A Comparison of Two Film Versions of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

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A Comparison of Two Film Versions of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet Making a film is hard, but it’s even harder when you’re trying to make your film about an incredibly famous play, William Shakespeares’ Romeo and Juliet. Trying to capture Shakespeare’s beautiful creation as well as adding your own personal touch takes weeks of dedicated work, especially when your film is competing with other adaptations of the play. I have compared two very different versions of the play, by Zefferilli and Baz Luhrman. During the prologue in each film, I noticed many differences and some similarities. There appeared to be more differences, as they were very obvious, many similarities I didn’t notice until the second viewing. They weren’t as common and weren’t as clear as the differences. The most noticeable differenace was a choice made by Baz Luhrman. He chose to repeat the prologue. In his film the prologue was spoken twice, then said again a third time with the words on the screen. This difference reflects his younger intended audience. Using the repetition made the prologue a lot easier to understand as it was clearly stated three times, helping younger people to be aware of the background to the story. The choice of music in the separate prologues was another obvious difference that sets the films apart. The music in Zeffirelli’s was soft, calm and medieval, which emphasizes the period in which the film is set. The music in Baz Luhrman’s was almost the opposite. It was loud and dramatic, which set the pace for the next part of the film, the fight. The films have their similarities, such as the male voice over that was used. I think that both directors chose this so that a traditional Shakespearian feel would be kept to their films.

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