Film Making Tips – Non-Physical Activity and Mind Sports
A sports drama is a fictional film genre which makes use of sports as the main theme of the film. It’s often a fictional production where a sports event, sporting competition, player, or fan of sports are heavily involved, and that rely on sports to an extent for their plot significance or resolution. This kind of film generally falls under the category of entertainment, also known as film comedy. As such, it’s light-hearted, sometimes irreverent, with witty characters. However, not all sports dramas are made equally, and there are several genres under this heading.
The first is the fair competition type of sports drama. In this type, the film merely portrays a rivalry or contest between sports teams or competitors. It’s typically set against the backdrop of professional or semi-professional sports leagues such as the NFL, NBA, MLB, or the World Series of Baseball. In this kind of film, the players are given more body than they normally receive on the field, so that they appear more athletic and powerful, as well as possessing the ability to overcome past injuries that might have kept them from competing.
The second type of film that falls under the non-physical genre is the mind sports film. In this type, the fictitious conflict is based upon some kind of mental challenge, whereby two or more competitors in international sports contests will use their unique mental strengths and skills to win the game for themselves. To achieve success, both competitors are brainwashed, so that they have no other choice but to go along with the plan. This type of film generally deals with matters of manipulation of some sort. For example, in the Olympics, several competitors can be controlled by one competitor to perform electrically on the track to win the gold, whereas in some non-Olympic mind sports stories, the plot relies more on the rivalrous strengths and skills of competitors to emerge victorious.
Another type of film dealing with non-physical and mind sports involves the physical fitness section. In this section, the director will attempt to show the importance of proper and adequate sports training, including resistance training, muscle building and cardiovascular exercises. The importance of this section is shown in professional sports competitions when elite athletes compete against each other. At most competitive sporting events, the sports officials will also conduct a brief strength test prior to the competition to determine the proper muscle and body conditioning of each competitor. The physical fitness section needs to include information about such exercises such as swimming, jogging, stretching and so forth.
Finally, sports that incorporate both skill and physical dexterity are the section that includes the topics of sports medicine. This is where the topics of prevention and treatment of injury are discussed. Prevention is always better than cure, so maintaining good sports medicine practices is the first step to preventing injury. Treatment includes rest and rehabilitation after an injury, before the athlete can resume normal physical activity. Sports that may fall under the area of sports medicine include boxing, tennis, softball, golf, soccer, hockey, football, basketball, track and field and more.
There are many topics in sports that fall under non-physical activities and mind sports. While there is often a tendency for these topics to be lumped together as sports, it is important to realize that each sport has its own unique identity. For example, soccer is different from basketball, baseball is different from softball and football is different from track and field. Therefore, it is important for the filmmaker to recognize which sport the subject matter pertains to, and then choose the appropriate film type accordingly.