Researching Films In The Sports genre

For my title sequence I will be doing a sports drama about a young footballers' rise to fame. Because of this I will focus of analysing sports films and seeing the conventions they've used to convey the storyline and introduce the characters

In the 1998 film 'He Got Game' the title consists mainly of scenes of various people playing basketball which tells the audience it's about basketball. The people are either alone in their gardens on in their friendship groups playing basketball, but never in a professional environment which suggest the film is about talented teens who are not professional basketball players but who enjoy playing it as a hobby. Although as the title sequence develops we are introduced to many different settings, the video started with a wide shot of a field, possibly a farm, and the credits say "A 40 acres and a mule film works production" which introduces the actual setting of the film and suggests its in a very rural area. There are clips showing statues of basketballs players and shows the United Center which is an indoor sports center. This could symbolise the characters inspirations and aspirations.

In the film Creed, they use a clip of the protagonist, played by Michael B Jordan, wrapping his fist to show that the film is about boxing. It then cuts to a scene that shows the same man standing in a ring looking down at his opponent and cameras flashing from the audience behind him. This tells the audience that he's a very powerful and talented boxer with fans. It then cuts to images of him and Sylvester Stallone who, the audience will recognise from the famous Boxing film franchise 'Rocky'. Our protagonist is standing in the ring in front of his opponent with Sylvester standing behind him with his hand on his shoulder revealing that he is Michaels coach. This creates narrative enigma as is makes the audience question if Sylvester will make a come back or has passed on all his glory to the protagonist.

Both films use instrumentals in their opening scenes however the 'Creed' soundtrack is quite heavy and  orchestral making it seem more of a dramatic film whereas the 'He Got Game' soundtrack is a lot more lighthearted and soft making it seem like a relaxed, upbeat film.