Next is a series of clips showing the good and ugly side of the city. The voice over starts narrating the prologue in a slow but steady tone of voice, alongside newspaper images with long shots showing the two feuding families. In addition, the newspaper headlines are in zoom angles, which reveal exactly what the narrator is saying. The fast paced opera music and the zoomed faces of the main characters show that this is going to be a tragic film and this increases the suspense and builds tension among the viewers.
The film opens with a zoomed image of one of Benvolio’s henchman shouting out from a convertible. This shows that this is a fairly modern remake. The atmosphere is excited, vibrant, and sunny and the boys are having the time of their lives. Suddenly, they are introduced as the ‘Montague Boys’. The long shot shows the full background of the streets. The car registration plate is zoomed in to reveal the name of the family.
Suddenly, the camera moves to the left hand side to reveal the arrival of the Capulet’s. There is a sharp contrast between the family cars, yellow and blue. I think the producers must have done this on purpose. The colour yellow represents happy and vibrant people while blue symbolises calmness, peace and serenity. The irony is that the Capulets do not match the colour blue. The door flew open; we see a low angle shot of the metal shoes belonging to Tybalt, the prince of cats. This shows his power and authority. The clicking of the metal shoes increases the tension, followed by the producers cleverly showing the hustle movements of the nuns, with their laughter easing away the tension.
The humour fades away as Abra is introduced. The medium shot reveals his personality as a no-nonsense and aggressive character. At that point, the sound effects stop and the scene moves from subtle to action. Fear is written all over the Montague’s faces. The camera is zoomed intro Benvolio’s friend’s gun patch. This shows the rivalry between the two families. Various shots of medium and zooms are used to show us the weapons of both families and gives the viewers an indication that something bad is about to happen.
The fast music suddenly stops to ease the tension once again. Abra scares them by opening his metal teeth and an extreme close up is used so we can see it clearly. The camera moves the action to the rear view mirror in which Abra sees that one of the Montague boys is biting his thumb t him. Abra reacts by spinning the car around- a long shot is used here to reveal how it is done. He jumps out and the Montagues start to scatter to the other direction.
Chaos is unleashed with both families as they argued over trivial maters. This gives to show that younger members start quarrels that eventually lead to tragedy or a ferocious fight for no reason. Benvolio, who is revealed at this point through medium shot, is seen pointing a gun at the Capulets. The fast- paced music is used to enlighten the tension in this scene. The lady hitting her bag on one of the Montague’s head is used to ease the tension. Humour is introduced when the tension is at its peak.
Although Benvolio is pointing his gun, you can still see his soft spots because he is standing, shivering. The camera moves to a banner that says; ‘Add more fuel to your fire’. Benvolio’s eyes move from the banner to Tybalt and from Tybalt to the banner. The producer quickly introduces the face of Tybalt through zoomed shot. He looks calm and fearless, and at the same time fierce.
A whistle- like sound, similar to western music, is played just as Tybalt is introduced. This implies that there is going to be a fight. Suspense is created in this part of the scene as both characters stare in each others eyes. Tybalt slowly reveals his weapons and the camera slowly captures the images as well as the fearful eye of Benvolio who is not really ready for this tense atmosphere. He slowly retreats his weapons and started to talk about peace, saying” All I do is try to keep the peace”, with Tybalt responding; “I hate the word peace” . The camera zooms in to reveal the aggressive and mindless eyes of Tybalt. This means that the viewers have to be weary of the character of Tybalt because we can see he is no peacemaker like Benvolio. Benvolio’s weak eyes are also revealed and there is a sharp contrast of both characters’ personality.
Suddenly, one word from a child triggers Tybalt’s aggressive side, and he plucks out his gun and pointed it to an innocent child. This shows the theme of violence from the onset. The mother is seen screaming with gun shots and crazy rampant scenes of violence developing in the petrol station. The petrol falls on Benvolio and this implies that the case has gone from bad to worse and there is going to be a fire- as petrol and fires should never mix. The camera reveals a long shot angle to show what the atmosphere looks like.
Tybalt removes his jacket with the speed of lightening, drops to the ground and reloads his gun. At this point, the camera concentrates on the lower part of his body to show us how he does it. The fast- pace music dies down and just as there is peace and understanding in everyone’s face, the match dropped on the petrol. This scene is now like a battlefield, where it is all about the survival of the fittest. Suddenly, the opera music starts again, but this time to relax the viewers.
