could dream and believe in something that I wanted to accomplish. This film taught me life long lessons that I can apply to myself. The three major things that I will take from this film in terms of having a full day is, laugh, think, and cry everyday. As Jim Valvano said,”That’s a full day”.