Sports drama opening sequence analysis 5 - INVICTUS

The firth movie opening sequence I will be looking at is the sports drama Invictus.


Sporting drama conventions that can be found in Invictus's opening scene are:

• Before the movie even starts we can hear South African chanting, which would be found in a rugby game in South Africa, where the movie is set.
• We hear the found of a whistle, a common sound heard on the rugby pitch therefor this is a use of iconography
• We put into the middle of a rugby game. were we can see the athletes wearing the approbate sporting wear
• The camera pans showing entire rugby team
• We can hear the scum half saying "holding holding, up up up" which is extremely accurate in a game of rugby
• We get a quick cut showing the players doing a passing drill which is commonly used in rugby
• The use of handheld camera work whilst recording kids across the road playing football
• The camera pans across all the rugby players faces, the distance of shot is a close up which is commonly used in sporting dramas to show emotion. In this case we can see the players distaste towards Nelson Mandela due to the racism at the time in Africa.
• We get a medium close up of a player and the coach. We are able to tell it is the coach due to the iconography being used for example the whistle.