The opening 10 minutes to Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story. Note that this video is mirrored, so text appears to be backwards.

The film opening I have chosen is Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, starring Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn and Justin Long. It is about a gym who must win a dodgeball tournament in order to stop the demolition of their gym by a rival company.


In this opening section (the 10 minute clip), we are introduced to all of the Average Joe's team, as well as the leader of Globogym White Goodman. Although he is the first person we see/hear, we can tell he is the antagonist by the language used by White, he is cocky( "it's your fault if you don't hate yourself to do something about it"), arrogant and also a little stupid ("we understand ugliness and fatness are genetic disorders, much like baldness"). However, the way the advert plays may be trying to trick the audience by making us start at the end, with White actually being the protagonist, and that this is the end result. we can get this from the story of him being a customer. The camera then reverse zooms onto Peter LaFleur's living room, where we see a contrast. He is the average Joe, but is down on his luck (water going off, late video's). We then see him at work, in average Joe's, where we meet the rest of the group, a group of slackers and losers in a variety of ways. We see Peter as a philosophical person, while a flashback tells us why one member of the group ends up at Average Joe's. The fact Peter allows Steve (the pirate) to skip on fees shows why he is in debt and this allows the audience to see why a banker is needed.


We see the characteristics in the characters and because of their troubles it makes us feel for them, rather than Ben Stillers corporation. It also introduces some enigma codes, such as how  are Globogym and Average Joe's related, how did the group join the gym and how are they going to get out of debt. 


The music and edits in this film show that this will be light hearted and fun. All the conventions (180 degree rule, match on action etc) are filmed so that there are little to no continuity errors. The opening music is contrast to the rest of the scene, which shows Peter is more relaxed than White is.


The film almost all based on the relationship of characters and this is what advances the plot, and this is what the section does, sets up the relationships between the Average Joe's characters.


We also see that there is humour in this section, from the cheer-leading section to Peter getting towed by locals and Steve. Most of the characters are comic figures but they are so different that none of them clash.


This is why I like the film, the story is good, the characters are relatable and although it's a comedy film, this can have serious moments, such as the Lance Armstrong conversation