Scene List
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1. Opening Credits / Alexandria 1971
Alexandria, Virginia – 1981: Mourners arrive for a funeral//
July 1971: Angry African-Americans demonstrate over the shooting of a Black teenager
team practice
2. New Assistant
Coach Boone has arrived
The Bones move in
Dr Day arrives
Yoast is told that Boone will be head coach.
Boone is persuaded to accept
3. Unwelcome Visitor
Boone asks Yoast to stay on as assistant.
Yoast announces his plans to take a year off and then move on.
Yoast ponders his options.
4. “Zero Fun, Sir.”
Boone's first team meeting
Yoast insists on a job for Coach Tyrell.
5. “Who’s Your Daddy?”
Gerry tries to lay down some conditions and is put in his place.
Boone integrates the buses.
Blue starts to sing and is silenced by Julius who is sitting with Gerry.
6. Setting the Rules
A fight starts.
Boone sets the standards.
Training and practice.
7. “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg”
Louie sits down with black guys; Boone orders them to meet their team-mates.
8. Tired and Thirsty
Montage
Practice, another flare up, fight over water.
9. Bertier and Big Ju
Gerry and Julius tell each other some home truths.
10. Lesson from the Dead
The players are roused from bed at 3 a.m. and taken for a run.
Boone makes an inspirational speech at the Gettysburg cemetery.
11. Left Side, Strong Side
The team unites.
Ronnie Bass, a quarterback, arrives.
12. Sunshine
Petey nicknames him Sunshine; the boys bond with 'momma' jokes and music.
Rev told to teach Ronnie the ‘veer’.
13. Too Strong
Offensive and defensive players now eat together; Sheryl congratulates Boone.
After practice team bonding
All sing on the bus.
Families are waiting at the bus stop.
14. Back in the Real World
White parents protest against integration; Gerry introduces Julius to his girlfriend Emma
Dr Day tells Boone that the school board will fire him as soon as he loses a game.
15. Rule Like Titans – T.C. Williams v Hayfield
Boone makes an inspirational speech to the team.
Game Montage
26. Petey on D
Yoast puts Petey back on in defence
They go on the town; Ray and Emma invite Gerry along with them but he refuses.
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17. Service refused
They are thrown out of a bar.
18. Adjustments
Boone tells Yoast not to treat the black players more leniently than the white.
Blacks playing basketball
Gerry's mother won't let him visit Julius.
TC Williams v Herndon
Boone comes to see Yoast; Nicky is with him.
Boone has a mathematical analysis of the next team they are playing.
19. Picking Sides
A brawl in the hall.
Tyrell tells Yoast that a man has to ‘pick sides’.
A brick through the Boones' window.
The team meets and re-establishes their unity.
Yoast suggests to Boone that he be less assertive and more humble.
20. The Singing Titans
Game #3: TC Williams vs. Groveton –Rev is injured.
21. Tough Decision
Ronnie stars; Ray is cut.
22. Changing Times
Julius goes to visit Gerry at home.
Montage – 16 mm
Yoast is told that there is a plot to get rid of Boone.
Opposing coach Taber calls Boone 'a monkey'.
23. Remember Forever
Boone accuses the referee of cheating; Yoast tells him to call the game fairly.
24. Winning and Losing
Back in town, all is celebration.
Yoast tells Sheryl he has lost the 'Hall of Fame'.
Boone's neighbours applaud him.
Gerry has a car accident.
25. Fallen Titan
Gerry is paralysed from the waist down.
Yoast accuses Boone of being more concerned with himself.
Press conference // Boone reflects.
Yoast and Sheryl visit Gerry
26. State Championship – Titans v Marshall
Titans are up against the “legendary Ed Henry with over 250 wins in 30 years."
Louie has made the grades for college; Petey is on the bench.
27. Worthy Opponents
Marshall score early.
28. Trusting the Soul
Julius makes an inspirational speech; Yoast asks Boone for help.
29. “Our Time”
Petey replaces Alan and scores.
30. Fake 23 Blast
Titans win in last minutes.
They celebrate in Gerry's room.
31. Making It Work
Funeral again.
32. End Credits
Split screen – picture on left; bio info on right
19
The Effect of the Adaptation to TV/video of wide screen images
The scene as shown on the big screen and the DVD – illustrating graphically the big social and personal distance
between Ray (the most intransigent of the boys) and Petey.
The scene as shown on video and TV – the visual impact is lost, as is the stunning shot of the building.
20
Useful Quotations
Sheryl
Yoast:
[V.O.] In Virginia, high school football is a way of life; it's bigger than Christmas day. My daddy
coached in Alexandria. He worked so hard my momma left him, but I stayed with coach, he needed me
on that field.
Boone:
This is no democracy. It is a dictatorship. I am the law.
Boone:
. . . once you get on that bus, you ain’t got no momma no more. You got your brothers on the team, and
you got your daddy. Now, you know who your daddy is, don’t you? Gerry, if you want to play on this
football team, you answer me when I ask you, who is your daddy. Who's your daddy, Gerry? Who's
your daddy?
You
Uh huh. And whose team is this? is this your team? Or is this your daddy’s team?
Yours.
Gerry
Boone
Gerry
Boone
Boone:
Petey
Boone
Petey
Boone
Petey
Boone
You look like a bunch of fifth grade sissies after a cat fight! You got anger? That's good - you're
gonna need it, son. You got aggression? That's even better - you're gonna need that, too. But any
little two year old child can throw a fit! Football is about controlling that anger, harnessing that
aggression into a team effort to achieve perfection! We will be perfect in every aspect. You drop a
pass, you run a mile. You miss a blocking assignment, you run a mile. You make a fumble, I will take you
and break your John Browns and then you will run a mile. Perfection.
[after Petey makes a fumble]
Fumble, fumble, fumble. What’s wrong with you? Why are you fumbling my football?
My blockers were bad.
Your blockers? Your blockers ain’t got nothing to do with you holding the ball. Did your blockers
fumble the football or did you fumble the football?
I did, sir.
All right. How many feet are in a mile? How many feet are in a mile?
I don’t . . . I don’t . . .
5,280 feet! You pick this ball up and you run every single one of them! You’re killin’ me, Petey! You’re
killin’ me!
Louie
I’m just down-home, no-good, never-goin’-to-no-college white trash, man. All right?
Blue
Boone
Blue
Boone
Coach, we need a water break - we been out here all day!
What did you say?
I said, we need a water break.
You need a water break? Water is for cowards. Water makes you weak. Water is for washing blood
off that uniform and you don't get no blood on my uniform. Boy, you must be outside your mind! We
are going to up-downs, until Blue is no longer tired and thirsty.
Gerry
Honesty? You want honesty? All right. Honestly, I think you’re nothing - nothing but a pure waste of
God-given talent. You don’t listen to nobody, man, not even Doc or Boone. Shiver push on the line every
time and you blow right past ‘im. Push ‘im. Pull ‘im. Do something. You can’t run over everybody in this
league, and every time you do, you leave one of your team-mates out to dry. Me in particular!
Why should I give a hoot about you, huh? Or anybody else out there? You want to talk about waste.
You the captain, right? Captains’ supposed to be the leader, right? . . . You got a job? . . . You been
doing your job?
I’ve been doing my job.
Then why don’t you tell your white buddies to block for Rev better? ‘Cause they have not blocked for
him worth a plugged nickel, and you know it. Nobody plays, yourself included! I’m supposed to wear
myself out for the team? What team? No. No, what I’m gonna do is I’m gonna look out for myself and
I’m gonna get mine.
See, man, that’s the worst attitude I ever heard.
Attitude reflects leadership, Captain.
Julius
Gerry
Julius
Gerry
Julius
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Coach
Boone:
This is Gettysburg. This is where they fought the battle of Gettysburg. Fifty thousand men died
right here on this field, fighting the same fight that we are still fighting among ourselves today. This
green field right here, painted red, bubbling with the blood of young boys. Smoke and hot lead pouring
right through their bodies. Listen to their souls, men. “I killed my brother with malice in my heart.
Hatred destroyed my family.” You listen, and you take a lesson from the dead. If we don't come
together right now on this hallowed ground, we too will be destroyed, just like they were. I don't care
if you like each other or not, but you will respect each other. And maybe - I don't know, maybe - we'll
learn to play this game like men.
Sheryl
Boone
Sheryl
Boone
Yoast
Coach Boone, you did a good job up here. You ran a tough camp from what I can see.
Well I'm very happy to have the approval of a 5 year old.
I'm 9 and a half, thank you very much.
[to Yoast] Why don't you get this little girl some pretty dolls or something, coach?
I've tried. She loves football.
Boone:
I'm not gonna talk to you tonight about winning and losing. You're already winners 'cause you didn't kill
each other up at camp. Tonight we got Hayfield. Like all the other schools in this conference, they’re
all white. They don’t have to worry about race. We do. But we’re better for it. Let me tell you
something – you don’t let anything, nothing, come between us. Nothing tears us apart. In Greek
mythology, the Titans were greater even than the gods. They ruled their universe with absolute power!
Well, that football field out there tonight, that's our universe. Let's rule it like Titans!
Boone:
You think you’re doing these boys a favour, taking ‘em aside every time I come down on them,
protecting them from big bad Boone. You’re cutting my legs from under me.
Some of the boys don’t respond well to public criticism. I tell them what they need to know but I don’t
humiliate them in front of the team.
Which boys you talking about? Which one’s you talking’ about? I come down on Bertier, I don’t see you
coddle him. Come down on Sunshine, don’t see you grab his hand, take him off to the side. Which boys
you talking about? Now I may be a mean cuss. But I'm the same mean cuss with everybody out there
on that football field. The world don't give a damn about how sensitive these kids are, especially the
young black kids. You ain't doin' these kids a favour by patronising them. You crippling them. You’re
crippling them for life.
Yoast
Boone
Boone:
I don't scratch my head unless it itches and I don't dance unless I hear some music. I will not be
intimidated. That's just the way it is.
Yoast:
You make sure they remember, FOREVER, the night they played the Titans!
Nurse
Bertier
[Julius visits Gerry in the hospital.]
Only kin's allowed in here.
Alice, are you blind? Don't you see the family resemblance? That's my brother.
Yoast
Bertier
We don't need to talk about football right now, Gerry. I think this is a good time for reflection and
for prayer Coach, I'm hurt. I ain't dead.
Older
Sheryl
People say that it can't work - black and white. Well, here we make it work, everyday. We have our
disagreements, of course, but before we reach for hate, always, always, we remember the Titans.
22
The Complex Make-up of a Movie
 director
- style
- pace
- tone
- lighting
 plot
Boaz Yakin
 Director of Photography
(cinematographer)
 setting

designer
production
art director
- colours
- motifs

art designer/set
decorator
Philippe Rousselot
Deborah Evans
Jonathan Short

screenplay
wit
humour
allusions
motifs
clichés
Anne Kuljian
actors
Gregory Allen Howard
 characters
 costumes
 makeup
 hair
Judy Ruskin Howell
Lynne Egan
Emmanuel Millar
 sound
 sound effects (SFX)
 sound effects editing
Robert L Sephton
 music
Trevor Rabin
 visual effects
Robert M Shelley Sr
 editing
- pace, style, juxtaposition;
montage
Michael Tronick
 themes
 structure
Note – the aspects in column 2 are not intended to be a match with aspects in column 4.
Pre-production:
Production:
Post-production:
screenplay (and storyboarding); location scouting; set design & decoration;
costume design, casting etc
filming on set or location – actors, costumes, makeup; cinematography etc
editing, adding SFX, music, sound effects, sound effects editing, etc
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Glossary of Film Terms
Ambient sound
Animation
Art Director
Aural bridge
Auteur
‘B’ Movie
Backlighting
Back (Rear) Projection
Boom Operator
Body Language
Camera Angle
Cinematographer
Clapper Board
Close-Up (C.U.)
Continuity
Crane Shot
Credits
Cut
Cutaway
Dissolve
Dolly
Dub
Editing
Editor
Establishing Shot
Exposition
Extra
Fade In
Fish Eye Lens
Flashback
Focus
Footage
Frame
Freeze Frame
Gaffer
Genre
Grain
Hand Held Camera
High Key Lighting
Inpoint
Insert
Jump Cut
Location
Long Lens
Long Shot / L.S.
Master Shot
Matte
Medium (Mid) Shot /
M.S.
Mise en Scène
Montage
background sound (not music): footsteps, bushes rustling – FOLEY effects
The process of assembling drawings to be photographed one frame at a time, to create an illusion of
movement. Cartoons are best-known form of animation. See also DIRECT FILM.
The designer of sets and costumes.
hearing the sound of the next shot before cutting to it - signals a transition
A director (or occasionally some other type of film-maker) with a recognisable style and view of life.
A low budget movie of the kind used to fill out a double feature. (Compare the phrase ‘B side’ of a record.)
Light from behind a person or object, sometimes creating a halo effect.
Adding a filmed background to live action, so it looks as though the action is taking place in that location.
The person who holds a microphone above the actors by means of a long arm or ‘boom’.
The way our feelings are expressed through our body.
The angle at which the camera is pointed at a person or object (high, low, eye-level).
A movie cameraman, usually the ‘director of photography’.
A chalk-board used to number each shot. It has a clapstick, so sound and image can later be synchronised.
A camera shot that seems to bring us close to the person or object being filmed; a shot of a person’s face
only is a ‘close-up’. + ‘Extreme close-up’ (E.C.U.) or ‘big close-up’ (B.C.U.).
The script supervisor keeps a record of ‘takes’ and makes sure that the details are consistent from one shot
to another (e.g. a character must wear exactly the same clothes even if a scene is shot over several days).
A shot taken from a crane (a kind of high angle shot).
The list of cast, crew, and other people involved in making a film. There are usually ‘head credits’ (at the
beginning of the film) and ‘tail credits’ (at the end).
The place where one shot as been spliced to another.
A shot which briefly turns our attention away from the main action to someone or something on the sidelines.
One image fades in while another fades out, so that they are superimposed for a few moments.
Any platform with wheels that allows the camera to be moved: ‘dolly shot’, ‘tracking’ or ‘trucking’ shot.
To record dialogue after a film has been shot, usually replacing one language with another.
The process of selecting, arranging and trimming the various shots to make up a film.
A person who edits films (see EDITING).
Usually a long shot, it gives an overview of a scene so the audience is not confused about what is
happening and where.
The basic information that must be supplied to an audience at the beginning of a story, so they can follow
the story and feel involved with it.
Someone acting a minor part, in a crowd scene for example.
An image appears out of blackness, gradually brightening to full strength. Fade out = image fades to black
A Very wide lens that distorts the image.
A return to a scene in the past. (A flash forward = a premonition of the future.)
The sharpness of an image. To focus a camera is to adjust the lens so that it gives a sharper image.
The amount of film used, or to be used (measured in feet or metres).
A term used to refer to: 1. any single image of a film (there are 24 frames per second)
2. the rectangular shape of the image (like the ‘frame’ of a painting).
A single frame repeated many times so it looks like a still photograph.
The chief electrician in charge of the lights. Their assistant is the ‘best boy’.
A type of film (e.g. the western, sci-fi.).
The texture of the film emulsion. A film image with coarse texture is said to be ‘grainy’.
The camera is sometimes held in the hand, even though a tripod gives smoother results. Steadicam.
Bright lighting, usually provided by one source of light (the ‘key light’).
The detail or image at the beginning of a scene, selected for its impact, or because it provides a smooth
transition from the previous scene to the new scene. Compare OUTPOINT.
A detail shot (for example a close-up of a letter).
A term used to refer to: (1) the jerky transition when a few frames are removed. (2) a cut that is starting; a
transition that requires a leap of the imagination.
A place, other than a studio, where a film is shot.
A lens with a long focal effect that has a telescopic effect.
A shot from a distance - it shows a person from head to foot, and perhaps more than this.
A long take of an entire scene, into which other shots e.g. reaction shots, are cut.
A process of combining several images during the printing process (e.g. to add a background).
A shot which is between a close-up and a long shot in the sense of closeness it creates. For example a
medium shot would show a person from head to waist, or head to knees.
Getting a scene together, the choices made about the details of the imaged; what items will be in it, and how
those items are to be presented.
A fast-moving sequence in which many shots are combined - to create a mood, or to sum up a long process,
to suggest connections. A series of short clips which add up to more than the sum of the whole.
Compresses a passage of time into brief symbolic or typical images.
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Morphing
Outpoint
Out-of-Sync
Out-Take
Over-Shoulder Shot
Pan
Parallel Montage
Point of View Shot
Pull Focus
Reaction Shot
Reverse Angle:
Rough Cut
Rushes (or dailies)
Screenplay
Set-Up
Shooting/ Filming
Shot
Soft Focus
Sound Mix
Sound Effects
Special Effects (SFX)
Split Screen
Still
Story Board
Sub-Text
Synchronisation
Subjective Shot
Tail
Take
Telephoto Lens
Texture
Threnody
Tighter Shot
Tracking shot
Two-Shot
Video
Visuals
Voice Over (V.O.)
Wide-Angle Lens
Wipe
Zoom
Transforming from one image into another
The final detail or image in a particular scene. It may sum up what has happened, add a touch of irony, or
point towards the following scene. Compare ‘INPOINT’.
Sound not properly synchronised with the image.
A take not used in the final version of a film.
A camera position often used in dialogue scenes.
The movement of the camera when it swivels from left to right or right to left.
Two scenes that the editor has alternated. Also known as ‘cross-cutting’.
P.O.V. A shot in which the camera is associated with the eyes of a character (‘this is what he sees’).
To shift focus from one part of a scene to another (also known as ‘follow focus’ or ‘rack focus’)
A shot that shows a person’s reaction to what happened in the previous shot. (It is known as a ‘noddy’ if the
person is merely nodding, like a television interviewer!)
A shot from the opposite side. When two people are talking, there is often a ‘shot and reverse shot’
alternation.
The first edited version of the film, like a rough copy. It is revised to become the final cut.
‘Takes’ rushed back from the laboratory so the film-makers can check that they got what they wanted.
A film or television script.
The position of the camera and lighting, selected for a particular shot.
The ‘shoot’ is the period of time spent filming.
A film is made up of many different shots. During the shooting of a film, a shot ends when the camera is
turned off. Each shot involves a different camera set-up. During and after the editing of the film a shot ends
where the editor has cut it off. See ‘TAKE’.
Opposite of sharp focus, sometimes produced by filters or Vaseline to add a romantic effect.
The combination of different elements (dialogue, music, sound effects) to make up the sound track
Sounds other than words.
Creating illusions by the use of trick photography, miniature models and various types of equipment. A
bomb can explode, a flying saucer can appear etc, thanks to SFX.
Two or more separate images within the same frame.
A single photograph, the enlargement of one frame.
A script presented as a serious of drawings and captions.
A person’s private thoughts and feelings that may be different from those expressed publicly.
Matching up sounds with visuals. When words match the movements of the actor’s lips then the film is ‘in
sync’.
A point of view shot, sometimes distorted to emphasise the character’s state of mind.
The end of a film.
One attempt at a shot. To get the effect wanted, the director may ask for more than one version (or ‘take’).
Same as ‘shot’ but it refers more narrowly to the period when the film is being made.
A long lens with a telescopic effect.
A term used to refer to: (1) the actual physical look of a film image, those qualities that allow us to
distinguish it from a video, image or an oil painting, or other kind of image. (2) richness of detail – clouds,
faces, wind tugging at clothes, cars passing in the background, etc. To respond to texture is to notice not
just the main meaning or the main objects in a film scene, but also to notice the many details, colours and
surfaces.
An unnerving sound, signalling a change of mood (threnody = song of lament)
A closer shot, leaving less space around the people or objects on which the camera is concentrating.
The camera moves on a ‘dolly’, enabling it to follow people who are moving along.
A shot in which two people are shown (cameramen also speak of ‘one-shot’ and ‘three-shot’).
Television filming. The images are recorded not on film stock, but on videotape.
The images of a film.
Commentary by an unseen narrator.
A lens with a broad angle of view, increasing the sense of depth and distance.
An ‘optical’ effect in which one image appears to push the previous image off the screen.
A lens, which can be adjusted from ‘wide-angle’ to ‘telephoto’. Such a lens can ‘zoom in’ or ‘zoom out’
(seem to move closer or further away from an object).
25