Hoop Dreams Analysis

The director mainly used eye level shots, to leave it up to the audience to judge the two main characters of the movie, although certain power struggles in the film are shown from high angles to illustrate someone dominating a conversation or argument. Figgis also uses some point of view shots to show the imbalance during Ben’s drunken periods where the camera is placed at an oblique angle to show tension and approaching movements. The images in the film are in high contrast with streaks of blackness and harsh shafts of light to underline the dramatic events that occur.

“We Got Next”. This phrase is most commonly used around the asphalt when vying to play the next game of pick up basketball. Founded on April 24, 1996, the NBA Board of Governors approved the concept of a Women’s National Basketball Association. The Women’s National Basketball Association is the most prevalently known professional basketball league in the United States for women, most commonly referred to as its’ acronym WNBA. It was finally the ladies’ turn as they made their statement that they would be playing the next game. The first season for the Women’s National Basketball Association began in 1997. Sheryl Swoopes, one of the league’s first sixteen players, was the first player signed by the WNBA on October 23, 1996. She signed with the Houston Comets, one of the eight teams in the

Hoop Dreams, directed by Steve James, is an outstanding documentary that gives the viewer a perspective on several different elements on the life of a teen basketball player. The film follows Arthur Agee and William Gates, two basketball stars, who live in the rough Chicago area. The inner-city boys get noticed for their skills, and they are recruited to play for dominant team. The audience follows the boy’s journey with basketball, school, and general life matters. The film dives into the reality of living in the hood and chasing a dream of playing professional basketball. The corruption of the school system and sports are examined throughout the film. The audience follows Agee and Gates through their triumphs and failures in their chase to the top. The director, Steve James, uses the film genre of documentary for the story of Arther Agee and William Gates because it highlights the raw moments of their lives.

Life is hard when you're losing the people you love and that you are very important in your life. Life by NBA Youngboy it talks about what he lost and how he lost people that were very important to him. NBA Youngboy music is a rap genre, it's showing how he was growing up. Try to move on when you lose someone very important to you. In his music it talk about how life is hard and how they still push through.

This semester, we’ve learned a lot of things about what goes on in married relationships and cohabitation relationships. We’ve been taught how to deal with situations and changes that may occur within any relationship. In order to apply the research I’ve learned about, I have chosen to compare a few topic that took place in the movie Love and Basketball. This movie shows many gender roles, nonverbal behaviors, family impacts on relationships, and how communication is key.

The camera follows the elders of the block, Da’ Mayor and Mother Sister, as they talk in her bedroom. For a rare moment in the film Da’ Mayor’s and Mother Sister’s eyes are at exactly the same level, showing that as different as the two may have seemed, they are very much the same. Then the camera slowly pulls out as the two stand and sluggishly walk down a hallway toward a window. Now, where a director would typically have to cut and setup a new shot, Lee pulls the camera straight out of the window as Mother Sister and Da’ Mayor survey the block. The audience would expect to see next exactly what Da’ Mayor and Mother Sister are looking at, but instead Lee quickly pans over in the opposite direction to reveal Mookie standing in the street bellow. By doing this Lee makes a connection that both the elders and Mookie are, in the words of Mother Sister, “still standing.” The shot is not particularly tight but still has a cramped feel due to the clutter of things in the background, the heavy shadowing, and the red tint on the lighting. The red lighting gives sense of volatility to the shot, which is contrasted by the slow camera and character movements. These slow movements are analogous to the block as, regardless of how slowly, it too will go on and life will continue. This shot is in the tradition of mise en scene advocates like Bazin in that,

Camera shots and angles are also used by Ross as a cinematic technique. The lack of engagement in class of a close up of David’s face is an example. David’s face show the expression of boredom and tiredness, as he listens to the teacher talk. Another example of a camera technique is the close up of David asking out a girl. It shows the strength and courage David has in him, but a long shot shows us that the girl is hundreds of meters away. This conveys that David is too socially inept to

Documentarians often want to get as close to their subject matter as possible. Some documentarians have an insider perspective which ignites a spark to create a piece that illuminates a specific topic or area of study. There are also documentarians that have no affiliation with said subject matter, but want to explore the topic in question. Finally, there are documentarians that have a foot in both worlds. Insider/outsider is a theory in which a documentarian can be close to a subject, but also possess characteristics or traits that make them distant from the topic in question (Coles, 1998). Such is the case with the directors of both Stranger with a Camera and The House I Live In. Due to their own location, both Eugene Jarecki and Elizabeth Barret exhibit characteristics that make them fall into the insider/outsider roles as directors. Robert Coles defines location by stating, “We notice what we notice because of who we are” (Coles, 1998, p. 7). Included in this is, a person’s education, race, class, and gender. Both directors realize they are outsiders and utilize a lens into a world in which they are not otherwise a part of. Jarecki’s lens comes in the form of Nanny Jeter, his family’s nanny from when he was a child. Barret’s lens for her documentary is the community that she shared with Ison. The two directors enter into a world that they are not a part of because of their location, but forge a connection to the subject matter through means of a lens.

The selected piece “Hoop Dreams,” movie review by Robert Ebert is part of the review

In an interview with Arthur’s mother, you find out that St. Joseph’s wouldn’t pay for all of Arthur’s education like they said they would, which is terrible news because the Agee’s couldn’t afford to send Arthur to this

The documentary, “Hoop Dreams” depicts the structural, psychological, and environmental issues that perpetuates poverty in America through a cohort of individuals, Arthur Agee and William Gates. Agee and Gates’s lives are chronicled through a longintudinal study of four years, from the summer they enter high school, to their entry into college. Both African-American teenagers are recruited from different parts of Chicago, but they came together to begin their freshman year at St. Joseph’s High School, the institution that built Basketball superstar Isaiah Thomas. Both Arthur and William begin their journey in a similar manner, but were exposed to the complexity of their dream, their education, and negative societal factors that ultimately change the course of their lives.

Ch. 5 Sports (pg. 21) This chapter goes over GM and his brothers, as they competed in basketball the utmost. Johnny and Robbie would get most of the attention, as both won the, “State and New England championships.” (Mitchell, 2015) Johnny would get the accolade of the MVP of the New England High School Basketball Championship. GM, would come to realize that he didn’t have superb athletic abilities after playing in college and the army.

The use of various camera techniques such as canted frames, low-angled, high-angled and close up shots, as well as camera distance, enhances the struggle between the characters. The use of such techniques not only allows the audience to get an extensive insight into the many different characters, but also helps us understand the relationships between them and how all of these factors contribute to the overarching theme of racism in the film. The use of these camera rapid movements

Coach Carter is a 2005 movie which was based upon a true story. The movie underlines the social structure and stratification of life in the American ghetto. The theme of the movie is the outcome of such societal boundaries on this group of students who play basketball; how it outlines their life, affects their social life and also their life goals. The movie depicts a Structural-functionalist of society

The directors chosen camera technique, a simple two composition that progresses the scene a steady pace, forces the audience to feel a part of the awkward exchange; obviously, a quality of film that could not be as profoundly achieved through the narrative in the novel.