After the long distance shot has focused on Verona Beach for roughly four seconds the tempo of the music picks up, as well as the volume. Pictures from throughout the film flash up on the screen with great speed. The cameras’ shots change to a shorter distance and a better zoom in on the pictures and each picture is only focused on for a very short time, roughly two seconds. To add to the pictures effectiveness keywords from the prologue, read at the beginning of the play by the news reporter flash up on the TV screen with the pictures. The words are black, bold and in capital letters to really catch the audiences eye. They are ripped out of a newspaper you can see the jagged edge, this immediately tells the audience that the households are in the newspaper a fair amount, so there must be violence between them quite regularly.
The camera now varies its shots between panning shots that scan Verona Beach, short distance zoomed in shots on the keywords and long distance zoomed out shots on the whole of Verona Beach. They are very effective because they decrease the chance of the audience getting bored and they increase excitement and tension
The images that flash up on the screen begin to get more disturbing as the opening scene goes on. The speed that they flash up on the screen increases and the time they stay on the screen decreases. This busy and chaotic part of the opening scene is in my opinion the most effective scene in the whole of the opening part of the play. It causes a racing heartbeat to occur on anybody watching it and a complete silence filled the room while this scene dramatically portrayed itself to its audience my friends and I. The pictures, music and camera shots come to a clear and prominent stop as the main storyline of the modern version of Romeo and Juliet begins
Straight away we are introduced to the “Montague Boys” they are a “gang” of punks, dressed similarly cruising in their car with the music blaring. In just this minute into the story we can see so many areas that put forward the fact that this is a modernised version of the play. For example the Montagues are driving a car, which has a private number plate, and they have loud music on. These points make the opening scene very effective to me as a teenager and I think to anybody else who has been brought up in a modern lifestyle. The modernising allows you to understand what is happening easier as you can relate it to something that would happen nowadays near you. The picture freezes as the “boys” are introduced as Montagues and the camera uses a shot of the whole car to make the freeze more effective as everyone can be seen easily. The Montagues drives into a petrol station to fill the car up with petrol, but soon to follow them in are “The Capulets”. The two households are now together in one petrol station. The tension created at this scene is immense as the audience panic about what is going to happen next.
The Capulets are portrayed as Hispanics and they come across as much tougher and violent people than the Montagues. The different images that the two households have are very effective and help the audience to understand who is who. Tybalt the “Prince of Cats” is introduced to the audience with great effect. As he gets out of the car the camera focuses only on his steel heeled leather boots. He walks towards the Montagues and every stride he takes is emphasised as his steel heeled boots clang as they hit the ground. The camera is still only focused on his boots and the audience don’t actually know who this man is yet, he has not yet been introduced as Tybalt. This creates tension and helps to make the opening scene effective because the audience don’t know whom he is or what is going to happen next. All they know is that the boots come across as something an aggressive person would wear and that the man is a Capulet, so an aggressive Capulet could mean a fight. To increase the tension the music has stopped playing so all the audiences’ minds are focused on are Tybalt’s boots. The camera now introduces Tybalt and focuses on all his body. He drops a cigar that he was smoking on the floor and again the camera changes its shot to one that is zoomed in on Tybalt’s feet and the ground beneath them. He grinds the cigar out with the bottom of his heel and the sound effects are loud so that the audience can here. The scraping sound that the steel heel makes as he crushes the cigar gives the audience the feeling that he is ruthless and that he probably treats people in a similar way to his cigar. He just grinds them beneath his feet if they get in his way. Extinguishes them!
The fact that Tybalt was smoking in a petrol station shows that he is ruthless and that he doesn’t obey rules. He is oblivious to his surroundings and that if a fire starts he could kill himself as well as everyone else at the station. This whole scene on the introduction of Tybalt is very effective it gives the audience a clear idea of his personality and attitude straight away. Watching it almost makes you want to take the Montagues side of the battle, which I think is wrong.
Once the camera has finished focusing on the cigar it zooms in on a signpost that reads “Careful fire hazard” on it. This is again to create tension and for the audience to think about what is going to happen next. The opening scene of Romeo and Juliet is definitely based on tension build-ups. Humour follows this tense scene to help to break it up a little. One of the Montagues hides behind an old woman’s car door, as he is scared about what is going to happen next. He has pink punk style hair and is wearing a garish t-shirt. He looks so ridiculous that anyone would have to have at least a slight giggle at the sight of him. To add to that the lady whose car it is panics and thinks that the Montague is going to hurt her so she begins hitting him with her handbag. This is just comical and when you can actually watch his face and hers you have to laugh. These little acts of humour do make the scene effective as they break up the tension and then this allows it to be built back up again without the audience getting bored.. Illegally redistributed by Feebs.
The fight begins and the Montagues trying to avoid the brawl attempt to drive off. Tybalt being ruthless and violent drop to his knees, pulls out a scope for his gun, zooms in on the Montagues and shoots one of them in the shoulder as they are driving off. The gun shows how the lay has been modernised, and Tybalt’s stylised actions show that guns are not illegal in Verona Beach. You don’t really know whether the audience is supposed to take this seriously o or not. The fact that Tybalt kisses the gun before he shoots it seems a bit far-fetched, but they do hate each other so, yes maybe he was praying that he would hit the Montague. As he aims his gun up the camera takes a shot from the gun, so the audience can see what Tybalt can see. This is effective because it puts the audience in his shoes, seeing what he is seeing, e.g. the scope for the gun takes up the centre of the TV screen. It’s not often in scenes like that that the “bad guy” actual hits the “good guy” so it must have been a bit of a shock to the audience that he did actually hit the Montague, as it never usually ends up like that. The build up to the shot shows that Tybalt is aiming to kill the Montague, but when he doesn’t the tension drops in the audience. This is effective because like I said earlier the tension can be built up again. Music is also used differently at this point. It gets much more sinister for a sinister person like Tybalt, again this gives him the “Bad Boy” symbol and makes the audience hope that the Montague doesn’t get hit. The change in music makes this part of the scene interesting.
Benvolio is the only Montague left in the petrol station now as he was left behind, so he hides while Tybalt happily lights another cigar. Benvolio, predicting the obvious, runs from the petrol station towards the town. Tybalt notices him, shoots a couple of bullets towards him, but this time misses every time. Tybalt is happy with his performance and obliviously drops his match on the floor into a puddle of petrol. The fire begins and the Capulets drive off. The camera focuses on the fire for a while, until it fills the whole screen and then finishes by zooming in on a newspaper article saying “Montague vs. Capulets the Second Brawl.”
The opening scene has finished dramatically with a screen full of orange and yellow flames. This is very effective and it will keep the audience on the edge of there seats until the next scene. The newspaper article not only sums up the opening scene but also gives the audience a little more information about previous brawls.
The whole opening scene portrays a typical tragedy. There is loads of waste and destruction and many innocent people are hurt during the scene. It is a typical tragedy.
I do feel that at some points the story gives off a biased view to the audience. The Capulets are the big strong household that seem to be able to handle everything,
they aren’t dressed strangely and they never run away. The Montagues well I feel they are made to look weak. I don’t think this is right because you either take the capulet’s side because they are big and strong and because the Montagues dress silly, or you take the Montagues side because the Capulet’s are ruthless, violent and dangerous. I think that the two households should have been made to be slightly more similar. At the moment it doesn’t seem like they would be fighting because the capulet’s look like they should have overpowered the Montagues a while ago. Maybe Baz Luhrmann wanted them to be two completely different households, but I just think that at some points as the audience you almost take one households side automatically when the story would be better portrayed if you took no-one’s side.
