The first scene of the prologues opens with a small television on a black background. There is no music, only the voice of the newsreader speaking. “Two houses both alike in dignity”. She is reading the prologues, as the camera moves from a long shot to a close shot at a straight angle. Then the camera zooms through the television, and dramatic music begins. The prologues are then read again, this time by a male newsreader. The film flicks through a few scenes, and then the words of the prologue are depicted on a black background in bold white writing, at a mid shot and straight angle. This is where we see Baz Luhrmann’s trademark montage editing.
This is followed by scenes of skyscrapers with the names of the two families- Capulet and Montague, in a busy city. There are also quick scenes of a Corpus Christi, fire and helicopters, before flicking to newspaper headlines. The headline is ‘MONTAGUE VS. CAPULET’, and there are pictures of the two family trees in greyscale.
Then there are more newspaper headlines, each taking a line from the prologue, before we see the helicopter again, in a very long shot at a straight angle, while the camera pans and tilts. This time it is flying over the city, with distant mountains in the background.
The next series of scenes are extreme protagonist close-ups, mostly family members, such as Fulgencio Capulet. The close-up is a still of the actor or actress, with their character name and role written next to them. The heads of each family, such as Ted Montague and Fulgencio Capulet, are all wearing very stately and fine clothes and each has a different look of decorum- maybe as a sign to their status in the appropriate families. As each character still progresses, there are blue flashing police lights. This is also an example of montage editing.
After the protagonist close-ups, the prologues are repeated in bold white type on a black background again. Then there are more quick flashes of different pictures, of running people, police and helicopters. Then someone, possibly Romeo Montague, is pin-pointed by the helicopter’s searchlight and he freezes.
As the montage of pictures begins again, the music becomes more dramatic and comes to a crescendo. The final picture is of the title, ‘Romeo & Juliet’, on a black background.
In conclusion, Baz Luhrmann uses many different techniques to illustrate Shakespeare’s romantic classic, turning it into a modern day film. His most famous trademark is his montage editing. The shots don’t logically follow each other, but are instead in a shuffled sequence that combines to create meaning for each. There are also lots of straight angle shots, and close-ups.
