Zeffirelli uses different film techniques like camera shots and music to create an effect in his opening sequence of ‘Romeo And Juliet’. He tries to present his opening in such a way that it sets the mood for a romantic, sad and tragic love story. It starts off with an orange border around the TV screen and the city of ‘Verona’ fades up from mist. The camera uses a panning shot to scan over the city of Verona and give a setting to the scenery. As it is slowly panning the city from a high angle, the prologue is being said, slowly and in a sad tone by Sir John Gielgud. The prologue reflects the ending of the play as it tells us what’s going to happen; “Doth with their death bury their parents’ strife”. Only eight lines of the prologue are said because the eighth line reflects the ending of the film and the last few lines indicate that a play is going to be shown for two hours, “is now the two hours’ traffic of our stage”. As the play has been made into a film, these lines cannot be included. The camera zooms into the city and presents Shakespeare’s name in big, bold writing, which fills up the TV screen. Then there is a cut, which moves the scene to the market square and we see an establishing shot, which shows characters and horses walking onto the scene. This sets a mood and creates an atmosphere for the market square. The music is slow and sad. It is quiet as the prologue is being said, then as it finishes it gets louder as a finale and ends as the market scene begins. The music is non-diagetic, as we do not see it being played, but the market square, the people and the horses walking onto the scene are diagetic sound.
Baz Lurhmann’s version differs from Zeffirelli’s in many ways. His opening is more action-packed and fast and more modern. At the beginning, a TV screen appears and a news reporter is saying the prologue as news. There is a medium shot of her in her TV and the camera slowly zooms in until her TV fills the screen. Behind the news reporter there is a picture of a broken ring and ‘star cross’d lovers’ is written underneath. This illustrates the film and tells us that the pair of lovers have a tragic ending. This fits in with the prologue because the prologue reflects the ending of the play with the line “Doth with their death bury their parents’ strife”. We know the ending before the film has begun as it is mentioned in the prologue.
The camera zooms into the city of ‘Verona’ very fast and then out again very fast so a high angle of the city is shown. Quick clips of the city flash upon the screen using establishing shots and quick cuts to different clips. These clips tell the audience what’s coming in the film. “In fair Verona” is written across the TV screen in big, bold letters. Newspaper headlines flash upon the TV screen one-by-one with parts of the prologue as headings of stories. Two buildings are shown; one with ‘Montague’ written on top of it and the other reads ‘Capulet’. These towers are shown when the line “Both alike in dignity” is being said, and they represent that both the Montague’s and Capulet’s are equal in wealth and status in society.
Along the streets of Verona, the Montague’s and Capulet’s are fighting. There is much action, fighting, killing and police are involved. The camera uses the tracking shot to scan over the newspapers, which have stories of both families fighting. The prologue appears on screen line-by-line, very fast and each line is in a different font. The characters are then introduced using medium shots, the characters are frozen in clips from the film and who they are appears in white writing by the side of them. The prologue flashes upon the screen again, really fast and in different fonts. The title, ‘Romeo And Juliet’ appears and the ‘And’ is in the shape of a cross and is red. This indicates blood and immediately gives audience the expectation that there will be murder in the film. When the characters are being introduced, we notice that Romeo and Juliet are not introduced. There are many possible reasons why Baz Lurhmann chose not to put them in his opening sequence. He may have wanted to build up audience’s anticipation. He may have excluded them from the opening as they are main characters or because they are not part of the fight between both families.
The sounds that we hear through Baz Lurhmann’s opening sequence of ‘Romeo And Juliet’ follow in this order: The news reporter reports the prologue as news, then as the camera zooms into the city of Verona it creates a ‘whoosh’. The music is dramatic and loud. The pace increases and the volume rises. The music is orchestral and striking. It gets louder then stops as the prologue is said again, more dramatically with a better effect. As the characters are introduced the volume and pace of the music increase. The volume keeps increasing, until the final note where it dies out and the title, ‘Romeo And Juliet’, is shown across the screen. Diagetic sounds in the opening sequence are the woman saying the prologue and sounds from the quick clips (e.g. police). Non-diagetic sounds include the zoom, the prologue said for the second time by a man, the music in the background, the characters being introduced, quick flashes on the screen and helicopters.
The overall effect of Zeffirelli’s version on the audience is sad and depressing, and sets the mood for an old, romantic love story with a tragic ending. The way the prologue is said has an effect on the film as we can tell, just by listening to the prologue, that the ending will not be happy. Also the music contributes to the effect of Zeffirelli’s opening as it reminds us of a funeral procession tune and we can immediately guess the ending.
Baz Lurhmann’s opening however is exciting and thrilling as there is a lot of action in it. It appeals to younger 21st century audiences and has fast, dramatic music. The quick shots show us that the film has a lot more to it than just romance. The fighting at the beginning indicates murder and rivalry between two groups, and reflects modern America. The way the camera shots are used all add to the action and create an opening sequence full of suspense.
The opening sequence to Zeffirelli’s version measures up to audience’s expectations of a Shakespeare film as it has classical, sad music, medieval, old fonts and the prologue is said slowly and sadly.
Baz Lurhmann’s opening illustrates suspense and mystery, as we would normally expect from Shakespeare. However Lurhmann’s version does not measure up to our expectations of a Shakespeare film as well as Zeffirelli’s does. This is because it is for a younger audience and for the 21st century. It doesn’t show romance as strongly as it should, as romance is the main theme of the play. The prologue is illustrated using modern clips so we see a more modern version of ‘Romeo And Juliet’.
Baz Lurhmann’s version worked much better for me because it appeals to teenagers nowadays. It is similar to the films we would watch and creates a theme of suspense. Zeffirelli’s is ideal for an older audience who expect Shakespeare’s original play to be incorporated in the film instead of using his story line as a base of the film, like Lurhmann did, and making it more modern. It is more romantic and has less action in it so it highlights the genre of the film better than Lurhmann’s version does.
Overall, both versions are different and reflect Shakespeare’s story, but Lurhmann’s appeals to younger audiences and Zeffirelli’s is more for the older generation.
