Zeffarrelli’s film used 16th century costume. The music in his film was a piece of music taken from one of Shakespeare’s sonnets; the tune was slowed down for sad parts and sped up in happy parts. In Luhrmann’s film the dress is modern and so is the music, love songs for sad parts and rock music for fight scenes and comedy scenes. The camera angles were very different, Luhrmann used lots of birds eye view shots, like in the tomb of Juliet where he shows the two lovers dead side by side. He also uses Angles in Juliet’s tomb from the eyes of Romeo.
Zeffirrelli on the other hand uses very basic angles but this is probably because of the basic equipment he uses compared to the equipment used by Luhrmann, as the film is older.
Baz Luhrmann created tension very well. He showed Romeo being chased by the Prince’s authorities because he had broken the rules of his banishment from Verona by going to visit Juliet’s tomb. It shows police cars and helicopters chasing him. Romeo also takes a hostage before he goes into the tomb to make sure he is not shot. Zeffirrelli doesn’t do this possibly because Romeo has already killed Tybalt and is not supposed to be a murderer or a villain but soft and gentle.
Neither film shows Romeo killing Parise as he enters Juliet’s tomb this again is possibly to show Romeo is a hero not a murderer.
As Romeo walks into the tomb of Juliet the mood in Luhrmann’s film changes very quickly, it changes from loud and brash with gunfights to a very sombre mood, the music is slow and sad, the lighting is faded and as the camera shows Juliet through Romeo’s eyes it is blurred, I think this could be because Luhrmann is trying to show Romeo as being sorrowful and having tears in his eyes. Luhrmann also shows dramatic irony in this scene because he changes part of Shakespeare’s original script. He makes Juliet wake just before Romeo takes the poison. Juliet begins to stir and as she is doing this Romeo is looking away from her. Once Romeo takes the poison he looks back at Juliet, she is awake and puts her arms around him but it is too late he has swallowed the poison.
Even though I knew that they both die in the end I still thought “ Don’t die, you can’t die!!!” and as Juliet wakes and Romeo is looking in the opposite direction you want Romeo to turn around and see Juliet, before he takes the poison, but obviously he doesn’t.
In the Franco Zeffirrelli film it shows Romeo travelling from Mantua, but there is no chasing by authorities. It just shows Romeo going into the tomb, he shows the tomb as having lots of bodies, possibly all Capulets'.
First Romeo sees Juliet but then sees Tybalt laid beside her. Zeffirrelli only shows things that happen in Shakespeare’s script. He uses no special camera angles, just keeps it simple but it works well and makes it more suitable for older people.
Baz Luhrmann changes the script and makes it more suitable for modern teenagers due its big and brash set-up.
I personally prefer the Luhrmann film because it has more action and humour than the Zeffirrelli film. You could understand the film more the actors got into their characters more and the special effects were much better.
