Remember+the+Titans+film+breakdown

Opening scene – arriving at Gary’s funeral. The Titans theme music is playing as they walk up the hill to Gary’s grave site. Sheryl: “In Virginia highschool football is a way of life. It’s bigger than Xmas 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. Up until 1971 in Alexandria there was no race mixing. Then the school board forced us to integrate. They combined the black school and the white school into one called TC Williams High School. There are visuals of placards and both blacks and whites protesting. It is July 1971. **Verbal technique of narration by voice-over by Sheryl Yoast continues. “**That summer a black teenager was killed by a white store-owner. And the city was on the verge of exploding. The action changes to coach Yoast coaching the white boys. Gary is worried about the white boys’ starting positions seeing the school is integrating. Yoast stops them from joining in a riot. It shows that they listen to him. “Get in the truck. Gary. Alan. Ray. If you ever want to play for me again then get in the truck, now.” The action shifts back to the highschool gym office. Yoast: “You boys are gonna cool off, come to my office and help me finish packing my things.” Tyrell: “Gary I know your hearts in the right place but you oughta know better’n embarrass the coach like that.” Gary: “Hell why don’t you just kick ‘em all off the team. I don’t wanna play with any of them black animals. I seen ‘em.” Tyrell: “Who are you?” Boone: “I’m Herman Boone. I’m the new assistant coach.” Tyrell: “Well the way I see it we got all the help we need around here. Why aren’t you outside hollerin’ like all your little friends?” Boone: “This was a time that was arranged for me to meet with Coach Yoast. I never miss an appointment.” Tyrell: “Well you just better re-schedule.” Yoast: “Coach Boone the school board made the decision to put you on my staff. I did not hire you.” Boone: “Well I come up here to coach at GW. I didn’t ask to be assigned to your district. I didn’t ask to be assigned to your staff. So I suppose we are both in a situation that we didn’t ask to be in. But I can guarantee this coach. I come to win.” Tyrell: “Win! Coach Yoast here has been nominated to the Virginia High School hall of fame. 15 winning seasons.” Boone: “Well I won a couple of titles down in North Carolina..” Tyrell: “That’s AA ball. This here’s Virginia. We play AAA.” Boone: “Well what an opportunity for me then. To learn from the best.” **Voice 1:** “Are those people the movers?” Voice 2: “No. It looks like they’re movin’ in here.” “Look how many there are there!” Voice 1: “It only takes one and soon we’ll be over run by ‘em.” Voice 3: “Look there. Here comes some more of ‘em.” Voice 2: “That’s doctor Dave. That negro from the school. What’s he doin’ here?” The scene changes to a football official speaking to Yoast at his farm. Football official: “The school board has decided that that negro Herman Boone is going to be the Head Coach at TC.” Sheryl: “That’s not fair. That’s my daddy’s job. …You can’t just walk in here and take my daddy’s job away.” She boots the guy. Football official: “It’s alright. I feel the same way. It’s those agitators and race mixers that I feel like taking a swot at….Every head coach in the system is white. We had to give ‘em something. It’s the world we live in God help us all!” Yoast is devasted. He is too proud to be an assistant. His dialogue tells an opposite story to Yoasts. Boone: “I left North Carolina because I was passed over for a job that I had rightfully earned. They gave it to a white coach down there that couldn’t even tie up his own football cleats. You are asking me to do the same thing to this man. [meaning Yoast] I can’t do that.” Mrs Boone: “Herman!” Other black man on the porch: “Folks in Carolina says you marched with Dr King. Said you stood toe-to-toe with the Klan. Said you were a race man.” Boone: “That’s right and I’m also a family man.” Other black man: “Coach Boone. Black folks have never had anything in this city to call their own. Except humiliation and despair.” Mrs Boone: “Herman. Excuse me. You better take a look outside.” There is a huge crowd of black people waiting outside Herman Boone’s door. They clap and the Titans theme music plays. Dr Dave: ‘So you see we need you Coach Boone.” Julius Campbell is introduced to him. Julius’ father says: “You’re like the answer to our prayers.” Boone: “No wait. I’m not the answer to your prayers. I’m not a saviour or Jesus Christ or Martin Luther King or the Easter Bunny. I’m just a football coach that’s all.” Julius’s father says: “You are coach. You are!” and everyone starts clapping. Scene where Boone goes to visit Yoast at his house. Sheryl is rude to him at the door. Boone: “Well I can’t even spell diplomacy and I’m sorry about how things went down. But make no mistake I am qualified to be the school’s head coach.” Yoast: “I’m sure you’re been in what four or five programmes in the past 10 years.” Boone: “With four or five championships.” Yoast: “This isn’t about me. I’m worried about my boys.” Boone: “Well I aint gonna cook ‘em and eat ‘em. The best player will play. Colour wont matter.” Yoast: “From the looks of our little situation we got us here. Colour is all that does.” Boone: “Yeah you’re right. We’re in a tough spot coach. You, me the whole city. I think it would go a long way to smooth things over if you would stay. Work on the staff. Be a defensive co-ordinator. Assistant Head Coach.” Yoast: “Work under you.” Boone: “If that’s the way you see it.” Yoast: “Goodnight coach.” Next scene is where Yoast is addressing the white football community to say goodbye. They are at Hal’s restaurant. He tells them he’ll be taking the year off. The boys start to protest. Fred: “I say boycott TC Williams. Our boys aren’t playing for some Coach Coon!” Gary: “Coach. He stole your job. I’m not playin’ for him. I’m starting a petition and I’m sittin this season out.” Ray: “Coach. I’m out too. I’m not playing for no thief.” Boone: “Don’t do this. Don’t make this any harder for me than it already is.” The room erupts in protests and they say they wont play if he goes. Short scene where Yoast is sitting with Sheryl in the paddock. “this is a heck of a time to be abandoning ‘em init?” He decides to stay. Gym scene where the blacks are waiting to sign up for football. Pete is introduced as a bragger who loves football. Pete is standing with his hand up to give Boone a high five or “some skin”. Boone tells him to put his hand down and that football is not going to fun this year. “We leave for camp. Gettysburg College. August 15th…” He insists that they dress well in a jacket and tie. He says that the look raggedy. “This is no democracy. This is a dictatorship. I am the law. If you survive camp, you will be on the team. If you survive…” We are introduced to the players. Pete Rev. Louis Lastic white boy runs in. He is new to the area and clearly not aware of any race issues. The blacks are all just looking at him. Then the doors to the gym fly open and there is military drumming [conflict] as the white boys come in behind Coach Yoast. Boone and Yoast are on the stairs. Boone: “ You have just disrupted my first team meeting in an unacceptable fashion. This is my team now. Either your with that or you’re not.” Yoast: “I’m here aint I? Let’s talk football.” Boone: “Let’s talk football.” Yoast: “I run the defence..” Boone: “As a part of my teams strategy.” Yoast: “I want a job for Coach Tyrell. He’s been with me for 10 years. I don’t want to leave him out in the cold. You don’t get me without him.” Boone: “You’re over-cookin’ my grits [porridge] coach. Alright. I will allow Coach Tyrell to coach a special team, but I will have my eye on ‘im. And you.” Next scene the boys are meeting at the bus to head off to the football camp. Gary and Ray walk up to Boone. “I’m Gary Bertier. I’m the only All-America you got on this team. If you want us to play for you, you reserve over half the positions …we don’t need any of your people on defence we’re already set.” Boone: “Ahah. My people.” Boone leans into Gary and reminds him who is in charge of picking the team. “…Take a good look at your momma, Gary. Cos when you get on the bus you aint got no momma no more. You got your brothers on the team and you got your daddy. Now you know who’s your daddy don’t you Gary? Gary if you want to play on this football team you answer me when I ask you who your daddy is.Who’s your daddy, Gary. Who is your daddy?” Gary: “You.” Boone: “And whose team is this. Is this your team or is this your daddy’s team?” Gary: “Yours.” Boone: “Get on the bus.” The theme of racism and the sense that there is a long way to go to overcome the problems for the team that racism causes shows when they go to get on the bus at camp. There are blacks on one bus and whites on the other. Boone gets them to all reload. Defensive team on one bus and offensive on the other. Blacks and whites must sit together. Verbal Technique – team talk by Boone. “listen up. I don’t care if you are black green blue white or orange. …you and you gonna sit together. Get comfortable too. Because the person that I have you sitting next too is the same one that you will be rooming with for the duration of this camp!” Introduction of the sound technique of using Motown music to show that the team is bonding. Blue starts to sing “Aint no mountain high enough.” To Julius. Julius shuts him up. “I don’t want to see your smiling black and white mistel show singing on this bus. Gary: “You got that right” Julius: “You can shut up too.” The Use of the sound technique of playing 60’s music. This time it is ironic because the song is a religious 60’s pop song “Spirit in the Sky”. Basically about going up to heaven. This music should form the backdrop to a scene when young people are getting along together in peace and harmony. Instead it leads into the scene when the boys are settling into their rooms at camp. There is a huge potential for conflict. Gary is lying on his bunk and Julius has put up a poster of the black American competitors making the black power fist at the 1968 Olympic Games as they stand on the podium to receive gold, silver and bronze medals together. Gary: “I aint lookin at that for two weeks so take that down.” Julius: “You can close your eyes for two weeks for all I care. So why don’t you look at your wall and I’ll look at mine.” Gary: “I’ll look wherever I want to and I don’t want to be lookin at that for two weeks.” Julius: “Then you better use your x-ray vision superman and look right through it ‘cos it aint comin down.” They fight – still to the music of “Spirit in the Sky”. Boone lines them all up because they all end up scrapping. Boone: “Bunch of tough guys. You look like a bunch of 5th-grade sissies after a cat fight. You got anger that’s good. You’re gonna need it. You got aggression and you gotta need that too. But any two-year-old child can throw a fit. Football is about controlling that anger. Harnessing that aggression into a team effort to achieve perfection. **The use of the visual technique of high angle shot.** The camera has the perspective of the boys as they face Boone and his assistant couches. They have to respect these men – particularly Boone who is placed at the centre of the shot of the coaches standing there Boone: “When you put that Titan uniform on you better come to work. We will be perfect in every aspect of the game…Perfection! Lets go to work.” **Sound technique of the Titans theme music complete with military** **drums** accompanies the boys as they do their drills to work as a uniform team. Boone: “Everything we gotta do is changing. We gotta change. Change the way we run. We gotta change the way we eat. We gotta change the way we block. We gotta change the way we tackle. We gotta change the way we win.” Lunch room scene. Shows the continued barrier to forming a team caused by racism. Louis Lastic goes to sit down at Julius’ table. Julius: “why don’t you go over there and eat with your own people.” Louis: “I don’t have any people. I’m with everybody Julius.” Blue: “Eh is the a light-skinned brother?” Julius: “And I’m a dark skinny cracker.” Rev: “Come on Julius. He’s just another blessed child of God in God’s loving family.” **The use of the sound technique of gospel music. Blue starts to sing ‘Amazing Grace”** while the Rev speaks to the table as though he is a preacher in a church. Pete joins in the singing. Rev: “Lord we’re coming for you today and asking you to soften big Julius Campbell’s heart.” **The use of the verbal technique of close personal interchange** Ray calls Louis a traitor. The plot advances because we learn that Ray isn’t blocking for the black guys and so leaving the left side of the football team weak. Gary: “Ray if you don’t start blocking you’re not going to start [make the team]” Boone makes Lastic tell the team something about his room mate. He tells everyone that Blue wears leopard style underwears ‘Bikini styles, Sir!” Lastic: “Me and Rev both dig on the Temptations.” He and Rev start to sing. **Boone:** “Each one of you will spend time together with another team mate of a different race. You will learn about him and his family. His likes and dislikes. You’ll report back to me until you meet everyone of your teammates. Until that time we’ll go to three-a-day practises. You continue to ignore each other we’ll go to four-a-day practises.” **The use of a long shot visual technique to show the “face-off” between the black and white players on the team. Alan is on the left and Pete is on the right**. They are sitting down opposite eachother. Between them disappearing into the background, is a long pathway heading towards the very traditional college building of Gettysburg College. It is a visual metaphor for the split between the races over America’s historical past. They are adversaries facing off with a tradition of mistrust behind them. **This is put together with the verbal technique of interviewing. Their questions and responses show mistrust and preconceived ideas about the blacks being** unemployed and not knowing who their fathers were. Alan: “Let’s see. What’s your daddy’s name. You do have a daddy right?” Pete: “Look. I have a father and his name is Eric.” Alan: “What’s he do? Wait. He does have a job, right?’
 * __ Remember the Titans __**
 * Verbal Technique of narration by voice-over **
 * Visual technique – the title of the movie __Remember the Titans__ is splashed across the screen. Just as they are reaching the top of the hill like they are a team walking into battle. **
 * This is combined with a sound technique that is used throughout the movie: the sound of military drums beating whenever there is the potential for conflict. **
 * This leads into scene two which is a scene where there is a lot of conflict over the forced integration of the schools to come. **
 * __ Scene Two __**
 * Sound technique of music “I heard it through the grapevine” begins playing which introduces scene three where the neighbours are all being nosy about watching Herman Boone and his family move into their neighbourhood. **
 * It backs the verbal technique of narration by voice-over. This time from a nosy neighbour who is obviously racist. **
 * Scene Change to Boone talking to another black man, Dr Dave on his back porch. **
 * The use of the verbal technique of the team talk again. **
 * Combines with Verbal technique of Boone giving them a team talk at the same time. **
 * Appearance of the use of the sound technique of using Motown music to develop a bond between the black and white team players. Motown is music that was predominantly sung by black singers in the 60’s and 70’s. It crossed races and became very popular. We notice that whenever the team is enjoying team spirit and bonding, Motown is either playing in the background or they are all singing along to it. Blacks and whites. **
 * We are introduced to the small sub-plot of Lastic not feeling academically confident to pass [year 13] and go to University. He feels as though he is “white trash.” **
 * The use of the verbal technique of the team talk to help bring about team bonding by cutting through racism. **