Textual Analysis - Pursuit of Happyness

At the start of this film we see the credits cast on a black screen with a simple plain white text. There is music playing as the credits come on because of the simplicity of the credits the audience becomes focused more on the light upbeat sound which gives the audience a positive connection with the feeling of the film. Our first shot is a long shot of a child's bedroom, we can make out the outlines of toys showing the child's innocence to the audience. We see a bed which the child is led in, we see some light entering into the room. This harsh, white light coming in through a window, it has no curtains, suggesting that the family living there is poor and the harsh light itself could show the way the characters are treated in the film by the outside world. A man enters the bedroom, he is tall and has an afro this suggests to the audience that this film is set in the 70s when that hairstyle was popular. We see a two shot of the man and the child, this shot suggests they have a close relationship made even more clearer when he touches the child's arm with his hand to wake him up. The audience understands this is a father son relationship. We move from the bedroom to the city scene establishing where we are to. We have a low angle shot next of the American flag on top of a building. Instantly the audience knows this film is set in America and the angle the flag has been shot in shows its importance, perhaps suggesting the American dream and this is what the characters are about to pursue. The editing in this piece is average in pace and stays the same throughout. I think this opening is very typical of a drama film as it shows the relationships between the father and son characters very quickly. This film also has a voice over telling the audience the characters story and their background of how they have gotten to where they are - although this is a little further into the film. I tried my best to find a clip to link onto this post but I wasn't successful - sorry.