As Romeo hears the car approaching rapidly, he immediately reaches for his gun. As Romeo reaches for his gun the camera cuts from a medium shot of Romeo to a big close up on his face which helps to show the audience how scared Romeo is as the car comes speeding towards him and so reaches for his gun as feels it might be a threat. As he reaches for the gun the close up on Romeo’s face cuts to a big close up on the gun again to show how scared he is as the car approaches him.
When he realizes that it is Balthazar with news from Verona, he relaxes and is happy to see Balthazar, until he is told of what Balthazar thinks is Juliet being dead. This part of the scene is set in the middle of a desert surrounded by piles of rubbish, which helps to create the loneliness that Romeo is feeling at this point.
As he receives the news about his lady Juliet, Romeo’s expression turns from excitement to concern and heartbreak. His body language changes and he now looks distraught.
As Romeo takes in the news he turns his back on Balthazar and refuses his support and he becomes suicidal as he vows to lie with Juliet. This is a big risk for Romeo to take because if he is caught in Verona he will be killed.
The body language and positioning of the two plays a big part in this part of the scene. The two at the beginning of the scene are side by side like best friends but as Balthazar tries to comfort him Romeo turns his back on him.
Sound and Lighting
In this part of my assignment I am going to look at the use of sound and lighting in the manhunt for Romeo as he returns to Verona beach.
At the beginning of the scene the audience sees a police car speeding over a bridge with a quiet, but high beat background music, which makes the audience think something wild is about to happen. There is then a cut from the car to a police helicopter flying over the city with the only thing to be herd are the blades of the helicopter creating the background music in this part of the scene. At this point, I personally thought that a chase was about to begin. There is then a cut from the helicopter to Friar Lawrence as he awakes in fear. At this point in the scene there is no background music apart from the ticking of a clock, which suggests to the audience time is about to run out. We then see a cut to the mail office where the Friar receives the news that Romeo had not received the message, which he sent to him. Again the only sound in the background is the sound of the clock ticking. As Romeo is on the way back to Verona, we now know that the clock is representing the time of Romeo getting to Juliet before she wakes up and will he get there to early. We then cut back to Romeo and Balthazar in the car and the high beat music, which helps to show how life risking the chase is.
Editing and Camera Work
In the last scene we concentrated on the use of camera work and editing involved to make the scene more entertaining. The sound and lighting also helps to make the film more exciting to the audience.
As Romeo enters the holy place it is pitch black apart from a tiny beam of blue and white light, which shines down the middle of Romeo’s back. I think the beam of light helps to show how vulnerable Romeo is in the holy place. The sound also helps to show how vulnerable Romeo is as there is complete silence apart from some hushed choir music in the background.
As Romeo turns around it is revealed where the light is coming from. The light is creeping through the partly opened door leading to a private cemetery. As Romeo opens the door to the cemetery there is cut from a medium shot of him opening the door to a point of view shot so the audience can see exactly what he is looking at. The lighting and Mise-en-scene play very important parts hear as it make the audience think what is going to happen next. Blue and white crosses light up the cemetery over the graves, this helps to bring out a place of high drama. We then see an altar in the background, which Juliet’s resting body is on. Candles surround the altar, which makes the audience feel something good is about to happen.
After this the camera work becomes a big part of the scene as it makes the scene emotional to the audience. As Romeo approaches the altar of which he believes Juliet’s dead body is lying on we change from a point of view shot to a big close up on Romeo’s face. The close up no Romeo’s face helps to show the anger and disbelief to what he can see in front of him. We then cut from Romeo to Juliet to Romeo to Juliet in a very quick space of time which makes us the audience will she wake up in time.
The camera then focuses on Romeo with just the corner of Juliet’s head in the shot as he speaks to Juliet. Romeo then says the words Beauty’s Enzine and as he says this the camera slowly moves towards the head of Juliet, which makes it very effective.
Romeo then removes a ring from his chain around his neck and places it on Juliet’s finger. As he does this there is a close up shot on Romeo holding Juliet’s hand. We then see a slight twitch in Juliet’s hand, which makes the audience think why has he not noticed her hand moving. We then move to a foreground view of the two on the altar with candles in front of them again making us think all might be well. There is then a big close up on Juliet’s eyes as she opens them but she cannot speak or move. She turns and reaches out to touch Romeos face and at the very moment she makes contact with Romeo he swallows the poison. Close up on Romeos face as he turns in disbelief and shock. We then hear hushed music, which helps to bring out the pain Romeo is feeling. We then have big close ups of the two as they both realise what as happened. There is silence between Romeo’s final words, which makes it more dramatic to the audience. Juliet then turns to grab Romeo’s gun after he has passed away and as she turns to grab the gun the speed of the camera is slowed to make us think oh no she’s going shoot herself. We then cut from the gun to a high angle shot of Juliet as she points the gun at her head and kills herself. Then another cut of shot to see the two lying on the altar from high up in the building which made me feel well even though there dead there resting together there is also peaceful choral music to make it feel more tragic.
We then have quick cuts at the end of the scene of the two in there happier days together which helps to show what they could have had if there family’s weren’t enemies as the were. Then it finishes with a high, high shot of the two on the altar lying together surrounded by candles.