Analysis of the Techniques Used by Baz Luhrmann in His Adaptation to the Opening of Romeo and Juliet
Baz Luhrmann starts the opening to his adaptation of ‘Romeo and
Juliet’ by displaying to the viewer a 20th Century Fox logo. There are
quick camera shots that pan from the ground on all sides of the plinth
of the 20th Century Fox statue. The use of a pan shot emphasises the
film production company’s logo and inveigles the audience to watch
more, as this is a very popular film company that have made many good
movies, and the emphasis reiterates that this will be another one of
there good movies. Therefore the audience is intrigued to watch more.
Stately, traditional colours are used on the logo to make it stand out
more to the audience and a drum roll can be heard in the background as
this builds up suspense.
After this, we are shocked with a colour contrast because we are shown
a plain, black background with a tiny television screen on it. We then
establish that this is the opening to the film and we are focused on
the screen because of the contrast we have just seen between the
bright gold’s and the dull black’s. The small television we see is a
small one and fairly simplistic and we are therefore interested as to
what will follow. The television gets larger and wider and then we see
an open-minded, dispassionate newsreader enter the screen and read the
prologue to the play. When the readers’ attention is focused on the
newsreader, a small ring appears in the corner which represents love
and marriage. This ring is broken, which implies that marriage may be
lost or broken during the film. The newsreader is a black, American
women and the use of this suggests that the play has been modified to
suit the modern day audience and because she is black, she shows
equality among people. Moreover the use of a newsreader is used to
make the audience listen and believe her because when ever we see the
out of the movie. He did this to shorten the movie and also to make it
Romeo and Juliet is a play about two lovers who have to risk their lives in order to demonstrate their love and will to stay together, regardless the feud between their families. By the end, the death of Romeo and Juliet finally bring the reconciliation to these two families. It is fate that the two most shall-not meet people fall in love and it love that eventually won against hatred. Since then, there have been many different versions of Romeo and Juliet, whether it was for film, stage, musicals. These different recontextualised adaptions change the original play by many ways, some modernise the language, environment, props as well as changing the original characteristics of some characters. Out of all the different adaptions of Romeo and Juliet, two stood out the most. One was the Romeo and Juliet (1996) and directed by Baz Luhrmann and the other one was Romeo and Juliet Broadway (2013) play version,
music changes to show that she is sad. We then get a close up of
Baz Luhrmann's Success of Making Romeo & Juliet Accessible to a Modern Audience. In this essay I am going to write about how successfully Baz Luhrmann made his film Romeo and Juliet accessible to a modern audience. Baz Luhrmann uses Shakespeare's authentic text, combining it with a modern setting. This combination attracts the off spring of the modern.
in the way he speaks in a sly voice. He is the perfect actor to play
The environment surrounding the star-crossed lovers in the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet can influence audiences who may interpret the scenes in different ways. The audience can be greatly affected in their interpretation of the story by the mise-en-scene, costuming, and the hidden symbolic meaning. This great piece of literature was edited in two unique and intriguing forms, one Zeferelli directed which was filmed in 1968, and the modern version produced in 1996. The different scenes throughout the length of the party were the most influential to me in that I saw how different these movies were directed, and the different meaning I experienced from watching these movies. Focusing on the environment of the scenes and the costuming helped me in my interpretation, because I found hidden symbolism from these two qualities.
Luhrmann’s 1996 Romeo and Juliet is compelling when communicating the main ideas of the play by providing the audience with a modern translation of the play using the motifs in the film which correlate to the play.
He uses close ups of Romeo and Lord Capulet. The close up of Romeo is
Romeo and Juliet presents an ongoing feud between the Montague and Capulet families whose children meet and fall in love. Markedly, the meeting scene depicting love at first sight continues to be praised by today’s critics. Romeo and Juliet then receive the label of star-crossed lovers whose tragic demise is written in the stars. In fact, Shakespeare 's work is well received and its numerous adaptations have made it one of his most enduring and notorious stories. The cinematic world brings to the screens a disastrous approach by Baz Luhrmann to do the play justice. A glance at Baz Luhrmann’s productions allows audiences to assume he delivers movies which are unlike those of any other filmmaker today, or perhaps ever. Therefore, blending a delicate
Baz Luhrmann's Production of William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Julie in Baz Luhrmann's production of William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet", our expectations are swept aside and a modern film appears. When I sit down to watch one of Shakespeare's plays, I expect to see medieval clothes in a rural setting with plenty of poor people. I also expect the words and acting to blend together harmoniously. Instead Baz Luhrmann chose to set the opening scene at a beachside, gas. station.
...e tragic celebration of young, forbidden love told by William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, has been tailored for many motion picture adaptations. The most famous of these adaptations are Franco Zeffirelli’s version and Baz Lurhmann’s film produced in 1996. These two films applied Shakespeare’s most well-known work as a basis for their motion pictures. Both films had similarities, but the differences were much more apparent. Ever since William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet has been debuted, it has and forever will be an artistic influence for playwrights, directors, and other artists.
Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet is a film that converts Shakespeare’s famous play into a present-day setting. The film transforms the original texts into modern notions, whilst still employing Shakespearean language. Compared to Franco Zeffirelli’s adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, Luhrmann’s picture is easier for a teenage audience to understand and relate to because of his modernisations. Despite the passing of four centuries Shakespeare’s themes of love, hate, violence, family and mortality remain the same regardless of the setting.
Baz Lurhmann’s creation of the film Romeo and Juliet has shown that today’s audience can still understand and appreciate William Shakespeare. Typically, when a modern audience think of Shakespeare, they immediately think it will be boring, yet Lurhmann successfully rejuvenates Romeo and Juliet. In his film production he uses a number of different cinematic techniques, costumes and a formidably enjoyable soundtrack; yet changes not one word from Shakespeare’s original play, thus making it appeal to a modern audience.
Zeffirelli’s ultimate goal for his version of Romeo and Juliet was to capture Shakespeare’s original intentions for the play while targeting the teenage audience of his generation. Luhrmann’s intentions were different however; he changed the way an audience looks at Shakespeare’s masterpiece by modernising the props, costumes, and sets. Obviously, to match film time quotas Zefirelli and Luhrmann has both cut many lines out of the play.
How Baz Luhrmann Uses Props, Iconography, Costumes, and Settings to Create His Own Version of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet William Shakespeare’s best loved tragedy, Romeo and Juliet, has been portrayed in theatres and on film in many different ways. But none have been quite like Baz Luhrmann’s imaginative and unconventional adaptation. He has brought aspects of the plays Elizabethan origins and transfused them with a modern day background and created, what can only be described as a masterpiece. I believe that his use of Props, iconography costumes and the settings he has chosen has helped him to make this film such a great success. The settings of each scene have been specifically chosen to create a desired affect.