The Pursuit of Happiness

Eman Shah

Camera Movement and Shots In this scene we see Chris Gardener approaching and wanting to talk to Mr

Twistle, we see a long shot of them both which shows us that they are both dressed in suits, so therefore this could mean that they both could be office workers. The long shot then drifts and becomes a mid shot. The director could have purposely done this to show that Mr Twisle is in a hurry and has no time to talk to Chris and the long shot had suddenly become a mid shot. We then see a tracking shot used when Mr Twisle says ‘I'm going, take care of yourself’. This shows that he has no interest into talking to Chris. The tracking shot is used when both him and Chris get in the same taxi together.

Camera Movements and Shots When they are both in the taxi together, we see that Chris is talking to Mr

Twisle but the close up of Mr Twistle’s face shows that he has not interest in what he is saying. This is because he is just playing with a Rubik's Cube. We then see an over the shoulder shot which shows that it could mean that Chris is desperately wanting to talk to Mr Twisle. Mr Twistle then says to Chris ‘I’m sorry, this things impossible’. The extreme close up of Chris’s face shows that he is determined to do whatever it takes to talk to Mr Twistle and due to the fact that he has responded saying ‘I can do it’, shows to the viewers that Chris wants Mr Twistle to take time to talk him, so if Chris can actually do the Rubik's cube then it would mean that Mr Twistle would be proud.

Camera Movements and Shots Again, in the taxi part of the scene we are only really shown mid shots and

close ups and the scene is only dealing with one thing which is the ‘rubiks cube’. We again see a close up of the rubiks cube that Chris is working on but also a low angle movement. I think the director has done this to show how vulnerable Chris is looking do to the Rubiks cube. We then again see a close up of Mr Twistle’s face but this time he does seem interested into what Chris is doing, as he cannot to the cube correctly whereas it seems as if Chris can. A close is again used when Mr Twisle says to Chris ‘You almost got that one’, then Chris replied saying ‘I’m gonna get it’ where again a low angle had been used. This suggests that Chris is really passionate and also dedicated into finishing the cube correctly.

Camera Movement and Shots Towards the end part of the scene we are shown a close up of Chris’s face,

he looks very upset when looking at his facial expression, the camera has them been moved and shown to the part where how much money he has to pay. So far it says 17.90 but then it changes to 18.00 Chris is very worried as he does that have enough money to pay for is taxi ride. We know this because a close up again has been used when he looks in his wallet and we see that he does not have enough money to pay for his taxi fare. When the taxi car stops because of the traffic we are shown a wide shot of the car, we then suddenly are shown a jump cut where the scene is now going really fast as Chris has opened the car door and is running away. This is because he is a poor person and does not have enough money to pay for his taxi fare.

Mise en Scene The mise en scene of the scene that I have chosen to analysis is that

in the very first part of the scene we see that everyone is wearing smart clothing like suits. This represents that they all have good jobs and may work in offices. We see that the atmosphere is very busy as everyone we see in the background of the first scene is walking really fast, which shows they are in a hurry. This shows to the viewer that it is a busy atmosphere that they are watching which will make them think a bit. Making the audience think in films is good as they will be passionate to know what is coming next in the film. We also see the sight of cars, this indicates that the scene is set in a busy area. The lighting at the beginning of the scene is high key lighting at the scene is set outside on a sunny day, but when Chris and Mr Twistle both get in to the taxi we see low key lighting because they are inside, we are also shown natural light as there is light coming into the car because of the windows.