The Techniques Luhrmann Uses to Draw his Audience into the Film Romeo and Juliet
The film "Romeo and Juliet" is written by William Shakespeare but
directed by Baz Luhrmann in this instance. This production was made in
1997. It is a modern film set in today's world therefore it differs
from the original Elizabethan setting of 1595. The costumes, scenery
and hairstyles are modern whilst the language is the same. The focus
of this essay will be to analyse how the opening of the film is
directed in order to make it compelling viewing.
A chorus normally reads the prologue on the stage of the theatre.
Luhrmann alters this to great dramatic effect by using a black, female
newsreader on a television screen. She reads out the prologue as if it
is the breaking piece of news. Using a black person reflects today's
changing society. Society now is more mixed and she appeals to a wider
audience. In using a newsreader on the television a modern day
audience feels familiarity rather than watching a chorus dressed in
Elizabethan costume. A newsreader always commands attention and so the
modern audience will listen closely to this summary of the play. It is
an important message.
Following this, a male reporter with a deep authoritative voice
reports from the scene of the action in Verona. This is a new addition
by the director and does not occur in the original play. The tone of
his voice catches the audience's attention as he reports the romantic
tragedy. There are also glimpses of the front pages of newspapers
reporting the deaths in Verona. Because the action is front-page news
then it is important.
A frame of the family trees of the Capulets and Montagues on different
sides going up in flames reinforces the tension between their two
important families from Verona. The bitterness between the two
families has brought about the downfall of both Romeo and Juliet.
Characters are introduced during this prologue in a Dallas/ Dynasty
style fashion, which a modern audience is used to.
The book begins with a prologue dated March 4, 1865, on the day of Abraham Lincoln’s second inauguration, a photographer is preparing for the event and in the background, the capitol building is under construction. A man is watching, unsatisfied with the events
This book had first started out by introducing the readers to what this book is going to sound like, which was the Introduction.
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,
The prologue introduces several of the novel's major themes, the most prominent being that of winter harshness. Hence, it foreshadows the major events in the book and provides insight into the personalities of the characters.
costumes, the actors and the way he has cut the script all add up to
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 1596, William Shakespeare published the tragic tale of two star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet. The origins of this story are uncertain but Shakespeare’s chief source for his adoption of the story was from “…The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet, a poem by Arthur Brooke (1562). He also knew the story from Palace of Pleasure, by William Painter, which appeared in several editions prior to 1580.”(Boyce 563) Shakespeare’s classic tale is about “two young lovers caught in the crossfire of a senseless family feud.”(Shakespeare 3) This feud between the two families ultimately is the cause of the two lovers untimely demise. In 1996, Baz Luhrmann produced a modern film of the classic tragedy entitled William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet. Adding familiar images and common ideas, Luhrmann brought the classic story to modern times. Though Romeo + Juliet has many differences from the original version from Shakespeare, it supports the original characters, themes, dialogue, and key issues of the classic tale of the star-crossed lovers.
Romeo and Juliet is a play about two adolescents—Romeo and Juliet from two hostile families fall in love with each other. This prohibited love ultimately turns into a romantic tragedy, in which they commit suicide for each other. Both Franco Zeffirelli’s (1968) and Baz Lurhmann’s (1996) versions retained the dialogues written by William Shakespeare in their movies. However, these two movies are directed in their own unique ways, which have several distinctive differences.
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 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.
‘Romeo and Juliet’ is a tragic play about two star crossed lovers written by Shakespeare in 1595. The play is a timeless teenage tradgedy. “The play champions the 16th Century belief that true love always strikes at first sight,” (Lamb 1993: Introduction) and even in modern times an audience still want to believe in such a thing as love at first sight. Act II Scene II the balcony scene displays that romantic notion perfectly.
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.