1. Who are the agents: the protogonist (the main hero who propels the narrative forward) and antagonist (opposing agent).
2. 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 mise-en-scene: what meanings to the props/costumes/lighting/framing carry?
The protagonist in this is obviously played by ashton kutcher - in the beginning we see him as the hero going through a major struggle and we can tell that the storyline will be centered around him and his personal struggles. We can't tell who the main antagonist is in the opening sequence but the character 'George' is shown to be a bad character, one who inflicts pain on the hero when he's a child.
3. Is the Disruption or Disequilibrium introduced or hinted at? (e.g the serial killer in "Seven" is introduced in the title sequence).
The equilibrium of the story is not shown until two minutes into the film - this is because the effect of the disruption is shown to be taking place at the very beginning. I will talk about the disruption in further detail in my next answer.
After the second minute, the equilibrium is shown to be of a young boy and his mother living together contently. The establishing shot is a wide shot of the street on which they live during the daytime. The setting seems quite normal with children cycling and the young boy playing with his dog. The focus is on the relationship between the mother and her son
There's plenty of shot-reverse-shot between the mother and her son and a normal sequence of events happen. The mother is even shown to take her son to school. It is at this point that disequilbrium is hinted at.
The first two minutes of the film show the effects of a major disruption in the movie that the audience have not been shown yet. The main character is shown to be distressed and in a hospital of some sort, trying to hide from other people showing that he may be in some sort of trouble or danger. We do not know why he is here yet but we get further disequilibrium hinted at later on in the clip.
When the mother picks up her son from school, the teacher is shown to be distressed and we establish that the child has been drawing disturbing pictures at school. We are then shown the mother taking her son to an institution etc and we know that things are going to get worse.
Other disrupting events are shown during this opening snippet too - lots of information is revealed very quickly about the hero's disturbing childhood. (Eg. Knife incident at 5:39, Video incident 7:20 onwards)4. 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")
At the very beginning the fact that the hero is in a hospital of some sort hints that his journey might be to do with a personal physical/mental health issue. This is backed up by the title sequence at the beggining where the words 'The Butterfly Effect' are written with an x-ray of a brain in the background.
We get the hint that this will be a journey which he will spend many years on as we are taken back 'thirteen years earlier' telling the audience that they are about to see how and why the events shown at the very beginning of the clip happened.5. From your knowledge of the film, how will the equilibrium be restored and what will be the new equilibrium?
The equilibrium will change a number of times as the hero will change the outcome of his future more than once by going back in time and handling certain events differently. The final equlibrium will involve the hero going back to his childhood and pushing away the person that he cares about the most in order to better her future. The new equilibrium will involve the hero and his love barely knowing eachother or being involved with eachother.
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