Response to an Example of Communication Essay

Based on the true story of Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy who take in a homeless teenage African-American boy named Michael. Michael has no idea who his father is and his mother is a drug addict. Michael hasn’t had a proper education and few skills to help him learn. Leigh Anne takes charge however, ensuring that the Michael has every opportunity to succeed. When he expresses an interest in football, she goes out of her way to help him, including giving the coach a few ideas on how best to use Michael’s skills. They not only provide him with a loving home, but hire a tutor to help him improve his grades to the point where he would qualify for an NCAA Division I athletic scholarship. Michael Oher is just 17 years old an extremely large physically growing up in in Memphis. He no longer lives with his drug addicted mother, but is in foster care, when he isn’t running away to sleep wherever else he can find. Out of circumstances including Coach Cotton’s belief that he would be an asset to the school’s football program based solely on his size and seeing him move, Michael is accepted into Wingate Christian School which is an exclusive private school, despite his disappointing 0. 6 GPA. After Michael starts attending classes at Wingate, most of his teachers believe he is unteachable, except his science teacher, Mrs Boswell, who begins to understand that he learns in a different way. Believing he is indeed homeless, rich white woman Leigh Anne Tuohy the mother of Wingate students, Collins Tuohy and S. J. Tuohy, and wife to Sean Tuohy, who is a franchise owner of several Taco Bells, she invites Michael to stay in the Tuohy’s home for the night. But that one night slowly extends itself as the Tuohy family grow to care for Michael as he does for them. Part of that emotional investment for Leigh Anne is fully understanding Michael as a person so that he can fulfil his potential as a human being, which includes giving him opportunities such as what Coach Cotton initially saw in Michael as a potential left tackle in football. Some problems include Michael’s poor academic standing which may stop him from participating in extracurricular activities at the school, his learning disability which may extend to other aspects of his life beyond his schooling, whether he actually can play football, and authorities questioning Leigh Anne and all the Tuohy’s motivations in inviting Michael into their home and family. Michael eventually gets his grades, with help from the tutor and is allowed to participate in training for the football team. As Michael starts to train with the football team he starts to learn the game of football, he first training session doesn’t go as planned. As Leigh Anne is watching Michael she sees him struggling to pick up the game, so she decides to go over and have a talk to him. She explains to Michael that the football team is like the Tuohy family and that you would do anything to protect them, the whole team is stunned watching Leigh Anne give this talk. Michael then starts to show signs of his potential as to the coach’s delight. This scene in the movie shows how much Michael has grown to love the Tuohy and that he would do anything to protect them, Leigh Anne plays a big part in Michaels life and this is just another thing she has done to help him succeed. The In the film there are many different techniques in terms of camera angles and camera shots. Camera shots are used to demonstrate different aspects of settings and themes. Camera angles are used to position the viewer so they can understand the relationship between characters. The mid shot is used at the start of the film as they show Michael walking down a path in his neighbourhood. There are children among him having fun playing, whilst Michael is walking with a sad facial expression. This sets the mood for the viewer getting them emotionally attached straight away. There is a close up shot of Michael when he is informed of his father’s death, the mood is very sad and so is the expression on Michaels face, but throughout the whole movie Michael doesn’t show much emotion besides having a sad facial expression. You can tell the mood has changed because of the music as well, the camera slowly moves towards Michael’s face giving the audience sense of sadness making them emotional as well.