Essay Sample on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air: Will Smith's Street Life to TV Fame

Introduction

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is a television show with American origin that was aired first on NBC from 1990 September 10th to 1996 May 20th (Beale 9). The theme song, as well as the opening sequence, are set to the show premise. The show talks about Will Smith, a smart street teenager, who was born and grew in West Philadelphia. As Smith is playing basketball, it happened that he lost a shot and the basketball bet tossed at a nearby group on people. It then causes confrontations that frighten his mother, leading her to decide on sending Will to stay with his aunt and uncle. They live in the town of Bel-Air, Los Angeles. Therefore, Will flies from Philadelphia to his aunt's town Los Angeles on the one-way ticket in the first-class plane. On arrival, he calls for a taxi with a vanity plate with the word "FRESH." He reached the around at around 7 to 8 and yelled to the cabby (Chiaro 5). He looked at his kingdom and would then sit on the throne as Prince of Bel-Air.

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The Script

The script structure of The Fresh Prince of Bel in placed in a manner that maybe sometimes confusing. However, it shows a high degree of creativity in the way the characters are outlined. For instance, Jazz is featured at the opening of the show and may confuse the audience on the role played. One would suggest Jazz be a friend to Jazz, however not clear. Jazz is used to express humor, especially at the ending of the show. He presents a conflict of whether it was to be featured in the show or not. The dialogues are short to keep the audience interested, and its much concentrated with the main characters. Lengthy conversations are avoided, and precise dialogues are maintained.

The actors show a high level of acting and expertise. They are entertaining and always creating humor acceptable for audience concentration. Despite being funny and embracing humor in the casts, the message is given out by the characters. For instance, the main character Will Smith shows a charming and mischievous personality with the nickname Prince. He portrays humor with the language used like "Yo homes smell you later." In each episode, the actors get a chance to shine.

The production of The Fresh Prince of Bel is on sets venues such as a house, home surroundings, in a pitch, hospital, school, and others. The style of production depends on the status of the living of the actors. For instance, when Smith is still at his mother's place, the production is made of locations to show common living conditions. While in his aunt's place in the production is showing richness to show higher living standards in Los Angeles compared to standards Wills lived in Philadelphia.

Styles

Costumes used by the characters in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air demonstrates the richness of the actors and style of living. Smith shows a different lifestyle in the show. First, while at Philadelphia, lower social status is showed by the costumes used. While in Los Angeles, he became the Prince in the area, and the style of clothing changed to more expensive attires. Most of the costumes show richness.

Different actors have unique hairstyles and makeups. Smith has a unique hair cut that demonstrates that he is a teenager and an artist. Smith's uncles shave all the hair and have grown beards to show maturity and a rich person. Will's aunt, however, has an expensive makeup and hair fashion to show a reflection of high living standards. Aunt Smith likes vibrant colors the same as Smith to show superiority and to live a comfortable life.

The camera angles are placed with skills and screen the characters at different angles and a clear view. The camera moves as the characters move. It shoots at various angles despite being moving with the full coverage of the actors. The lighting styles are quality enough as the actors are properly. In the demonstration, certain scenes such as Smith in prison show the shadow used to emphasize the context of the play.

The Fresh Princes of Bel-Air has used tempo and pace to emphasize the character's emotions on the screen. The first tempo in the soundtrack has been used occasionally in evoking emotions such as happiness, liveliness, delight, and excitement of the characters. Simultaneously, the slow tempo has been used in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in demonstrating emotions such as gravity, sadness, and depression in the characters. For example, when the tempo is slow when uncle Phil confronts the police after Carlton, and Will had been arrested after being pulled over while driving a prestigious car. The flashbacks are used to show the past scenes like when Will was in the cell. The montage and transitions have been well applied.

The music track in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is used to introduce the show, making the audience active and anxious to watch the rest of the show. The music introduced Smith and embraced his acting with the theme "Yo Home to Bel Air." Mostly the music is used in connecting the various scenes during the show. The chord structure is similar in the entire show. The volume changes are determined by the actions shown. For instance, when Will and Carlton were driving at high speed the music volume is high the same as during the confrontation when Smith was playing basketball. It was appropriately utilized in the show.

Conclusion

The shows used special effects such as bullet time, computer-generated imagery, digital composing, virtual cinematography, prosthetic makeup, and matte painting. Matte painting was used in showing a unique landscape when the show is beginning. The prosthetic makeup technique is applied to Will's aunt to show the unique effects of cosmetics in expressing her richness. Stop motion animation has been used to demonstrate a moving vehicle pulled over, and Will got arrested.
The show has a great message to the society. Will gets emotional when his father leaves, showing the need of parents to a child's life. Taking of uppers by Carlton shows the cases od drugs use among teenagers. I have learned the impact o parents in my life. Society can learn the proper way of parenting from the show. The target audience by The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is the youth and the parents.

Work cited

Beale, Angela Kishaun. "Fulfilling the promise of making a difference: Creating guards of life with TPSR." International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education 6.3 (2012): 9. https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/ijare/vol6/iss3/9/

Chiaro, Delia. "Investigating the perception of translated Verbally Expressed Humour on Italian TV." ESP Across Cultures 1.1 (2004): 35-52. https://edipuglia.it/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/ESP_1_2004.pdf#page=37