Second half of “In the Pursuit of Happyness”

Mise-en-scene is played in this film really cleverly throughout the second half. Mise-en-scene means how the scene is set up and a perfect example of this is when Chris gives up his blood just for him and his son to stay a place for the night. This shows a lot of the man himself, he would go to extreme lengths for his son to stay in comfort or whenever something bad happens we always look at the son and we feel bad as we feel sorry for him and his father but the biggest Mise-en-scene is when Chris tries to put light into a bone density scanner. This scanner is what we feel, as the audience that this will be the key if it works we have something to work on if it doesn’t then we are still stuck and the problem would never go away. This is a huge obstacle course that Chris could not overcome or avoid. We could also say this is a sign in his life.

I believe this scene actually fits all the criteria for a film critic. These scenes with this machine are what the whole film hinges on. The Mise-en-scene of that is that they are so close to finding the cure to all their problems but if they can’t find the missing piece to this problem they will forever live in poverty. The music plays a big part in seeing if he is getting closer to his main goal of finding this light bulb, fixing the scanner. The music and the sounds around this are very important as we get a feeling on how close he is from fixing, or how far away he might be. When the music is upbeat we get a good positive feeling in your mind and if we hear a sad, slow and sluggish music we get the thought of he is getting further away from his goal.

The shots we get from that scene are amazing as we get lots of different shots of him trying to sort out the problem to the scanner. We get long shots to see the bigger picture of the bulb and his whole body. When we want to just see the scanner we get some median shots so the scanner is in focus and nothing else. That is important because we get a good visual image of him working and getting a good feel in where he is at. We also get close shots so we can concentrate on the tiny detail on what he is doing. An example of this is when he gets the bulb in and the bulb works we get a close up on this, we also get fast music start to play in the background and the scene is set up very well to end their and have an exciting engaging and enthralling scene to follow. Also that scene shows off great Editing technique as the light bulb means hope and the music backs this up its upbeat music.

We, the audience, feel this is a big sign in the film. At the start we get signs of a working class family who are trying to get along with a limited income and the signs are showing that they can’t survive in this environment and something will have to give. In contrast we get many different sign but, there are two signs which change this film from a doom and gloom to hope and maybe success are firstly, finding a light bulb which makes the scanner work. That is big because he has found a break through in technology and now has enough money to do this for his son to stay in a bit more luxury and he can buy some more light bulbs and sell more of these while doing this course to get into the stock market. So now they are financially stable. Secondly, the $5.00 he gets back from someone who he helped out before. That moment shows a moment of triumph for him and his son who have gone on this rollercoaster ride. He is now in a position where he can concentrate on this course and land this job which will take both him and his son out of poverty and through the clever techniques of the director we also feel like a success as we have gone on this same journey together.

All these techniques put together and this film is really top notch. It has put the effective technique in major parts in the film and as it has a wide variety of effects which make this film so successful. I would give this film a rating of 4 maybe 5 stars.