How Do The Opening Scenes Of Baz Luhrmans 'Romeo and Juliet' Attract and Maintain Audience Attention

In the first two minutes of the film there is a news reader on a television reporting about what happens in the story, she is talking in the past tense so she must be reporting about what happened after it actuallly happened. The television is surrounded by black. There is very powerfull operatic music playing in the background. There are also subtitles coming up at the same time as a man saying what is written in the subtitles, the subtitles and the man are telling you what happens in the film. The television being surrounded by black will interest people because black is usually associated with evil and people are typically curious about bad things. Shakespeare often used the colour black or bad weather to signify evil or wrong doings. The news reader telling what happens in the story before the film starts draws people in because then they concentrate on how what happens, happens. Newspapers also use this method to attract people to their articles, they put a sub-heading telling you what happened before going into the main article which contains all of the details. Being able to concentrate on how it happens and not what happens will let people enjoy the film for what it is and how it is made rather than making them confused as to what is going on. The music attracts people because it is very powerfull and seems to get right to your soul. The tone of the music backs up the evilness of the black background and and the sadness of what the news reader is saying. The subtitles coming up at the same time as the man speaking gives double impact about what happens in the film, you are seeing and hearing what happens at the same time this is feeding you lots of information and peole like to have knowledge. During the first two minutes of the film there are also flashes of images from scenes from further on in the film, the scenes look appealing so they would make people want to carry on watching the film so that they can see the rest of those scenes.

After the first two minutes of the film the main story starts. The immediate impact of the very first scenes is very strong. The flashes of scenes you get to start with are of police helicopters, guns, the church and a big statue of an angel. All of these things, especially the religion based images, are very close to alot of peoples hearts. Relating to people in this way will draw them into the film because they might feel a bond with the film and it's characters. This may be another reason to watch the film, individuals might view the film to see how the characters coped, or didn't cope, with their situation. The flashes of scenes are accompanied by operatic music, there is a new image flashed up avery time an extra powerful section of music is sounded which makes you pay more attention to what is being shown.

The gas station scene uses a lot of strong images. Using powerful images make the film interesting and so keeps the audience attentive. Two of the most powerful scenes are: When Samson is getting hit over the head with a lady's hand bag. I think this scene is effective because it brings a bit of lightheartedness and humour into a film that is renowned for being a tragedy. Adding comedy is a clever thing to do because although people like to watch 'weepy' films they also enjoy a good bit of comedy.If an audience likes what they see they will continue to watch.

Another good image is when Tybalt Capulet says he hates peace as he hates hell. This is an interesting scene because it makes Tybalt's personality sound complicated. Tybalt is saying that he hates peace and peace is a good thing, but he's also saying he hates hell and hell is a bad hing. He is contradicting himself. He also contradicts himself with the clothes that he wears, he wears black clothes with a picture of Jesus on them. The black symbolises evil, Jesus symbolises good. Making Tybalt sound interesting in this way would maintain audience attention because they would want to see if they could find out more about him so that they could understand his character.

There are a lot of introductions during the gas station scene, these introductions help people to keep watching because they tell people who the characters using subtitles so that they can understand the film and not give up and turn the film of because the can't follow the story line.

The use of colour during the gas station scene keeps people interested by making it possible for the audience to identify the different families (Montegue and Capulet) by the colours that they wear. The Montegues are dressed in brightly coloured Hawaiian shirts and have an almost fluorescent yellow car. These bold colours tell the viewers that the Montegues are fun loving and lively, it portrays them as being the good guys. The Capulets are dressed in black and have a dark blue car. These dull colours make the audience think of the Capulets as the bad guys. As the Capulets have Italien looks as well as being dressed in black the audienc may even associate them with the Mafia.

Luhrmans use of music in this scene helped the scene to be interesting and make an impact. There is bright and lively dance music playing when the Montagues come on which has the same affect as the bright colours and makes them seem playful. When them Capulets arrive the dance music changes to a western theme, this suggests that there could be a fight between the two families because in old western movies this music would start up just as a gun fight was about to begin.This helps people to keep watching because they have pre-warning of what's to come so if they don't want to watch the action scene then they don't have to but, on the other hand if a person loves action movies was watching it would add to their suspence and make them want to watch more to see how good the action scene is and how many other fights there are. Having music during the scene is usefull because it makes the images when there is no music alot more attention grabbing e.g. When Tybalt crunches the match. The music stops when the subtitles come up aswell, this makes you pay more attention to what is written.

I think that Luhrman chose to direct the scenes in this way to create the 'wow' effect, he wanted to shock the audience and say that Shakespeare can be modern and 'cool.' I also think he made the scenes as they are because he wanted to make the Shakespearian language easier to understand.

I like the way that the scenes are made to be easily understandable because Shakespearian language is difficult to grasp and if the scenes weren't presented in this way I would get confused. The way that the scenes are put together makes you forget that it is not modern language that is being spoken. I like the way that Luhrman uses colour, music and subtitles to help you to identify the characters. If the audience is confused and doesn't have a clue what's going on then they aren't going to continue to watch the film.

I think that Luhrman has succeded in creating a section of film which attracts and maintains audience attention effectively. Luhrman has managed to turn Shakespeare's writing into an easily understandable, modern, interesting film without losing any of the original magic.