- Who are the agents: the protagonist (the main hero who propels the narrative forward) and antagonist (opposing agent)
The protagonist in Rocket Science is fifteen-year-old stutterer Hal Hefner (Reece Thompson) who joins his high school debating team (although he is only introduced at the end of this opening sequence). The antagonist is not immediately obvious but Ginny Ryerson (Anna Kendrick) the ambitious competitive speaker is the agent of change as she recruits a besotted Hal only to betray him later on. For the purpose of analysing the opening sequence, the antagonist is Ben Wekselbaum (Nicholas D'Agosto) a champion speaker who loses his voice…and the national championships.
- Describe the Equilibrium. How is it represented? What kind of camera shots can you identify? (e.g establishing shots to create a sense of space or use of CUs/cutaways to emphasise particular objects/characters faces). Pick out 2 or 3 examples. Describe the mis-en-scene: what meanings do the props/costumes/lighting/framing carry?
The establishing shot is of two teenagers kissing in an empty auditorium, setting the location and genre of the film (high school comedy). The camera continues to focus on the couple in a variety of distances, from VLS to ECU’s before the text ‘spring’ appears on screen, letting the audience also know the moment in time before cutting sharply to the same auditorium packed with people and staged for a formal debate. During the debate, the camera cuts back and forth to each team, getting closer and closer each time. There are 2 consecutive ECU’s of the female debaters lips allowing the audience to really focus on how quickly they are speaking and ironically outlining the importance of eloquence in this initial equilibrium, in a story about a boy with a speech impairment. ’46 miles away’ we are introduced to the main character Hal in the midst of a different kind of debate- his parents arguing. The establishing shots of an empty dining room table and dirty dishes displays the domesticity and normality of his life contrasting with the competitive and formal nature of the debate, and his casual clothing compared against the pristine suits of the speakers really polarises the two settings.
- Is the Disruption or Disequilibrium introduced or hinted at? (e.g the serial killer in "Seven" is introduced in the title sequence).
The disruption to Ben is hinted at by the narrator through the lines: ‘To anyone who ever heard Ben debate, there was one thing that was undeniable: he had a voice... his partner was biding her time, picturing how it would look up there...the only trophy missing from her crowded, gleaming shelf.’ Something about the use of the past tense and the optimism and close reachability of the honour almost sets it up for futility.
- Are there any visual/verbal/aural clues that hint at what the hero's journey might be? (e.g having to solve the murders within a time-limit of seven days in "Seven")
Similarly, from the lines “Hal Hefner was at home...just sitting at home like nothing or none of New Jersey was burning around him.” suggests that something, associated with Ben and Ginny or the debating team will occur due to the cross cutting of the two scenarios.
- From your knowledge of the film, how will the equilibrium be restored and what will be the new equilibrium?
Sadly, this coming of age film isn’t all happy endings. A few minutes later in this scene (unfortunately there wasn’t a clip long enough) Ben loses his voice… “46 miles apart, at the very same moment, all the arguments stopped. So there was this bridge of silence spanning New Jersey. No shouting from Hal's parents, no debating, no voice. No one's voice at all.” in turn surrendering the title of champions to the other team and retiring as a speaker. Ginny recruits Hal for the squad, seemingly seeing potential behind his stutter but deceives him and leaves him humiliated. At the end of the film he is exactly where he began, the equilibrium disrupted and restored in a cyclic pattern, his journey being the basis of the film as opposed to the outcome.
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