As Gerry continues to experience a mix of emotions, tension begins to build between him, Coach Boone, and the new black members of the football team. One scene that specifically demonstrates this tension is the boarding scene when the players are about to board the bus to depart on their training trip. Gerry confronts Coach Boone and states, "we don't need any of your people on defense." His choice of utilizing the words "we" and "your" to differentiate between the two races illustrates his existing prejudice, as well as his own sense of superiority in the way that he easily asserts his blunt opinions against a higher authority. In this manner, Gerry's ego inflates. I chose this soundtrack because I believe it does a good job representing this tension. The track starts quiet, which at first represents the confusion Gerry feels in the beginning and his uncertainty with the new integration. At this moment he does not speak up, but then around 16 seconds of the track, the beat starts to build and increase in volume. At this point, I picture Gerry marching up to Coach Boone, with adrenaline and anger rushing through his veins. The tension begins to build even more at around 2:14, as more instruments, such as the electric guitar, are added. Then, at around 3:12, the sound of the piano is added, which alternatively calms the piece down slightly, which in my mind, the piano represents Coach Boone and his attempt to calm him down. The piano could also foreshadow Gerry's change of attitude later on in the next segment, where he starts to gain a new perspective on the situation and his ego starts to deflate.

At the training camp, one of the most classic scenes in the film is the inspirational speech Coach Boone gives to the team at the site of the Battle of Gettysburg. They arrive at the site after a very long run through woodland and trails. The birds chirping and the sounds of spring not only explicitly represent the nature surrounding Gerry during the run, but it also represents a foreshadowing of a fresh new perspective that Gerry gains for the rest of the film. From Coach Boone’s speech and the historical context surrounding him, Gerry begins to think about the bigger picture, involving the true meaning of teamwork to accomplish a goal, and as captain of the team, the responsibility he has to ensure that all his fellow teammates are respecting one another even if they don’t like each other. He begins to understand that just like the soldiers who fought in the Battle of Gettysburg, if the team continues to dispute, they too “will be destroyed.”



After the Battle of Gettysberg site where Gerry starts to realize his responsibility as team captain, this next clip demonstrates his growth as a leader. He learns that as captain, the other men on the team look up to him as a role model. Thus, if he wants the team to work and cooperate together, he has to change his own attitude first. He befriends a black team member, Julius, who becomes the co-captain of the team and their close friendship ultimately demonstrates that solidarity is possible between two beings of different skin color and moreover, the potential for greatness has no relation to race. The step team in this video clip demonstrates the end product Gerry achieves among the boys: true teamwork and discipline. In this step routine, visually each member of the team is synchronized and every now and then, there is a leader who essentially starts the routine. If you close your eyes, and play this clip, each step and clap sounds like one, which further shows this unity that Gerry has significantly built for his team. 




This next clip is an instrumental song that I believe best reflects the coming events and changes in Gerry’s life. The beginning of the piece starts with the sound of a piano and the notes are being played at a slow to medium pace connoting a calmer tone. Yet, the notes are also being played at a lower key, which also connotes a bit of suspense and seriousness. Soon, the sound of other instruments, like the electric guitar, bass, and drums enter in and the sound no longer connote tranquility but more so intensity and stress. In the film, while celebrating one of the team’s wins, Gerry decides to leisurely drive around the town and take in all the excitement when suddenly, a truck crashes into his car. Gerry later learns that both of his legs had become paralyzed as result of the accident. This sudden turn of events are reflective of this song in the way in which the notes go from calm with the piano to suddenly very loud and intense with the guitars and drums. What’s important to note, however, is after the loud entrance of the guitars and drums, there are snippets of the piece where it is just the piano playing alone again, which I believe illustrate finding peace or hope among all the chaos. Gerry Bertier is able to do just that by still demonstrating his great leadership through cheering on the team and maintaining high hopes and spirits, despite not being able to play in the championship game. Furthermore, based off the true story of Gerry Bertier, he later participates in special Olympic games, which shows his perseverance and ability to accept his physical state and not let it prevent him from achieving success.



This last song illustrates the final victory that Gerry Bertier felt and achieved. The football team won the State Title and as he pleasantly watched the end results of the game on television from his hospital bed, he proudly raised both his arms in the air feeling nothing short of victorious and ecstatic. This song not only represents the victory of the game, but it also demonstrates the victory of racial equality and the eternal friendship formed by all members of the team. The lyric in the beginning, “you got a whole world to change/but understand who you got to change first” reflects how Gerry learned that in order for him to enforce discipline and change within his team, he had to change his own attitude first. Also, the lyrics, “I know no limits, life can change in an instant” reflects how his own life changed in an instant after the car accident, yet he maintains a positive attitude towards life and still strives for success no matter what.

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I really enjoyed this Soundlist assignment because I got to share my thoughts on one of my all time favorite movies. When revising this assignment, I changed up a few of the audio and sounds used to express Gerry's character and personality throughout the movie. In fact, figuring out the right sound to accurately portray Gerry and not the plot of the movie itself was probably one of the most challenging parts of this project. Previously, on my first draft of this assignment, I think I might have even focused a little too much on trying to portray just Gerry himself, that I got distracted from using sounds that would actually portray his character's development. For example, for the second audio piece, I previously used the sound of a balloon inflating as a metaphor for Gerry's ego inflating in the beginning of the movie. However, I decided that this tension could be portrayed more strongly through another piece. Thus, I replaced the balloon sound with an instrumental soundtrack piece from another film that I thought more readily reflected Gerry's emotions with his surrounding context. I also got rid of the whistle sound because I didn't think it truly represented Gerry's transformation. The idea I originally had was that the whistle reflected discipline that was newly instilled into Gerry's mind, because I imagined the sound of the whistle being blown at constant intervals as someone always being on top of things and getting work done. However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that this interpretation was not as clear in my mind, and thus, would most likely not be as clear in the audience's mind. So, I decided to change this audio to a step routine performed by a professional step team. I thought that this video, although visually, shows teamwork and hard work (the product of Gerry's leadership and discipline), sound-wise, if you close your eyes, the clapping and stomping are so unified, it sounds just like one person. Overall, this project taught me how to incorporate both visuals and audio together to symbolize a person's character and growth. It makes me wonder, though, what sounds other people would have used for Gerry. It's amazing to think that everyone probably interprets sounds differently - why could that be? Maybe it has to do with how we automatically tie memory to sounds, so when we hear something, we think back to the time when we last heard the sound or we may be reminded of a particular person. This theme of memory and sound fascinates me and you will definitely see more of this idea in the rest of my portfolio. 

THEME ALERT 

"Change": Change is most notable in this project as I learned about how to find the most appropriate sound clips to represent Gerry Bertiers' development throughout the film. The concept of change constantly revolves around the idea that something can always be improved or learned and that new change can always be made in action.