Project Proposal

Being the huge baseball fan that I am, I wanted to find a way to incorporate some aspect of the game into my project. When I close my eyes and picture any baseball moment, quite possibly the most important aspect of every moment I can think of is the environment surrounding the event. One of the most unique aspects about baseball is the fact that there are no rules regarding the specific dimensions of the playing field. Because of this, each and every baseball park is unique in its own way. For example, in Chicago at Wrigley Field you have the ivy covering the brick outfield wall or at Fenway Park you have the 35 foot high Green Monster in left field. Each baseball park has its own aura and feel to it, and what I want to do is try to capture this feel of one particular park.

West End Field in Greenville, SC, home to the Greenville Drive minor league baseball team, is a very young baseball park, just finishing its second season of play. The playing field itself is built to the same dimensions as Fenway Park, since the Greenville Drive are a single A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox who play there. However, the rest of the park has it's own characteristics that make it unique in its own way. What I want to do is try to capture the similarities and differences between the oldest major league baseball park, Fenway Park, and one of the newest professional baseball parks, West End Field.

I think what this project will accomplish is a lot of different things. First, it will show how baseball parks have evolved over time considering West End Field is 94 years younger than Fenway Park. Secondly, it will be a good comparison of a large Major League Baseball park and a much smaller Minor League Baseball park. Also, it will show how each park has its own unique atmosphere to watch a game in even when the game itself does not change.

The way I want to approach this project is through a movie of still pictures. I will try to use as many similar angled pictures and views as possible. Through the video I will try to show as many comparisons as possible of the two ballparks. I will add music to the video as well to create a mood for the video. I would like to get pictures of the ballparks empty when there is no game going on as well as full of fans while there is a game going on. I would like to also try and capture the surrounding area of the ballparks a little as much as possible. Each park has it's own representation to the neighborhood surrounding it and I want to try and capture this as well. I think I can really represent West End Field very well through this process.

The essence of my video is the comparison of how two unique ballparks from different eras, different geographic locations, and different levels of competition are used to facilitate an environment where baseball is played and viewed by fans. Fenway Park in Boston is a hotbed of baseball history and tradition. The stadium has been around since 1912 and has housed some of the most memorable moments in baseball history. West End Field was named the number one new ballpark in America two years ago by multiple publications and has brought new life to the downtown Greenville area. I would like to try and capture the different atmospheres of these two different ballparks and compare how they provide an environment to view first hand professionals competing in America's pastime.