Rocks: contexts and key sequences

A young person carrying adult responsibilities

Rocks (Sarah Gavron, UK, 2019) is a coming-of-age drama: it explores a young person's movement towards adulthood. However, growing up here is not simply a matter of gaining independence. Shola, known as Rocks and played by Bukky Bakray, has adult responsibilities forced upon her when her mother, Funke, leaves the family home. Rocks must look after her younger brother Emmanuel while continuing to attend school.

Rocks fears that social services will separate them, so she tries to conceal their situation. As money runs short and their home becomes untenable, she moves with Emmanuel between temporary places to stay. Her determination to protect him is loving, but she cannot provide everything he needs. The eventual intervention of adults therefore raises a difficult question: can accepting help be a form of care, even when it means giving up control?

The film also celebrates friendship. Sumaya and the other girls offer companionship and practical support, eventually pooling their money to travel to Hastings, where Emmanuel has a foster home. Their friendship does not remove Rocks's difficulties, but it prevents her story from being only one of isolation and suffering.

Multicultural London through the girls' lives

The social context of a film concerns the society and social structures it portrays. Rocks presents contemporary, multi-ethnic, working-class East London through ordinary experiences: attending school, spending time with friends, living in flats and visiting local shops. This is a lived-in London rather than a city presented mainly through tourist landmarks.

The girls' familiarity with their families' cultural heritage contrasts with their uncertainty about some places beyond their immediate surroundings. Their journey to Hastings matters because friendship and concern for Emmanuel draw them outside their usual world.

Cultural context concerns ways of living, beliefs and values. Contemporary R'n'B and hip hop, references to chicken shops and Air Force trainers, phone videos and Snapchat-style filters locate the characters within youth culture. These details give the girls interests and identities beyond the problems they face. Different cultural backgrounds coexist within a shared friendship group rather than being presented as barriers to belonging.

The film belongs to a British social-realist tradition of depicting everyday working-class experience. Its contemporary setting and technology are important: Rocks is a 2019 film, released in UK cinemas in 2020, not a historical drama about an earlier period.

How collaboration shaped the film

Sarah Gavron directed the film, and Theresa Ikoko and Claire Wilson wrote it. Rather than imposing a completed story on an established professional cast, the filmmakers developed the characters and their world through workshops with young, largely non-professional performers.

Around 1,300 schoolgirls were involved in the initial casting process. Thirty took part in workshops exploring ideas, experiences and possible dialogue, before a final twelve were selected. The young cast advised on language, music, interests and how teenage girls might respond to the story's situations. This helps explain why conversations can feel spontaneous and why the cultural details are specific rather than generic.

Ikoko wanted to acknowledge the support her older sister had given her and to draw attention to the pressures on young Black and brown girls to grow up quickly. Joy was also central to that aim: the girls are funny, imaginative and affectionate, not merely victims of hardship.

Institutional context includes funding and production arrangements. The film cost around £3 million and was financed by the BFI, Film4 and the Wellcome Trust. Around 75% of the crew were female. Filming chronologically helped the young performers experience the developing story in order. These choices supported the collaborative working environment and the film's intimate focus on its characters.

School and social care: competing interpretations

The political context includes questions about institutions, power and whose needs are recognised. From Rocks's perspective, social services are threatening because their intervention separates her from Emmanuel. A viewer might therefore interpret the care system as cold or insufficiently attentive to their sibling bond.

However, another interpretation is that intervention protects two children who can no longer safely manage alone. Rocks's fear is understandable, but it does not prove that avoiding adults is the best outcome. The film allows sympathy for her distress alongside recognition of her need for support.

School is similarly mixed. The careers discussion can be read as discouraging ambition when a teacher quickly challenges the girls' prospects. In contrast, dance and art lessons offer space for enjoyment and expression. The identity collages shown over the closing credits reinforce the girls' complexity.

A balanced interpretation is that institutions can offer necessary protection and opportunities while still being experienced as restrictive or hurtful. Support this judgement with particular events rather than treating the film as a simple claim that all adults or institutions are uncaring.

The opening: friendship before crisis

The opening sequence, approximately 00:00:00–00:03:00, establishes the group before Rocks's difficulties dominate the story. Laughter and chatter are heard before the first images. Because these sounds belong to the characters' world, they are diegetic. The audience encounters their shared pleasure before receiving plot information.

On the rooftop, the girls overlook London, make videos and sing Proud Mary together. The rooftop gives them a temporary space away from pressures below. Warm, golden-hour lighting creates an inviting, nostalgic mood, while several friends sharing the frame make their closeness visible.

Across the film, two- and three-shots often place friends together, whereas single close-ups can emphasise isolation during conflict. Framing therefore communicates relationships as well as showing faces. Loose, documentary-style camerawork and vertical phone footage create an informal feel connected to how the girls record their own lives. This is a constructed fiction with a documentary-like style, not a documentary.

The start of school: belonging and restriction

The school-starting sequence, approximately 00:05:35–00:09:35, brings the girls back into a regulated environment. The initial staircase framing shows a mass of pupils without a clear entrance or exit. Combined with crowded settings and busy movement, this can make school feel hectic and claustrophobic.

Jewellery, accessories and trainers mark individual identity. Their removal under the uniform policy makes the return to school a move from summer freedom towards institutional discipline. This is a useful connection between costume and context: an ordinary clothing detail reveals a tension between self-expression and conformity.

Warm, even yellow-orange lighting still suggests the end of summer and the comfort of friendship. Corridor shots are generally medium long shots, showing people within the busy space. Closer classroom framing directs attention towards facial reactions and exchanges between friends.

The editing begins in medias res and uses quick straight cuts between moments rather than carefully introducing and concluding every activity. School life feels like a succession of jokes, reactions and memorable incidents. The familiar-looking ‘rubber of destiny’ prop and the girls' responses contribute to the recognisable classroom atmosphere.

Overlapping dialogue develops relationships rather than simply delivering information. The sequence has no non-diegetic sound; music heard later appears to come from a smartphone. Characters and audience share the same music, strengthening the sense of participating in the group.

The dance scene: difference within unity

The dance sequence, approximately 00:18:00–00:20:00, shows why school is not only restrictive. The dance studio becomes a space for energy, enjoyment and expression.

Varied, bright costumes make the girls' different appearances and personalities visible. At moments, synchronised movement connects them visually despite those differences. The scene therefore communicates unity without making everyone identical.

The music is diegetic, belonging to the activity the girls are taking part in. Their movement, colourful appearance and shared musical experience work together to create a joyful spectator response. This matters within Rocks's story because she retains a capacity for pleasure even while carrying serious responsibilities.

Turning a detail into an explanation

A useful analytical point begins with something identifiable in the finished film. For example, the rooftop is a specific setting; ‘mise-en-scène’ is only the category to which that setting belongs. Explain that its separation from the streets offers the friends a temporary refuge, then connect this to their ease with one another.

Similarly, identifying jewellery and trainers in the school sequence gives a concrete starting point. Explaining their removal connects costume to the school's demand for conformity. Strong analysis makes the link between what is shown, how it is presented and why it matters.

How Section C moves from identification to analysis

The 2024 Section C question provides a useful example of this progression. Its four parts carried 1, 4, 5 and 15 marks. These are the allocations for that paper, not a guarantee that every future question will use the same wording or topic.

Part (a), identify [1]: name one example of costume. A brief answer is sufficient, such as ‘the girls' bright clothing in the dance lesson’. This identifies something in the film rather than merely naming ‘costume’ as a technique. The marking allowed general clothing descriptions as well as more specific examples.

Part (b), briefly describe [4]: describe the same costume's appearance. Give accurate visual details such as its colour, clothing items and accessories. This is a knowledge task: the 2024 question did not require an explanation of meaning. Four marks did not mean an automatic one mark for each of four details; the quality of the description was assessed as a whole.

Part (c), explore meaning in one key sequence [5]: move beyond appearance to explain what costume communicates. In the dance lesson, for example, varied, bright clothing distinguishes the girls, while their synchronised movement shows that friendship can unite people without erasing individuality. Naming the sequence makes the evidence clear. For this question, an answer without reference to a key sequence could not receive more than three marks.

Part (d), explore the overall look [15]: develop a sustained answer about how mise-en-scène shapes the film, referring to at least one key sequence. The 2024 question invited consideration of settings, props and costumes, genre conventions, and filmmakers' intentions and influences. It therefore requires more than a list of objects or a retelling of the story.

An answer could argue that recognisable schools and flats establish an everyday, social-realist world, while the rooftop offers a contrasting refuge. It could then analyse how personal accessories at school express individuality and how the ‘rubber of destiny’ contributes to a familiar classroom atmosphere. Connect these details to the filmmakers' collaborative aim of portraying the girls' world authentically. The extended response should bring its points back to the overall look named in the question, rather than becoming a general account of everything in the film.

Practice question [1 mark]

Identify one example of costume used in Rocks.

Practice question [4 marks]

Briefly describe the costume you identified.

Practice question [5 marks]

Explore how costume creates meaning in one key sequence from Rocks.

Practice question [15 marks]

Explore how mise-en-scène helps to create the overall look of Rocks. Refer to at least one key sequence. You may consider settings, props and costumes, genre conventions, and the filmmakers' intentions and influences.

Film and story

• Rocks: Sarah Gavron, UK, 2019; written by Theresa Ikoko and Claire Wilson.
• Shola/Rocks cares for Emmanuel after their mother leaves; she hides their situation and struggles to manage alone.
• Friendship offers support; accepting adult help creates a painful tension between protection and separation.

Contexts

• Social: contemporary, multi-ethnic, working-class East London; family, friendship, housing and care.
• Cultural/technological: R'n'B, hip hop, phone videos, Snapchat-style filters, trainers and chicken shops.
• Institutional: around £3 million; BFI, Film4 and Wellcome Trust funding; workshops with largely non-professional performers; chronological filming.
• Political: school and social care can appear restrictive, but also provide protection and opportunities. Support interpretations with events.

Sequence anchors

• Opening, 00:00:00–00:03:00: rooftop; laughter before images; Proud Mary; warm lighting and shared framing establish friendship.
• School, 00:05:35–00:09:35: crowded staircase; removal of accessories; closer classroom reactions; quick straight cuts and overlapping dialogue.
• Dance, 00:18:00–00:20:00: bright, varied costumes; synchronised movement; diegetic music connects individuality with group unity.

Form and meaning

• Loose camerawork and vertical phone footage → informal, contemporary realism.
• Two- and three-shots → togetherness; isolated close-ups → separation.