2. Definition of the genre...
Films that have a sports setting, event, or
athlete that are central and predominant in the
story. Sports films may be fictional or non-
fictional; and they are a hybrid sub-genre
category, they often tend to be dramas or
comedy films and occasionally documentaries.
3. History...
Since the start of motion pictures Sports films
have been a vital part to the success and
survival of the filming industry. They have
created huge amounts of money for media
companies. This has allowed other genres to
be created and succeed. The first Sports films
were actually boxing fights, these were news
films. The first was The Corbett-Fitzsimmons
fight in 1897.
4. History continued...
In 1911 the first non news film sports film
was created. This was Harry the footballer,
this was black and white as well as silent. The
advances in technology such as colour filming
and high definition sound has allowed sports
films to again boom and succeed. This is
because sports films conventionally go in to
deep detail portraying every emotion
available.
5. list of top sports
films in US box
http://www.imdb.com/search/title?
genres=sport&sort=boxoffice_gross_us&title_
type=feature
This link shows the top sports films in the US
box office.
6. Conventions of
sports films...
Contain sporting event.
Contain sporting athelete.
Contain sporting narrative.
Constant state of emotion.
Equilibrium.
Disruption.
Resolution.
Success
Failure
Relationships between characters.
7. Hollywood
Hollywood studios who produce Sports films
also include two key conventions:
A utopian view of the world which assumes that anyone who works hard, is
determined, and plays by the rules will succeed.
A need for plausibility based on resemblance to the actual sports world that
qualifies its utopian outlook with the complexities of social difference.
An example of a film following these conventions is
The Blindside.
An example of a film not following these
conventions is Friday night lights.
