The Magic Behind Sports Movies

You miss 100% of the shots you forget to call action on.

Chapters:
00:00 Sport and Movies are Neighbours
01:14 Chapter One: Crowds
19:45 Chapter Two: Design
24:14 Chapter Three: Practice
27:11 Chapter Four: Shooting
30:43 Chapter Five: Atmosphere

Music List:
Angel by Big John Hamilton
Action Speaks Louder Than Words by Reuben Bell
Shimmer (Instrumental) by Duomo
Non-Fiction by Live Footage
Dreamer (Instrumental) by Penny Lane
Fine Time by Genie Brooks
The Land of In Between by Hannah Parrott
Don’t Go Away (Instrumental) by Jonjo Mayo
Discovery by Why We Wander
Coming Back to You by Mickey Murray
I Finally Caught up With Jody by Big John Hamilton
Journey’s End by Gio Galanti
Purpose by Blake Ewing
Juanita by Genie Brooks
Blues for Dancers by Earl Hooker
Dark Skies by David A. Molina
Feel Like That by Guys Night
Who Wants The Mic? (Instrumental) by Team Scene
Luxury Calling by Hannah Parrott
Huske by Longlake

Footage Credits (in order of appearance):
Films
Moneyball (2010)
Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2018)
Ford v Ferrari (2019)
Coach Carter (2005)
Seabiscuit (2003)
Rocky (1976)
Any Given Sunday (1999)
The Natural (1984)
Fever Pitch (2005)
Ali (2001)
D2: The Mighty Ducks (1994)
Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004)
Wimbeldon (2004)
Million Dollar Baby (2004)
Memoirs of a Geisha (2005)
Cinderella (2005)
Flight Plan (2005)
Step Up (2006)
The Prestige (2006)
Rocky Balboa (2006)
American Gangster (2007)
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
Bronson (2008)
Whip It (2009)
Salt (2010)
Iron Man 2 (2010)
The King’s Speech (2010)
Changeling (2008)
Jerry Maguire (1996)
Days of Thunder (1990)

Supporting Videos
Moneyball - Playing the Game
The Making of Seabiscuit
Fever Pitch - Making a Scene
Ford v Ferrari - Bringing the Rivalry to Life
Coach Carter - Fast Break at Richmond High

Suppporting Stills
The Inflatable Crowd Company

[Salty_Tiger]

I was a crowd extra in moneyball. There were enough people to fill 1 section of the stands and they moved us around for different shots. They encouraged us to get up and go to the bathroom or get a drink or something to be more realistic and then gave us instructions on how to react to different plays like the Hatteburg homerun. It was a cool experience.

[Dudewhoisthere]

During the fever pitch segment I got so sucked in I completely forgot the topic of the video, kudos!

[polakjan]

The upcoming F1 movie did this a lot as well. They had fake F1 cars built, with custom aerodynamics designed by the Mercedes F1 team, on top of the current F2 chassis. They had a fake team follow F1 for a big part of the season with said cars, and at one race had the cars line up on the grid with the real ones. They also had cinema cameras mounted on the actual cars, and are digitally replacing the originals with their team livery for the movie. And they also filmed at the Daytona 24h, with a movie car competiting in the entire race.

[LanceTOsborne]

I was an extra in Seabiscuit, part of the crowd in Lexington at Keeneland. The masked blowup extras were novel at the time, and the crew was very proud of how they were pulling this off. The story you told here about the camera / crowd direction was told to us by the casting staff.
As the day wrapped I ended up with one of the masks, and still have it. It looks just like the ones you showed: ghastly and comical, but the concept totally works on screen.
Great vid, Paul. Thanks for shining some light on all this!

[TheBhavyaShah]

Always the best day of my week/month when Paul uploads! 😍 Gonna watch this with my evening tea!

[OutbackCatgirl]

I'm not even that interested in sports but this was incredible.

[dylanzlyang]

Just like the highest-level athletes, the highest level of filmmaking requires incredible planning, practice, and preparation yet the final product makes it look effortless. Great video as always!

[_modnar_]

Giving people credit with such an amazing video essay, that normally are more in the background (pun intended), always makes me smile.
They work so hard just so no one recognizes it.


Thank you Paul for this and everything else!

[Dysiode]

I don't even like sports movies, but your videos are just so... respectful of the industry. There's so much heart and soul and story in the production of the movies themselves that comes out here and there but it's so unusual for it to be highlighted and celebrated and revered the way you do. This brought me to tears more than I think any sports movie has

[Tomhyde]

This is one of the best film essays I’ve seen on YouTube. You accomplished two very important things. 1. The video was entertaining and informative. 2. You made me want to watch movies that you went over in your essay. In this case Seabiscuit

[nenabydarkmist]

I would not have even clicked on this because of the Sport, but because its Paul E.T. I had no hesitation and he never disappoints, great stuff as always! Thanks Paul

[ayushsharma]

Sports movies have always had a love from my heart. Although most of them follow a basic structure, the sheer feeling of doubt in yourself and then winning over it at the time of climax is really motivating to me. Great video essay Paul

[pwhitewick]

My dude. You are one of my favorite creators. The views here do not reflect the work you put in! Tis youtube being youtube. Carry on.

[Keenangraz]

I love your videos where you cover a more niche aspect of filmmaking

[amazanta]

He has returned again came straight away brudda

[ProductofNZ]

I painted backgrounds on an Anime that was set in a stadium. Lots of crowd shots. I painted about 100 detailed background characters and duplicated them randomly to fill the stadium. Another artist worked on a different scene and used a different technique. I felt like mine was more convincing lol

[dylanosborne]

This is one of the best produced videos I’ve ever watched on YouTube, I don’t hope you get recognition for this, I know you will. Good shit dude you are amazing

[nickhemphill]

I'm always sad when a Paul E.T. video ends. Another amazing video, sir.

[ericathefae]

I'm always so damn impressed with how much effort that goes into this - it's like a proper documentary, not "just" another youtube video.

[jippehiemstra]

the amount of animation that goes into making these videos is incredible, keep up the good work!!