Fifth Quarter Lighting

Loss, desperation and hope – this is the heart-warming story of the football champion playing with his brother’s number 5 jersey – Jon Abbate. The Fifth Quarter follows the story of the Abbate family losing their son and brother, Luke, to a car accident. It also uncovers the story of how Jon Abbate conquered his loss and became a football champion to play for his brother and himself. In this movie, young people have been portrayed as emotional and desperate but also able to find hope and direction with the guidance of a senior. Robert Koehler (2011) from Variety states, “The softness that plagues so many sports movies is in evidence yet again in the soporific The Fifth Quarter.” Although In The Fifth Quarter (2010), Rick Bieber has taken the

Therefore, he has used a significant amount of change in lighting. One scene in which this can be seen is a shot of Jon and his girlfriend Haley at the bar. Bieber uses dark lighting, plus a few dim lights in the background so Jon and Haley’s faces can be seen. The darkness is employed to create a romantic feeling before the phone call and a feeling of suspense and dark times ahead during the phone call. The lighting plays an important part in this scene, because it governs what the audience sees. Yet another scene is of Jon talking to Coach Grobe. There is a window to the left and a dark atmosphere to the right, making Jon’s face split in half, with one bright side and one dark side. The bright side is the side where Coach Grobe is sitting, and it displays that Coach Grobe is encouraging Jon and being a symbol of light to him. The director uses this lighting to convey important points. The last example is a scene of Jon, Haley and Justice at the bar when Jon suddenly expresses his emotions. There are dim lights on the top and darkness all around. This probably is a symbol of the weight of emotions that Jon was carrying. The lighting plays an important part in this scene as well. So Bieber uses lighting, too, as a very important part of telling the story to the audience. But there is another last tool that he uses to reveal the

Music is referred to as non-diegetic sound while dialogue is diegetic sound. In movies, music is used to determine the feelings of the audience. The viewers can normally tell what is about to happen by the type of music that is played. Dialogue, on the other hand, is used by the characters to communicate with each other. It is a very important part of a movie. The first instance is when Luke is dying and Jon and his family stand around his bed. Diegetic and non-diegetic sound are both employed. While Jon tells his brother that they can’t live without him, soft, gentle music is playing in the background. This arouses sympathy for the Abbate family, and this feeling is important because this helps the viewers feel that they are in the story. There is another instance that uses sound significantly, and it is when Jon has just started practicing football with his team again. The team is divided into two parts and they are playing against each other. There is some diegetic sound: the shrill whistle that the coach sounds and there is also the shouts of the players as they pass each other the ball. The quick, fast-paced music playing in the background enhances the adrenaline of the moment. This plays an important part, as though the music gives the motivation needed to play the game. Another instance of sound being used