Romeo and Juliet - Analysis | hillarymediastudies

Romeo and Juliet - Opening Sequence Analysis

This is the analysis of Baz Luhrmann's 'William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet' (1996) opening sequence.

The first scene, consists of a black mis-en-scene (background) with a t.v. in the middle which turns on to show the name of the studio and the director.

Following that, the camera zooms in to a news broadcast where the presenter, a woman, introduces the story to the viewer. Using Shakespearean language set in a modern day environment, she is used to represent the narrator in a play. In her dialogue she talks about the "crossed lovers" and mentions their "death" this gives the audience an idea of the genre; romance and the theme of love versus family hatred, which kind of gives the story away, but manages to keep the audience's attention by raising a series of enigmas.

After the news broadcast, the editing speeds up the camera's zoom-in, taking the audience in a ride of what looks like the city's skyscraper however, this is being constantly interrupted by the bold-white text 'In fair Verona' with a repeated black background that links back to the first scene of the T.V. The lack of information in the mis-en-scene adds tension and increases the viewer's intrigue.

Dramatic music is added, to set a tense and mysterious mood. This tune is called O Verona and is a latin translation of the prologue which is narrated later on. The non-diegetic sound instantly wakes up the audience and fastens their heartbeat setting a rapid tone of anticipation.

This fast pace is kept by the short-timed close up of a religious statue that zooms out to show the first long shot of the production design - which by now, we know it's Verona -. In the section following that, the editing is very clear as we are presented with fast cut shots that last about a second, and are continuous. The music fades out, giving way for the male voice - over narration of the prologue.

The non-diegetic prologue starts with the image of the "two households", now being introduced as the Montagues and Capulets by the use of a zoomed-in family tree(diagram). A couple of aerial shots are used as establishing shots and with the accompaniment of the voice-over to confirm that the film is set in "fair Verona".

Jim Billcock, the editor, used cutaways to accompany the voice-over narration. As he talks about ancient grudge, we see a close-up of a newspaper headline which reads 'Ancient grudge'.
This makes the scene much more interesting as well as engages the audience into reading and listening both at the same time. I think this technique is used to maintain the audience's attention. In between the newspaper headlines, there is short clips of a war-like scenes, where people are running and soldiers are hiding getting ready to attack. Those clips present the genre of action and also represent the themes of violence, war etc. There's a repeated sound motif of a helicopter flying which preserves the tension and suspense from the previous song.

Moreover, the shots that follow are two shots (close-ups) of main characters. They are the first characters presented to the audience and since they are framed in a two shot, we understand the relationship between them. The mise-en-scene is shown by the facial expression which suggest a kind of rivality between them. Their introduction portrays modern-day characters, their costume and props suggest they belong to a higher-class and also shows the age difference between them; there's older characters and more younger characters too. Additionally there's also different ethnicity which adds to the idea that this is set in a developed modern day world, which breaks the old picture of the Shakesperean Romeo and Juliet.

Then there's a repetition of the black background with white text on it, used as a cutaway to emphasize the two sentences conveying them as important. The fade-in of the song O Verona is used over the close-up freeze frames of the seven characters who are now given a name and role in this film. The way the director introduces these characters links in a modern way into how actors would be introduced in a play and reminds us that this is in fact a film, of a play.

As the editing starts to go through images faster, the first shot we see after being introduced to some of the characters, is a half-face shot of an unknown person. This convention produces intrigue and a bit of shock as the audience wonder who this might be. Subsequently, the edit becomes faster and so does the duration of each shot. There is also an increase in the volume of the song which is again, speeding up the tone and changing the mood from just tense to an eager anxiety. In addition, these shots are part of the film and serve as a summary of what is going to happen. Through these shots the audience can reinforce their idea of what to expect as well as to know a bit more of the feud between this two families.

Finally, this is stopped by the sudden bounce of the title 'William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet' it is the first time we see the title and it allows the audience to breath and go over what they've just seen. The music dies out slowly allowing a new happier, rythmic beat to take its place. A right-hand side push in takes us to the beginning of the film. It is a key scene as the mise-en-scene of the clothing juxtaposes against the old Shakesperean dialogue that portrays the character's rebellious careless behaviour; the yellow car, hawaiian style t-shirts and crazy hairstyles shows it is set in a modern world, which feels unexpected due to their language but suggests that they will cause trouble.

In terms of narrative techniques, this opening sequence maintains an omniscient narrative, switching from different narrators that tell the story as they see it. The audience see it from an outsider's point of view.

It also presents an interesting structure as I think much of the desiquilibrium is introduced in the opening sequence by the use of short takes - montage editing - showing the war between the two families.

As a whole, the Romeo & Juliet opening sequence contains many of the typical conventions expected; the introduction ( a brief summary) of the story - done by the T.V scene; short cuts that introduce the characters, this is not so used since characters are introduced as the film progresses but since this is already a well-known story, it works to keep that play-like essence and lastly the presentation of the setting. This opening sequence seems more like an actual summary - as a lot of information is given to the audience nonetheless it doesn't ruin the film as it makes the audience comfortable with what they're about to see.

Lastly, in comparison to other opening sequences this would be a very clear, complete one. However, I must reiterate that this is mostly because the public who go to watch this film go already knowing what is going to happen but want to experiment and see new re-creations. This opening sequence does well in giving a little taste of how this film is different to the rest.

It has been structured and edited to feel like the introduction of a play. Personally, I see it as a mixture of 'acts' and film scenes. Each character is given a name and role, this is not a typical convention for an opening sequence, as the audience are left to find out this details as the film progresses. On the other hand, the short takes and cuts connote the action and give a brief summary of the story this is a common convention since it not only gives a small taste of what to expect but also shows some frameworks (genre, themes).