The Fabelmans ending explained

What happens

Sammy meets John Ford, who gives him one blunt lesson: a horizon at the top or bottom of the frame is interesting, a horizon in the middle is not. Sammy leaves, and the camera quietly adjusts the shot to follow the advice.

The last image

As Sammy walks away from Ford's office, the camera tilts to shift the horizon off the middle of the frame, just as Ford taught him.

What it says

After a film about what pictures reveal and hide, it ends on a joke about composition. Sammy's gift is now his craft, learned humbly from a master, and Spielberg shows himself still learning, with a smile, to frame what he sees.