Script for “The most underrated form of photography: sports”
(First shot is a handheld shot set in a field on a sunny day where
it shows a path and the trees behind it. Enter Harvey, who is
presenting the documentary, holding a 2016 Premier League football
with a film camera around his neck. He has a LAV microphone clipped
to his shirt for audio).
Harvey: What is the most underrated form of photography? If
you couldn’t tell based on this, it’s sport photography, more
specifically football photography. Don’t believe me? Watch this
(Harvey volleys the football whilst the camera tracks the ball going
into the air. This will transition into a shot of Harvey catching
the ball in the next shot.)
Harvey: But firstly, what is sports photography?
(Harvey gets distracted by a bicycle off shot about to cycle in)
Harvey: Oh, one second.
(The bicycle rides past and Harvey takes a photo of the bicycle as
it rides out of shot.)
Harvey: Well… That’s sport photography. Now I’m sure that
looked easy but let’s say I messed up that shot or didn’t anticipate
him coming, I wouldn’t be able to retake it would I? That’s why
sports photography takes such skill.
(Harvey takes a folder a4 piece of paper out of his pocket whilst
finishing off that previous sentence and holds it up to the camera,
it is a photo of Henri Cartier-Bresson.)
Harvey: This man, Henri Cartier-Bresson was a photographer in
the 20th century who believed in something called “the decisive
moment”.
(Harvey raises his hand above his head. The previous quotation is
edited above him as the camera pans up.)
Harvey: This is the idea that the moment that a photographer
decides to take photo is this “decisive moment” and he believed that
if you could see the action with your own eyes, you could not
capture it. This ties heavily into sports photography since once a
moment of action is done, it’s gone forever. An example of this is
during the 2021 Champions League final where Kai Havertz scored the
only goal in the 42nd minute to win the game for Chelsea-
(A video of the champions league final fades into the screen showing
Kai Havertz’s goal against Manchester City when I start speaking
about it. The camera then fades out and back to me speaking.)
Harvey: -and from this game, an iconic photograph was taken.
(The camera pans down to the ground where another printed image is
placed. This is of Kai Havertz dinking it past Ederson in the
Champions League Final. Harvey picks it up and continues to speak
about it whilst showing it to the camera)
Harvey: This photo was taken just before the goal went in, yet
it has a greater impact than other photos taken after the goal. This
is because it provokes you as the viewer to feel the anticipation
and tension from the crowd even though you’re not there as you know
due to context what is about to happen in the game. This of course
isn’t just true for photos before the action, it can be for after
too. And an example of this is during the year of 1986 and it’s
Argentina vs West Germany in the world cup final.
(World cup final footage from 1986 is overlaid whilst speaking
below. More of a voiceover part here)
Harvey: Argentina are 2-1 up in the 82nd minute and then Rudi
Voller scored from a corner to make it level. Now, lets rewind it
just as Rudi Voller scored. Take notice to this defender here and
you can see as it goes in, he smashes it into the goal in
frustration. Pretty insignificant right? No. From this goal a photo
was taken from one of the photographers behind the goal showing this
contrast between the defender’s anger as they conceded and the
jubilation from the German squad who just scored.
(Show this image on the screen)
Harvey: The photographer for this photo was David Cannon and
you would think that he’d have been focusing on Rudi Voller as he
celebrated the goal but no, he had the intuition and skill to take
that photo instead.
(Overlaid footage is now faded back to me in the field)
Harvey: Argentina went on to win that game 3-2 but nonetheless
I consider that photograph to be one of the most difficult sports
photos ever taken. But nowadays, sports photography is accessible to
almost anyone with a phone. You don’t need fancy equipment to take
these photos and-
(Harvey walks up to the screen whilst saying this whilst looking at
his phone. He’s getting up this, this and this).
Harvey: -all these photos were taken on an Iphone X. Not by me
but it just proves you don’t need fancy equipment. However, unlike
now, not everyone had a camera in their pockets all the time 50
years ago you’d have something more like this.
(Harvey holds up his film camera that’s been around his neck this
entire time to the camera as they’ve walked away a bit)
Harvey: This is a Pentax ME Super SLR camera with a 49mm prime
lens which was released in 1979 but football photography goes even
further back than that, to around 100 years prior, all the way to
the 19th century. It simply wasn’t possible to get sports photography
before this since cameras needed multiple minutes to take a photo
where everyone was dead still and since football is a fast-moving
sport, it simply couldn’t happen without staging a photo. But as
soon as this hurdle was conquered, they were more able to get
actions shots like the one you can see on this tree here.
(Camera pans over to this tree where this photo is pinned to it.
Harvey then grabs it off the tree to continue speaking about it.)
Harvey: This photo is from the early 1900’s but there isn’t
that much of a difference between this and photos that are taken
now. Other than making it for accessible for people, technology
hasn’t really improved sports photography in many ways at all. The
only possible difference is the ability to now use longer lenses to
get closeups of footballers on the other side of the pitch-
(The cameraman has put me into a rule of thirds on the left-hand
side in order for me to edit in this photo in post-production. This
will be maintained for this next part)
Harvey: -and Tom Jenkins, who I’ll go into more detail about
later, called auto-focus “the biggest game changer and development
in technology over the last 30 years”. This allows sports
photographers to not have to worry about focusing on their subject
too much since there’s so much movement and they’ll still get the
perfect shot with the subject sharp due to the modern autofocus. -
(Harvey pulls out a photo of Tom Jenkins from the other pocket, much
like he did with Henri Cartier-Bresson)
Harvey: This man, Tom Jenkins, is one of the most famous
sports photographers of this generation and he’s worked for The
Guardian and The Observer for over 30 years covering 7 world cups
with 21 awards in his name. His most iconic photograph is an image
which I’m sure you’ve seen at least once. (Off camera) Can you just
pass me the newspaper please?
(Cameraman hands Harvey this newspaper)
Harvey: When England lost the Euro 2020 final, this image of
Gareth Southgate consoling Saka after he missed the final penalty
was plastered everywhere-
(On screen, images of newspapers and headlines flash on screen
showing how far this image went)
Harvey: -on every newspaper’s front page across the entire
country. This is the impact that one photographer can have on the
news. It shows that Tom Jenkins is so skilled and iconic as you can
feel the emotion that’s involved. You have anguish from everyone in
the stadium and particularly Saka, but you also have Southgate’s
attempt to console him even though he himself, is probably feeling
that anguish. It’s a powerful image. Tom Jenkins isn’t the only
famous sports photographer, Richard Heathcote is another who
similarly to Jenkins, has worked on many FIFA tournaments and other
sporting events alike. I am a personal admirer of Richard
Heathcote’s photography as his work appears much more creative and
innovative than Jenkins in my opinion. This is evident in his use of
beautiful camera angles and harsh shadows to create images that
impress and create awe from those who view them.
(On screen go through a slideshow of this image, this image, this
image)
Harvey: I think this shows why sports photography is so
underrated. The fact that I had never seen any of these images
previously shows that people don’t care for them when in my opinion,
it takes extreme skill and experience to create them which just
isn’t recognised by people, so I’ve decided to change that. If you
didn’t know, the best way to master a skill is by learning about it
and then doing it yourself, so I’m going to be attempting to take
photos of my friend Brian-
(Camera cuts to a shot of Brian waving)
Harvey: -playing football to see how difficult football
photography really is. But first, let’s go home to do some research.
(The shot cuts to me sat at my PC looking at this website)
Harvey: I’m home now and if you look here you can see that I
have “12 tips for awesome sports photography” by MUO so let’s have a
look at them.
(When I refer to something in the source, the camera will zoom into
it on the screen. I will then edit a highlight over it for the
viewer to read).
Harvey: So, it says here that I preferably need a long lens
which thankfully I have this-
(Holds up the Lens which is placed on the table currently)
Harvey: -200mm lens for the camera which is currently filming
me. It recommends that I use anywhere between 200mm and 400mm which
should be perfect. It also says that I should be using a high
shutter speed with burst mode on my camera which makes sense since
you need the subject to be sharp and since they’ll be moving
rapidly, a high shutter speed will help me achieve this; the burst
mode will mean I can select the best from the bunch I am also going
to be experimenting with different angles and composition like it
recommends here since it’ll make my images more interesting.
Anyways, before I start taking any photos I’ve got an interview to
attend with my photography lecturer at college to see what he thinks
about sports photography, as he will have some experience with it
and can help me further.
[This may have to be shot multiple times in order to get the different shots and
closeups]
[This is the interview section where I don’t currently know what his responses will
be, I can write the questions however the responses will be edited in. I will
voiceover my questions as I’m not actually present]
(Filmed in my own bedroom with a blank black cloth behind me
to mimic the darkness in the studio recording for the interview. I
can cut between the shots so it has the illusion of us being in the
same room)
Harvey: So Steve, I know you yourself have done sports
photography previously so how difficult do you think Sports
photography is and would you consider it possibly “underrated?”
Steve: [RESPONSE]
Harvey: Since you’ve done it before, what do you think the key
skills are for sports photography and how can you achieve the best
photos possible?
Steve: [RESPONSE]
Harvey: Did you ever feel an emotional connection to any of
the photos you took or were they just photos for you?
Steve: [RESPONSE]
Harvey: Did you ever consider specialising in sports
photography?
Steve: [RESPONSE]
Harvey: That’s all, thank you Steve.
(Voiceover)
Harvey: That’s it! I had done it, I had collected
everything I needed in order to try it myself so it was time to take
some photos.
(Voiceover with background footage)
Harvey: The idea was to take the best sports photography
photos I can of my friend Brian kicking a ball around in Poole Park.
I originally wanted to go take photos of professionals playing
football, but since there’s no games on today, Whitecliff FC’s
finest will have to do.
(Cuts to an interview type situation with Brian)
Harvey: How do you think this is going to go?
Brian: [improvised answer]
(Voiceover with background footage of me taking photos of him
in the background)
Harvey: Having my camera equipped with a 200mm lens, a
high shutter speed setting, burst mode and my own creative ability,
I got underway with taking photos of Brian playing football. Doing
this allowed me to gain even more respect for sports photographers
since I can tell you first hand, it’s difficult – and that’s with
the ability to tell Brian to do something again. Nonetheless, I kept
going and after around 25 minutes, I had something to work with and
ended up with photos I was for sure proud of.
(Camera shot shows my photos printed off and I place them down on my
desk either in frames or as they are).
Harvey: These are the photos I ended up getting earlier this
week. From this I have learnt a lot about sports photography which
has made me gain an even higher respect for those who specialise in
it. I hope that you too have been convinced that it is an underrated
form of photography which is underappreciated by many and that next
time you see a newspaper-
(Holds up newspaper)
Harvey: -or see any sports photography, you appreciate it a
little bit more.
The End.
