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Introduction to Film Studies
FLM 278 NBB-Assignment 1
Mise-en-Scene Analysis
By George Oommen
For this assignment, I have chosen to watch and write about the film Pursuit of Happyness. I
have chosen this film for two main reasons. First of all, it’s a movie I have been wanting
to cross off from my bucket list of movies, and secondly, because it's actually based on a reallife story and I love watching Rags to Riches films.
Section 1
The film starts with a shot of the protagonist waking up his son early in the movie to get
ready for the day. The protagonist Chris Gardner, played by Will Smith, is a salesman who
tries to make a living and provide for his family by selling medical equipment to doctors. The
film is centered around him. His goal is to earn money be successful and provide a
comfortable life for his wife and son. Moreover, he wants to do something worthwhile that
gives him purpose, he wants this because he feels like a failure for most of his life. Even
though he is determined, he cannot sell his medical scanners to doctors and hence struggles to
pay the bills by himself and his wife has to work twice as hard to pay for the family which
causes conflict with his wife since she can’t handle the mental stress and exhaustion.
Eventually, his wife leaves him and he gets full custody of their child, this event marks a
pivotal moment for the father-son characters. The story has a linear narrative with occasional
first-person narration from the protagonist showcasing how he can't earn a living, can't pay
the bills or taxes, his wife leaves him, gets evicted from his rental home, doesn’t even have a
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bed to sleep in and then even after that he does not give up and works towards his
dreams. The protagonist's goals are simple, there are no villains or any physical adversity to
overcome but to achieve them he needs to go on a journey through an intense physical,
mental, and financial struggle, through literal rock bottom to reach his goals.
The movie starts with a moment of equilibrium with getting ready for the day and before it's
even morning, the moment is disrupted by the protagonist's struggle in selling the medical
equipment which is a portable bone density scanner. The filmmaker uses a lot of practical
elements in the film to show realism like shooting in the streets of San Francisco to show, the
people, the cars the buses, the subway, how life is for the public, and how Chris the
protagonist travels around the city. The filmmaker also uses a lot of emotional elements to
show the deep emotional connection Chris has with his son.
Section 2
The filmmaker uses a mixture of high-angle, face-angle, and wide-angle shots to show
various aspects of the story. High-angle shots faced towards the people showing their faces
and how Chris is showing emotions as compared to other people, these high-angle shots
convey how Chris is different than others and give the viewers a different perspective, we can
see this towards the end when he gets the job at Dean Witter and walks in public. The
filmmaker uses wide-angle shots to show the beauty of San Francisco, how the city is
structured, and where Chris goes. The filmmaker mainly uses a lot of medium closeup eyelevel shots of Chris to show his raw emotions when dealing with his problems, we can see his
misery being homeless, when he has no money to pay for the taxi, how much burden he is
carrying, and how disappointed he is with his life. The closeup shots also show his resilience,
and happiness in caring for his son while studying and trying to get a job at Dean-Witter, a
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stockbroking company. The filmmaker uses the face shots to convey a close third-person
understanding of Chris’s life. The director also uses wide-angle shots to show the interaction
between Chris and his son. The filmmaker uses realistic, and natural lighting to convey reallife situations, filters are used to show the bleak life of Chris. The sounds used in the film
combined with the lighting provide a depressing atmosphere showing the similarity with
Chris’s life. Towards the end of the film, the lighting changes to a bit brighter shade
conveying that Chris’s life is changing for the better. The editing uses fast eyeline cuts with
little to no transition between shots to create a seamless experience. The continuity editing is
so good I felt most scenes were done in one take. The dialogue in this film really makes you
feel the desperation of Chris. The filmmaker creates an atmosphere of just bleak depression
for most of the film and wants the audience to feel what Chris is feeling and to have nothing
but empathy toward him.
Section 3
The scene I want to provide a detailed description of is the scene where Chris plays
basketball with his son because I feel like it’s a brilliant scene where the protagonist makes a
mistake, learns his mistake, and corrects it immediately.
Shot (1)-The scene starts with a medium closeup shot of Chris and his son playing basketball
in a playground with the San Francisco skyline in the background and pans the camera and
cuts to a wide shot (2) of his son dribbling past him and shooting the ball saying “I'm going
pro”. Then it’s a medium long-shot (3) of Chris who says that his son is going to be average
in basketball just like him and wants him to not have a dream of playing professional
basketball, essentially not believing in his son because he doesn’t believe in himself. In
between this dialogue, it cuts to shot (4) with his son passing the basketball to Chris and
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Chris missing in a medium-long shot (5) to a wide angle further cementing his belief and
then the scene shows Chris in a medium-long shot (6) passing the ball to his son and then
when Chris asks his son to shoot the ball, he throws it away in a medium long shot (7). Then
both the characters are silent for a while. In a medium closeup shot (8) Chris the protagonist
is shown to be thinking about what he said to his son and what was wrong about it. Then the
scene shows a wide-angle shot (9) of Chris walking to the boundary overlooking the city and
his son packing away the basketball symbolizing how he is giving up his dream to be a
basketball player. Then the scene is jump cut to a medium closeup shot (10) of Chris and then
cut again to his son and then back to Chris where he realizes his mistake and corrects it by
telling his son to never let somebody else’s belief stop him from working hard for his dream,
not even his father’s belief. He tells his son that if he has a dream protect it and never let
somebody’s belief stop him from getting it. During this dialogue, a hopeful tune is played in
the background and a few jump cuts between Chris and his son and shows his son
understanding it. Then in a wide-angle shot (11) Chris gets his machine and his son gets his
basketball and leaves the playground in a fast transition where the scene ends. I believe that
the filmmaker chose to film it like this because it feels like a personal and emotional moment
with his son to tell him to earn your dreams and not let anyone stand in your way. This scene
is almost perfectly executed to show Chris’s personal beliefs and how it matters to his son’s
beliefs and towards the end of the scene gives a sense of hope to the audience. However, if I
was the filmmaker I would have done two things differently, I would have shot more wideangle shots to showcase both the protagonist and his son's emotions and I would have added a
wide-angle shot where his son takes the basketball again and starts playing, indicating that he
started believing in himself, I would have then focused the camera on Chris’s face in a
closeup shot showing his emotional happiness in knowing that his son started believing in
himself because of his father trusted him and maybe if Chris had a father who believed in him
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then maybe he would have been great as well. I would have done this scene like this because
I felt like we didn’t see his son believing in himself after his father’s advice
I feel like this scene is brilliant and is more than just a father advising his son. I feel like in
this scene when Chris recognizes his mistake, he understands that he didn’t believe in his son
not only because he didn’t believe in himself, but he also didn’t have a father who believed in
him or anyone who did. Everyone must have told him the same he told his son that he
wouldn’t be a good basketball player hence his disbelief in himself and his son. Moreover, I
feel the advice that Chris was giving was not only for his son but also for himself to chase
your dreams no matter who believes what. This film talks a lot about determination, believing
in yourself, and how the father-son character develops and how hard work will help you
reach your dreams. I have personally enjoyed the film. Thanks For Reading.