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. The first scene is a television which automatically brings the modern feel to the film. As the camera gives the sense of the television moving slowly towards us we suddenly break into a quick speedy montage showing the story and some of the characters. The introduction to the play is repeated, once on the television by the news reader and again during the opening montage. This may be to create effect or perhaps to show the importance and publicity this story had. The scene in the petrol station focuses on the rivalry and hatred of the two families, The Capulets and the Montagues. The two families have contrasting clothes, cars, styles and looks. The Montague boys have bright vibrant colours implying their childish and somewhat carefree behaviour, all with blond hair, blue eyes and fair skin, whereas the Capulets wear all black which shows they have more of an evil side. They have the dark hair, eyes and skin... ... middle of paper ... ... Money is not an issue to these families. The families are also very religious; this is shown by the iconography in the film. The title of the film ‘Romeo + Juliet’ there is a cross in the middle which can indicate religion or the joining of two people. With crosses shaved into characters heads, t-shirts with saintly figures, and even characters stance shaped like Jesus this shows that religion is not only part of the families’ lifestyles but also a very important aspect of the play. Props, iconography setting, and costumes play a large roll in this film and every other film. Without these I think we would find it hard to follow the story and most importantly to relate to the characters. Baz Luhrmann has done this film in a unique and brilliant way, with help of the above, and of course a great loved story as a base.
out of the movie. He did this to shorten the movie and also to make it
Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and Baz Lurhmann's Film Version Previously, in Act 2 Scene 6, we have seen Romeo and Juliet marrying one another thus binding the Montagues with the Capulets together. The marriage had to take place in secret, due to the war between the two families. We see at the beginning of Act 3 Scene 1, the behaviour between Romeo, Mercutio and Tybalt reflect the hatred between the Montagues and Capulets. Throughout this essay I shall be looking at the main characters of Act 3 Scene 1, also I will discuss the way Shakespeare presents the characters in the play and in contrast with Baz Lurhmann's film of Romeo and Juliet, to see if Lurhmann adds anything to how the characters are represented in the film. At the start of act 3 scene 1 we see Mercutio's arrogance, as when confronted by Tybalt, he tells him that he "will not budge".
him in a very similar shot to one in which we see Juliet from during
music changes to show that she is sad. We then get a close up of
Designing the Set for William Shakespeare' s Romeo and Juliet I am going to look at each scene in which Romeo and Juliet appear
Baz Luhrmann's Production of Romeo and Juliet Romeo seems like a passionate, romantic and excitable young man. He seems to like the idea of being in love, although I would suggest the feelings he has for Juliet begin only as infatuation and grow throughout the balcony scene. In the beginning of the scene Romeo is portrayed as determined, wary and possibly a little frightened as he knocks over furniture and scrambles up the trellis. His eyes are continuously darting around and you get a sense of desperation because he is panting.
in the way he speaks in a sly voice. He is the perfect actor to play
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.
A Film Review of the Opening Sequences of Baz Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet Baz Luhrmann's film "Romeo and Juliet" is a modern version of William Shakespeare's famous play. The whole film is fascinating and entertaining. It really attracts the audiences' attention by the fast moving of cameras angles and thrilling actions of the actors. I particularly like the opening sequence of the film.
Luhrmann modernised Romeo and Juliet through regular amendments of the props and costumes. In updating these aspects of the film, Luhrmann makes the play more relevant to our everyday modern environment. The actors in Luhrmann’s version carry guns instead of swords. Luhrmann, in an act of ingenious brand the guns with titles such as “Sword,” thus, enabling the original Shakespearean language to be preserved. Costumes differ dramatically between both versions of the film. In Luhrmann’s depiction of the motion picture, the Montagues have buzz cuts and pink hair whereas, the Capulets’ dress in vests and mainly dark clothes. All of these adjustments to the original play contribute to the popularity of the fil...
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.
In Romeo & Juliet, one major element of design is the setting because the film took place in Verona, Italy which suggests the use of décor, costumes, and hairstyles. Zefirelli uses on location within an exterior scene in figure one as a key element of symbolism that portrays the division between the two families living in separate castles. Another element of design that Zefirelli uses are costumes in order to distinguish the differences between the Capulet family and the Montague family. In figures two and three, Juliet is wearing a “high-waisted empire dress made from thick, plush velvet, with flowing sleeves” that is more of a subtle red and gold costume, while the Capulet family’s costumes were more contrast colors of red and gold (CITE). Zefirelli differentiated Juliet from her family in order to portray to the audience that her family is a part of the conflict, while she is portrayed as an unbiased character. He also distinguishes Romeo and his family’s costumes. Romeo’s costume consisted of dark red and blue with some contrast in his sleeves of bright blue, but the Montagues differed from Romeo because the Montagues had no significant bright contrast in their costumes. Another difference was the hairstyles between the Capulets and Montagues and differs in hierarchy amongst the two families. In figure two, the royal Capulet women have the hornedhead dressed cap covering their
Baz Luhrmann's Interpretation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet' was first performed on stage at the Globe Theatre, South London, in 1597. More recently the modern film interpretations, by Franco Zeffirelli in 1968, and Baz Luhrmann in 1997, have been viewed by thousands. ' Romeo and Juliet' is truly one of the greatest tales of all time, for it can still entertain an audience of all ages and stun them into silence, with its clever script and gripping plot. Admittedly the romantic tragedy of 'two star crossed lovers' has been used to such an extent in a variety of stories such as West Side Story, that it is now considered a cliché. Yet despite this, the story of 'Romeo and Juliet' is still incredibly popular and easily grips a modern audiences.
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.
William Shakespeare has provided some of the most brilliant plays to ever be performed on the stage. He is also the author of numerous sonnets and poems, but he is best known for his plays such as Hamlet, Macbeth, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Romeo and Juliet. In this essay I would like to discuss the play and movie, "Romeo and Juliet", and also the movie, Shakespeare in Love. The play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare is set in the fictional city of Verona. Within the city lives two families, the Capulets and the Montegues, who have been feuding for generations.