Coach_Carter

Coach Carter is set in Richmond, California in the USA. It focuses on an inner-city public school called Richmond High, which is in a very low-like status and has a reputation for not having many students go off to college. It is set on the actual story in 1999 where Coach Carter benches his undefeated team due to academic results, as seen in the movie. In this movie, many problems are encountered throughout the whole journey of the students. In Coach Carter, the teacher (Coach Carter) faces problems including mainly: The boys in which he has to coach, as they are uncontrollable and disrespectful to everyone, including their coach and each other. The boys all have different personalities, and with each personality arises a new challenge for Coach Carter. For example, a player on the team called Timo Cruz walks out on the team, which in the end results in the team losing one of their best players as well as one of their main players of the team. Not only was Cruz the one to walk out, but two others also chose to walk out; them being the top 2 point scorers in the previous season. Coach Carter is then forced to get the team new top point scorers. As well as this, the boys do not keep up to the contract in which they have signed which asks them to maintain a 2.3 grade point average, and Coach Carter has to overcome this problem as well as the problem of them taunting other teams when they start winning their games. - His own son which he has placed at St. Francis, who would rather go to Richmond High so he can play for his father (Coach Carter). This places a hard decision on Coach Carter and has a big affect on both him and his family. It creates arguments and some tension between father and son. Coach Carter being the main teacher in the film has a character that is strict and formal, with some of his actions proving to have both good and bad results. He is strict on the training that he gives the players, and has a passion for the game, as he once himself was a champion player of basketball. As both teacher and players share a strong passion for the game, they are similar in they all want to win. He chooses to become a teacher as the place is offered to him, as well as the fact that the place in which he is offered is at the school in which he grew up and learnt in. The atmosphere of the school would be one that he is used to and therefore, he chooses to accept the place offered to him, despite the low-paid money that is involved. Coach Carter teaches the students respect, how to properly play the game, as well as teaching them education in a way. He sets rules that the players have to abide by, as he creates a contract that lists several things, which include schoolwork and averages. He creates rules for training, for example if they are later than 2:55pm then they have to do either suicides or pushups to make up for it. This teaches them respect and punctuality. He also is able to teach the players some schoolwork by creating part of the contract saying they have to sit in the front row of all their classes to name one. While he teaches the students, he creates a one-pages contract in which he hopes they will keep up with their schoolwork and abides by everything that is on there. He sets this contract so that he can see his players grow up and get to college rather than doing not learning anything and not going to college. Whilst Coach Carter teaches the players many things, the students teach him some things as well. For example, when Coach Carter sets Timo Cruz the task of 1000 suicides and 2500 pushups to be done in a week if he wants to be let back on the team, he learns that the team will pull other players through, and stick with them through thick and thin. As Cruz is determined to be let back on the team, he tries to do them, and fails, but comes very close. As the other players offer to do them for him, Coach Carter learns that despite telling Cruz to give up, he is still very determined to play for the team. The team is also willing to let Cruz back onto the team and does the remaining pushups and suicides for him, showing great team work and effort. In Coach Carter, there is not really any theme music, although the music that is played throughout the movie changes, and matches the scenes in which it is played in. For example, in the beginning of the film, some music that has a strong and catchy beat is used to get the viewers attention. As the film draws on, music that is related to the scene starts playing and accompanies the film. For example, when Cruz is dealing with his cousin and all the drugs and bad things, tension-like music is played and creates a mood that is fearful and a tad scary. Near the end of the film, when Coach Carter has his boxes and is walking back to the school, getting ready to leave, the music that is similar to the beginning music is played. It shows that things seem to be getting back to how they used to be before Coach Carter took the job, and creates a mood that is uplifting. Although there are many students in the film who have a strong interaction and relationship to Coach Carter, one by far stands out. Timo Cruz, the player who walked out from the very first training session, or was rather kicked out by Coach Carter. Eventually he comes back and asks to be let back on the team, but as he has missed out on training, Coach Carter wants to teach him a lesson and sets him the task of 1000 suicides and 2500 pushups, all to be done in the one week. As Coach Carter says “all to be done by Friday”, the players all think that he can’t do it and say damn, whereas Cruz just stands there with a blank, but then determined look on his face. He then starts to do the pushups straight away, despite the impossible task given to him. Although Cruz is determined to finish these, other parts of his life are dragging him done. With him doing drugs with his cousin and making silly mistakes, this is reflected afterwards in how he acts and how he acts around the team members. Finally, as Cruz was not able to do the impossible task but came close, the rest of the team help him finish it, showing how willing they are to let their player back on the team. This gives Cruz hope, and then he is let back on the team, showing that his hard work has paid off. This brings new light to Coach Carter and he starts to see a different side to the players. Although later on, Cruz then cannot handle the toughness of no basketball practice, being tutored in the library as well as forfeiting many of the games, he quits for a second time. Later on though, as tragedy struck with his cousin being shot on a sidewalk, Cruz makes up his mind and chooses to go to Coach Carter’s house for comfort, as well as being let back on the team. He goes and states that he wants to be let back on the team, and that he would do whatever it took to be let back, with Coach Carter replying: “what the hell happened'” As Coach Carter sees the truly distressed and crying state that Cruz is in, he comforts him and leads him inside. There wasn’t really one big climax of the film, although there were some leading up to points. For example, there was when Coach Carter did the lockout, and the whole team was forced to get their grades up or give up the whole competition. This was a hard time for everyone, including parents, students and eventually Coach Carter himself. It was important as it showed how badly Coach Carter wanted the students to be a success in the school, rather than being just a success at basketball. As he locks out the gym and forces them to the library to do tutoring, the players love basketball so much that they are willing to keep their end of the contract and to study and maintain a 2.3 grade average. Eventually this pays off, as they gain their grades, and are playing basketball again. Although some dispute was happening, with Coach Carter being asked to end the lockout and having not much support for what he was doing, the students decided to take it into their own hands and choose to learn in the gym, with their teachers giving those help. Throughout the movie, many different shots, techniques and camera angles are used. One of the scenes in which many of these are used is the second game, near the end at the state high-school champion playoffs, between Richmond High School and St. Francis. This was an important game, as last time they faced each other, Richmond High got smashed and also because Coach Carter’s son, Damien Carter, used to go to St. Francis. As it is an important basketball game, lighting is very important, as it shows who is on the court and also draws attention to certain parts of the court. The lighting is bright and just like you’d expect a basketball game to be like, whereas the lighting on the audience is not so focused and is a bit darker. During this scene, the main camera movements that are used are the tracking or dolly shot, the panning shot and the zoom. The tracking/dolly shot is used when the players are running up and down the court with the ball, and gives us an idea of what is really happening and it shows what is going on in the game. The panning shot is used near the beginning, and shows how much support the game and its players have, as it shows the full audience and the widespread of people. The zoom is used whenever the ball had reached one end of the court, and as the person is shooting for goal, a zoom is used to show the players face and their expression. As well as the players, the zoom is sometimes used on Coach Carter to show how much strain it is watching his players play off again St. Francis. It shows the determination in winning, as well as the way he coaches the team by constantly yelling out tips and helping the players out. I think Coach Carter was a good film, as it had a lot of aspects in it which were both good and bad, and as it is based on something that actually happened, and managed to get a good re-playing of it, I would mark it an 8½ out of 10. I liked all the problems that Coach Carter had to face, and how he faced them, as with the problems with the teachers, the parents, even the players in which he had to coach. I also liked how the film explored a range of things, such as drugs, relationships, parent-child relationship, teacher-student relationship, as well as the school, college and it showed how hard life can be in a not-so good area. The plot was good, as it at first had the game between St. Francis and Richmond High School, and ended with a game between St. Francis and Richmond High. It showed how different the players had come in between the time that they had their first game against each other, and the last game they had against each other. It showed how much effort the players had put in, as well as how they were willing to study just for their love of playing basketball, and showed what Coach Carter had to do to get them that far. I also liked the range of characters, with the bad (Timo Cruz), the non-studious (Junior Battle) as well as the hard-given-time Kenyon Stone. It explores a range of characters and personalities that can still be seen in today’s time and it is also, in a way an inspiring film. Although I liked this film very much, there were some sad bits to it, as with Cruz’s cousin being shot, the devastation in the last game and how much the lockout gained unwanted attention to the school and Coach Carter. I guess not all films can end with a happy ending, with Richmond High losing in the last second by two points, but after that it was good because the ending showed them all happy that they had gotten into college, despite what the principal had said to Coach Carter about the statistics. To sum it up, I really liked the movie because of all the modern-day aspects that were in it, the personalities and characters of the players, and how much one coach can change everything. One set that the film had was the gym in which the basketball players trained, as well as the place which was locked up. This set was used quite often, and the scene that it was important in was the very end, where the players show that they want to continue studying, despite the gym being open for training, and they put their tables and chairs in there, showing how much they want Coach Carter to keep coaching them.