Mis-en-scene/Composition

The Football Game – The use of pull focus from the back of the Marshall coach’s head when it drops, after losing to the opposing coach and players who are celebrating on the other sideline illustrates two different emotions associated with sport. By starting the shot on the back of the Marshall coach’s head you feel the pain he feels as his head drop’s out of shot, then the focus switch’s to the winning team who seem all the more powerful jumping up and down over his head. Also in the football game, the use of expansion of time builds added suspense to the exciting end of the football game. The final seven seconds are extended to fit in the emotions of the players on the field, coaches on the sideline, cheerleader on the sideline, and family and friends back home.

The suspense is concluded with the ball spiralling in the air while the camera traces it in slow motion. This achieves greater suspense along with the low angle shot which makes the ball look like it falls from the air and into your living room when the marshall player drops it and loses the game. The slow motion rams home the moment of when the game is lost that would other wises pass to quickly in real time.