An Analysis of the Cinematography in Seabiscuit, a Film about Horse Racing

Seabiscuit was a stellar racehorse with potential that just needed the right people to bring out his talent. A crew of Charles Howard, Tom Smith, and Red Pollard come together to whip this horse into the best racer he could possibly be. During this heart pounding film, their voyage is explained in the most descriptive manner, using state of the art cinematography, fine acting, and unbelievable authenticity. A film like this that can make the audience feel the butterflies in their stomachs during a big race deserves a very strong four out of five stars.

To begin, the cinematography throughout the movie easily caught my eye as an asset to the film. Within many points of the movie, the scene would start in a color and in a flash, transform to a whole new black and white scene as in an old news article. One example was presented after Red and Seabiscuit won a huge race and there were yellow flowers draped over the neck of the horse.

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Red, in excitement, picked a handful of flowers and tossed them into the crowd, which then in a flash turned to black and white in a whole new scene. This is an important strategy used that helps keep the audience's attention, if it were to slip.

Next was the authenticity with the region and time. The film took place during the time of the Great Depression in the 30's. What was done well throughout the scenes was the old fashion look that all the props had.

All the cars, fashion, cameras, and anything else was converted to this correct time period which made the movie that much more authentic.

Lastly, was the acting involved in the making of the film. With actors like Toby Maguire and Jeff Bridges, how can anybody not expect a great movie? The reporters and press do a great job in their scene with the harassment and questions for the race horse owners. What was not done well was the final scene of George and Red talking on the horses next to each other. It was a great scene that added a lot to the movie but it does not seem possible to have a calm conversation on race horses going speeds as fast as a car.  With minor improvements, this film could go from great to phenomenal. For the most part, the filming and realization of the time and period were striking. However, with the actors chosen, there is no reason why this movie should not be five out of five stars instead of four.