I haven’t watched this film since it first came out, but I remember being firm of the belief that Will Smith deserved the Oscar, well and truly for this role. He’s just bought his son a basketball with a little money he has, and the shot construction is very vast. The first thing I can really see is the flags you can see, to accompany this scene in which Will Smith sets out to inspire his son and encourage him to reach for his dreams.

There’s plenty of shots in this scene, of both Jaden, Will, and as it is a scene where they are engaging in a sports activity of sorts, it is understandable that the shots would need to be quite consistently panning in the close up shots.

The aspect of the sound of being 100% diegetic for the entirety of the time they are playing basketball, pushes its organic nature and really encourages you to embrace what the moment is. The mise-en-scene in the long shot of the performance featuring an American flag is pretty pivotal here, because it is a scene about, dreams, and the American dream.

So I guess further, it’s interesting here how this movie communicates the message of the American dream; and it is owed in large part due to both actor’s performances. There is an uplifting cinematic score to complement Will’s monologue, telling his son to shoot for his dreams, with a slow zoom-in from a medium shot, to really encourage one to shoot for the stars.

I think this is quite a simple scene, I was hoping to thoroughly breakdown as I thought it would be good to deconstruction a scene I was more or less fairly neutral about with a film I had in my youth enjoyed. The panning and framing throughout keep Jaden and Will at an imaginary eye level at points, which I guess when you think about it is something, regardless of height is usually instigated as it wouldn’t be fluid for it to not be that case.

Then the eyelevel shots are replaced by the inspirational style of Will looking down on Jaden with the slow zoom in’s, which maybe elicits the strength of the moment? Perhaps..