Year 11 Visual Text Study – Remember the Titans Close Analysis of Opening Scene Visual Language • Establishing shot of a graveyard – an angelic gravestone is in the foreground • Warm, natural lighting during the autumn • Sheryl Yoast (adult) voice-‐over “In Virginia, High School Football was a way of life…” • • Close-‐up of Coach Boone exiting a car Sound of car doors closing and Sheryl Yoast’s voice-‐over continues Text tells us that it’s 1981 Costume – all black and uniformed shows togetherness of team again Long-‐shot of the whole team back together in order to pay their respects to their captain Voice-‐over – “Up until 1971 in Alexandria, there was no race mixing, then the school board forced us to integrate. They combined the white school and the black school into one called T.C. Williams High School.” 1
Explanation The opening credits introduce a sombre mood due to it being set in a graveyard. However, the warm, autumnal colours create a positive atmosphere rather than sad. We find that this is Gerry Bertier’s funeral, and that the film looks back fondly to the time of the Titans – the American Football team that helped a community overcome racial tensions. The narrator’s voice-‐over tells us that “In Virginia, High School Football was a way of life” which alerts us to the importance that the community places on the team. We realise that the narrator is the grown up Sheryl Yoast, who looks fondly back to the memory of the team and how they came together in 1971. The team are still united and close after all the time that has passed, although they have been brought back together under sad circumstances. Sheryl’s voice-‐over continues and introduces the main theme of the power of sport in overcoming racial prejudice explaining that, “The school board forced us to integrate [combining] the white school and the black school…”
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Remember the Titans – Close Analysis of Opening Scene
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Flashback to 1971 – we see the rioting in the streets Voice-‐over tells us why the fighting has happened – “That summer a black teenager was killed by a white storeowner and the city was on the verge of exploding” Clear divide shown by costuming
Visually, there is a clear division between racial groups. The camera pans from a crowd of black people protesting against the murder of a teenager to the crowd of white people being held back by the police…
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