Baz Luhrmann's version of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

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Baz Luhrmann's version of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

In the first picture, the top left of the poster, we see Juliet. She

is depicted in an angelic fashion, wearing wings and dressed in pure

white. This interests the audience already who wonder why Juliet is

dressed in this manner, but Juliet's clothes symbolise her purity and

innocence. As she is in fancy dress, Juliet's costume represents her

personality, thus emphasising her innocence. In the top left hand

corner of this picture is the word 'hope'. This is written in a font

and colour that make it appear as though it is a bright light with a

glow surrounding it. In doing this the word stands out which, invites

the to contemplate the role of hope in the film and also, on their own

hopes. This picture appeals to a young male audience as it depicts a

young, beautiful female. This picture also appeals to a young female

audience who can relate to Juliet and aspire to be like her by getting

lost in their own contemplative world.

In the top right hand corner of the poster, joined to the previous

picture with a glowing 'and' symbol is a completely contrasting action

shot of Romeo. Romeo has his left arm wrapped around a man's neck, and

Romeo's right arm is outstretched with a gun in his hand. The look on

Romeo's face is that of pure anger and hatred. The victim's face is

not visible due to Romeo's right arm and the angle of the camera. This

focuses all attention on to Romeo's frightening appearance. Also, this

beckons curiosity throughout the audience, who wonder of the hidden

man's identity and his influence on Rome and Juliet's situation. The

picture has in its bottom right...

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...nd camera movements also play a vital role in

the presentation of the trailer to an audience. When the Latino

character points a gun at one point in the trailer, the camera takes a

side view, putting the audience in the position of an observer and

then a frontal view, putting the audience in the position of a victim.

This is very effective as it is visually abusive making good use of

cinematography techniques and also invites the audience into the

trailer and story line a lot more.

The trailer and poster for Baz Luhrmann's version of Romeo and Juliet

are extremely effective in attracting a young audience. By effectual

usage of light, text, sound, dialogue, camera positions and fonts, he

outlines the contrasting themes in the story line and the modern,

visually stunning and energetic way in which the film is produced.

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