Compare the opening scenes of Zeffirelli and Lhurmann's film adaptations of Romeo and Juliet

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Compare the opening scenes of Zeffirelli and Lhurmann’s film adaptations of Romeo and Juliet

I am comparing the opening scenes of Franco Zeffirelli and Baz Lhurmman’s film adaptations of William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet.

Franco Zeffirelli was born in Florence, Italy in 1923; his father was a cloth merchant and his mother died when he was only 6 years old. His life was made brighter by a group of women known as the Scorpioni; one of the Scorpioni called Mary O’Neill was like a surrogate mother to Franco and she introduced him to English literature and Shakespeare. He started making films in the 1950’s and made his reputation by staging and filming classic Shakespeare plays like “The Taming of the Shrew and Ottllo. His last film “Tea With Mussolini” was based on a different but equally dramatic source: his own childhood, this shows that he likes traditional filmmaking.

Baz Lhurmann was born in Northern New South Wales, Australia. He went on to attend the prestigious National Institute of Dramatic Arts in Sydney. In 1985, he was chosen to assist on Peter Brook’s epic play, "The Mahabarata." The following year Luhrmann devised and staged the original "Strictly Ballroom," which began as a thirty-minute play that he directed. He decided to take the play to the World Youth Theatre Festival in what was then Czechoslovakia, where it won awards for Best Production and Best Director. After graduating Lhurmann formed an independent theatre group called the Six Years Old Company. Luhrmann and associates mounted several inventive productions of classic and original operas, including his highly acclaimed 1990 presentation of Puccini's famed "La Boheme," for the Australian Opera. He placed his version in the 1950s and also staged a unique production of Benjamin Britten's operatic version of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer's Night's Dream" for the Australian Opera, which he took to the 1994 Edinburgh Festival, where it won the Critic's Prize. The directed the 1996 film version of “Romeo and Juliet” and the last film he directed was “Moulin Rouge” this shows he likes to make his films exciting and fast.

The differences between the directing of Franco Zeffirelli and Baz Lhurmann are mostly to do with the audience expectations, for example in Franco Zeffirelli version of the film the aimed audience age group would have been people 25 years old and above. This coincides with the slow, traditional pace of his film. Baz Lhurmman aimed his version of Romeo and Juliet at a younger age group so he made his film faster and placed it in a modern background to help people relate to the story.

In the time Franco Zeffirelli’s film was in the cinemas the audience would ...

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In the time Franco Zeffirelli’s film was in the cinemas the audience would have wanted to see a traditional setting for the Shakespearean play. There is evidence of Franco Zeffirelli fulfilling the audience expectations in the film as the characters in the film wear Shakespearian costumes and use props such as swords while the setting is placed in a 16th century market square.

When Baz Lhurmann released his film the audience expectations had changed dramatically and they would have wanted to see a setting that they could relate to. There is evidence of Baz Lhurmann succeeding in his aim of making the film more accessible to the audience by using modern day costume and using props such as cars and guns he improves the changes that he made by placing the story in a 20th century city using bill board advertising to show the power of each family.

In Franco Zeffirelli film version of Romeo and Juliet various camera shots were used, most of the shots taken are very slow but they seemed to speed up when a scene with some action, in doing this he added tension to the scenes with action. Franco Zeffirelli used medium shots more than any other shot in the film and in the shots the camera stays still with very little movement in doing this it makes the audience more aware of the surrounding scenery, the story line and the dialogue.

In Baz Lhurmann’s film version of Romeo and Juliet the camera shots were fast and some zoom was used. The zoom helped emphasise key differences between the 16th century and 20th century. Baz Lhurmann also used slow motion and extreme close up to some scenes to add to the tension in them. He seemed to use a variety of shots throughout the beginning of the film, the shots mostly used were panning, extreme close up and zoom these techniques keep the audience of the edge of their seats and also make the film more exciting to his target audience.

In Franco Zeffirelli’s version of Romeo and Juliet there was not a lot of extra diegetic sound used except at the start of the film when the prologue begins this is used to help set the scene. After the prologue there is only diegetic sound in doing this it helps the camera shots make the film more exciting when the action scenes start, by using very little use of extra diegetic sound it makes the film more traditional and makes it more like a play than a film.

Baz Lhurmann uses a lot of extra diegetic sound, it is used where the action scenes take place, in doing this it adds to the tension, excitement and it makes the viewer want to continue watching in the film. There was also fading used to help emphasize certain objects in the film. In using a variety of camera shots it makes the film adaptation easier to understand for the younger audience, who would be tempted to watch the film due to the fast camera shots an extra diegetic sound.

There are many differences between the two films. A key difference is the setting of each film, the city atmosphere, fast camera speeds and extra diegetic sound in Baz Lhurmann’s version of Romeo and Juliet is better suited for the target audience. It is better suited as the audience would have expected to see a modern scene with the fast camera shots.

The market square, slow camera movement and very little use of extra diegetic sound in Franco Zeffirelli’s version of Romeo and Juliet is suited to the 1968 audience, as they would have preferred to see a traditional atmosphere to a Shakespearian play.

By Shyam Shastri 10.8