RESEARCH: Deconstruction of Rushmore

Cert.15 , 1999
Director: Wes Anderson
Genre:

The music begins over the production company's (Touchstone) logo - it's light, yet sophisticated strings, but alightly abstract. A red curtain then appears and opens to reveal a painting of a family. A few credits appear next to the painting, but then the curtain opens on a school sign, which is also the film's title, 'Rushmore'.
Music cuts and the scene jumps to a view out of a classroom window, but quickly pans horizontally right across the class to stop on the teacher. The students are dressed smartly, and the teacher is standing in front of a blackboard, giving away the time period and setting. There is diegetic sound of the class talking but then silence as the teacher begins. The camera is positioned almost as a Point of View shot from the students, especially as one boy addresses the student. The camera follows the students' attention as it pans left to look at another blackboard, then back to the teacher. The music begins again and as the students talk, the camera tracks right, still at eye level, to stop behind an individual, reading a newspaper.
The teacher addresses him, so the camera jumps to be in front of the character and he puts dwn the paper. The fact he is named (Max) signifies that he is the main character, or a character of importance. There is a cut-in of his desk, showing papers, completed work on equations, a sketch of the Eiffel Tower, a calculator and a cup of tea on a saucer. His desk very organised and tidy, and there is a close-up of him buttoning up his blazer, so together, this shows Max to be efficient, intellectual and refined.
Match on action is used to show speed as the teacher throws a piece of chalk (which Max demands, showing his position within the classroom) to Max, and then, after putting his tea down, he begins writing. A fast-playing flute is added to the musical accompaniment and the camera jumps continuosly between different shots of Max (his face, the teacher's face, the back of Max, the side of Max's face, the front of his face, his back), which creates the illusion of speed.
As the teacher announces that the equation Max has completed is correct, the class cheers and celebrates, chanting his name. After a few seconds of this, the scene jumps to a new scene, where Max is smiling in his sleep, but the chanting is still there. Therefore, the audience realizes that Max had been dreaming, and they have to question the characteristics that Max had previously given himself in the dream. This goes back to the class, then to Max sleeping again, to the class, but then the music cuts sharply and Max is awoken to the sound of applause from the people sitting around him. As he joins reality, the camera zooms out to show the chapel full of boys in school uniform, giving the film it's definite setting.

Within this opening, Anderson focuses on introducing his main character. Through the character's dream, the audience is presented with the character's personality and desires regarding social standing and academic ability. The opening establishes the charcter relatively well, but the opening isn't particularly effective, as the story isn't really introduced and a lot of audience members may be put off by it's relatively slow-moving structure.