Baz Luhrmann chose to begin like this because it was the most suitable way to keep the audience, especially the youngsters, to say ‘what happens next?’ and want to carry on watching the film without getting bored. Luhrmann’s main idea was to get the begging fast and furious to hold on to the audience and want them to understand Shakespeare’s script with them imitating what the words meant in movements, body language, how they said it etc. He used this because is most other films, the beginnings were started off with action to hold on to its audience without boring them and making want more.
The gas station was the most important scene in the beginning of the film. This is because they used 170 different shots just to make up the first five minutes, this is because there was a lot of action, slow motion, fast movements, cameras zooming in and out, fast editing of certain scenes etc. IT started off with the Montague’s coming in the scene with their car in to one part of the gas station and the Capulet’s entering the scene on the other part of the gas station. The introduction of each character is set out by showing the characters and pausing them with their names on them. They introduce each side to us by zooming onto the bottom of their guns when they threaten each other, under each sides guns, their names are written which is the Capulet’s and the Montague’s.
The fight starts off when the Montague’s see the Capulet’s, the Capulet’s scare the Montague’s and the Montague’s insult the Capulet’s by biting their thumb at the them. At this moment the head of the Montague’s come out and start the fight, straight away a shoot out starts and they shoot at each other. When they shoot at each other the camera uses slow motion, fast editing etc to show the audience action to get their focus on the film. The camera basically introduces the characters slowly and then uses fast editing thereafter.
The music used in the film varies a lot as there was a mixture of music used, this ranged from, rock to spaghetti western. This were used in specific parts of the film. The beginning started off with classical when the dialogue was read out by a deep male voice, the part when the Montague’s are in their car is rock and hip hop, and the part where the Capulet’s are introduced is spaghetti western. There were also other sound effects used in the film when one of the Capulet’s had ‘SIN’ written on a metal plate above his tooth which was an animals voice which frightened the Montague’s. There’s also other sounds for instance ‘whoosh’ when bullets fly past their heads, music played when the characters are in slow motion etc This is all used to attract the audiences attention and to get them pumped up, the music is basically ion your face.
Tybalt’s shoes makes a particular noise when he walks, this is ‘ching’, this noise particularly gets to the audience when he puts out a match in the gas station by rubbing the metal part on the match to the floor, this sends a shiver through the spines of some people which is used to get the full attention of some people or it makes them look at it in great detail.
The representations of each gang is set out differently. Montague’s is introduced first and are shown as trouble makers, this is done by them being dressed up in normal casual wear, for instance, baggy colourful clothing, more open etc. The music used to show them is more of a rock type of song but it also features them listening to hip hop when one part of the music goes ‘the boys! the boys!’. They are shown to be the cool boys of the town who have a great car and ride around listening to loud music. They shout when they talk, this is to attract the audiences attention once again. They also chase off the sisters in the gas station by one of the members licking his nipple in front of them who he then confronts the Capulet’s. The Capulet’s are shown to be more serious with their gang but the representation of the Montague’s are shown as they are the hipsters of the area who are out for a laugh and a good time. This represents the Montague’s innocent in the shoot out and the Capulet’s of the more powerful side having a laugh with them with their powerful ook.
The Capulet’s look more formal with their clothing, music and style. The are introduced with ‘roar’ when they enter the gas station, the music used to show their gangs image is spaghetti western, this type of music was extracted from western films and edited onto the ‘Romeo & Juliet’ film, the camera looks up at the Capulet’s, this makes the audience think they are bigger, this is shown as they are cool when they see the Montague’s but when the Montague’s see the Capulet’s they look frightened. The Capulet’s are dressed up in suits, making them look more powerful and classy. The music makes the audience think they are stronger as western music is edited into the background. Their image though makes them look evil, in other words the bad ones and presume that the Montague's are the good ones as they look more frightened and child like. After this point, the audience automatically presume that the Capulet’s are the bad gang and the Montague's are the good gang in town.
The representation of the character of Tybalt is quite simply as the biggest person in the beginning of the film. This is due to the fact that he is shown in detailed view from the audience view with the movements he does, the way he talks to the others, the way he shows no fear, the way the camera looks up at him etc. Right from the beginning where he sets foot outside the gas station, people think of him as a ‘big guy’, this is because the camera takes a while for it to go from bottom of his feet to the top part of his body, it almost creates a suspense for the audience wanting to see what he looks like.
His looks says it all really as his slick hair style tells us that he is a very neat man, his appearance makes us think he is the leader of a mafia, the way he talks makes the others frightened etc. He wears a suit with a detailed waist coat with the image of Mary on it holding Jesus. The music behind him is spaghetti western. The movements he does are from like Spanish dancing. The way he speaks is slow and calmly and in nothing but hate. The imagery of him is as if he’s the most powerful man in the film, as from his metal boots. The camera always looks up at him and makes him look evil when the camera does a close up of just his eyes. He also has a cigar in his mouth all the time making him look powerful again as no other character has this with their appearance.
Bas Luhrmann was very successful with Romeo & Juliet because he was able to achieve his goals of reaching out for the MTV generation. The critics didn’t think very much of the film and thought it wouldn’t go anywhere but with the proof of sales worldwide, he achieved his main goal which was to get youngsters interested in watching a Shakespeare play or film without getting bored. HE set the film in a very particular way as he put everything in great detail so that the audience can understand everything and not get lost and saying ‘what does that mean’, the film was produced so well, people forget about the Shakespeare script and think of it or interpret it in their minds and almost think of it as the characters are speaking in modern language. He achieved this by producing a film with action packed scenes, the beginning of the film was made up with 170 different scenes edited together, modern equipment used to represent old equipment, for instance the guns are represented in place for swords, cars represent wagons etc.
HE reached his main aim of reaching out for the MTV generation throughout the world as the sales figures were huge, in order of him achieving was done through heavy advertising of the film worldwide showing them that a Shakespeare film can be fun watching and still understand it through its original dialogue. He also achieved this through music, as he included music from what people preferred listening when the film was made which was classical, rock, hip hop which is what attracted most MTV generation audiences etc.
