Billy Beane is the general manager of the Oakland Athletics. Working with a Yale economics graduate, he uses statistical analysis to build a competitive baseball team out of players the market has undervalued. They win 20 consecutive games with a roster that cost a fraction of their opponents'. Bennett Miller's film is about how violently a closed system reacts when a new idea enters it.
Moneyball is a 2011 drama and sport film directed by Bennett Miller. This breakdown covers 4 techniques (3 narrative and 1 editing), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, Before Sunrise uses several of the same techniques.
Building scenes out of questions and answers, where 1 character tests and picks apart what another believes. The argument itself drives the drama.
How this film uses it
Almost all of the film's drama is talk. Beane and Brand argue about statistics, Beane and the scouts argue about how to judge players and Beane and Art Howe argue about who plays where. The dialogue scenes are the film's action sequences. In each conversation, the 2 sides are fighting over whose way of knowing things counts.
Where to see it
Beane and Brand's first long meeting. The 2 men build their approach by arguing and testing each position against the other. The sabermetric revolution, the move to judging baseball by statistics, plays out as a back-and-forth of questions and answers in a budget office.
Revealing character and motive through physical evidence and a detective's step-by-step reasoning, with no confessions or backstory dumps. You piece together the truth alongside the investigator.
How this film uses it
Miller and screenwriters Sorkin and Zaillian set up the statistical case like a detective story. The data reveals what the usual way of judging players misses. You make the leaps of reasoning alongside Beane and Brand as the method proves itself game by game.
Where to see it
The video analysis sequences. Beane and Brand watch footage to confirm what the numbers suggest. They are gathering evidence like detectives for a conclusion that goes against common sense.
Watching events from a measured distance with no swelling music, tear-jerking close-ups or showy camera moves. The film trusts what happens to carry the weight on its own.
How this film uses it
Beane rarely goes to games. He paces, drives and exercises anywhere but the stadium, and Miller films it without explaining the superstition. He trusts the behavior to tell you about the anxiety of a former prospect who knows what it feels like when the game turns against you.
Where to see it
Beane driving around Oakland while his team plays, listening to the game on the radio. What he does tells you everything about his state of mind without a word of explanation.
Cutting real documentary or archive footage into a fictional story, such as authentic records of wartime atrocities. It grounds the fiction in history and blurs the line between cinema and the record.
How this film uses it
Miller mixes real baseball footage, with actual games and actual players, into the scenes the film recreates. Blending documentary and fiction makes the statistical case more convincing because you can check the results. As a matter of fact, the 20-game winning streak is a real historical event.
Where to see it
The winning streak montage. Actual game footage is cut together with the dramatized scenes. The 2 layers back each other up, and the real record makes the fiction feel true.
Questions
Moneyball: quick answers
What filmmaking techniques does Moneyball use?
CineCode breaks down 4 techniques in Moneyball (2011): Socratic Dialogue Structure, Forensic Inference Narration, Observational Restraint and Documentary Footage Integration.
Who directed Moneyball?
Bennett Miller directed Moneyball, released in 2011. CineCode also covers Foxcatcher (2014).
What films are similar to Moneyball?
Films that share techniques with Moneyball include Before Sunrise (1995), Spotlight (2015), Foxcatcher (2014), 12 Angry Men (1957).
