1. Matt Wood
Genre Analysis
Sports films have been around for over a century and they were someof the
original films. They started out mainly as comedies or dramas in the early-mid
20th
century but since then there have been moredocumentary style films.
The sports genre often appears in films as there is an easy to find and target
audience – fans of the particular sportin the film. Thereforeit is easy for film
makers to advertisetheir films. They may do so at one of the sport’s events or
during one of the TV programmes.
This genre of film is very
popular as there is already a fan
base for the sportwhich means
that there is a large amount of
people interested in that area.
As shown, there are many
successfulsporting films. A lot
of the most successfulare
American films about boxing or
American football. Many of the
most well renowned actors in the world have starred in sports films such as
Sylvester Stallone in the Rocky franchiseor Harrison Ford in 42. This shows the
prominence of sportin the film industry.
Sportfilms generally fall into one of three categories; a
documentary, a tribute-stylelook back at a sporting great
or a film following a fictional career.
In the documentary style sports films, the film is usually
made up of various interviews fromthe sports star or
members of a team, footageof the sports that the
athlete/team participated in, interviews with family and
friends as well as narration. An example of a documentary
style sports filmis ‘Ronaldo’
2. Matt Wood
Films that follow a fictional character often have; footage
of the fictional sporting event, the athlete and his family
and friends and emotive scenes. The story normally
contains both success and failure to makethe film more
engaging. The theme of working hard and achieving a
dream is also a convention of these films. An example of a
fictional sports filmis ‘Goal!’
