What Is The Difference Between Romeo And Juliet Mise En Scene

Comparing the Openings of the Film Versions of Romeo and Juliet by Franco Zeffirelli and Baz Luhrmann

Romeo & Juliet is one of William Shakespeare's most iconic plays. Written around 1595, Romeo & Juliet, alongside Hamlet, is one of Shakespeare’s most-performed plays and has also been adapted in many forms. ‘William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet’ (1996) and ‘Romeo & Juliet’ (1968), directed by Baz Luhrmann and Franco Zeffirelli respectively, are two adaptations of Romeo & Juliet. Actors Leonard Whiting, Leonardo DiCaprio, Olivia Hussey and Claire Danes make the characters of Romeo and Juliet come alive in their respective movies. Baz Luhrmann and Franco Zeffirelli both succeed in showing their adaptations of Act 5, scene 3.

There are many songs that allude to Romeo and Juliet. The song “I'd die for you” by Bon Jovi, has a specific line that resembles Romeo's feelings for Juliet, “I’d die for you, I'd do anything, I’d lie for you, you know it's true baby I'd die for you I'd die for you I'd die”. As said in the quote, Romeo's feelings for Juliet are strong enough that he would we willing to die for her, in which case he did. The theme of this song is fate vs. free will and has a motif of death/sleep. Also, the conflict that is similar to the play is whether or not you love someone enough to die for them.

“The most filmed of all plays, ‘Romeo and Juliet’, with its universal themes… remains uniquely adaptable for any time period,” (Botnick, 2002). Directors Franco Zeffirelli (1968) and Baz Luhrman

In the final scene, Romeo’s thoughts and actions are very rash when he decides to kill himself. When Romeo is told that Juliet has died, he immediately decides to kill himself. Romeo does not think of the pain and suffering that will come to his family and friends if he kills himself. Again, Romeo acts without thinking of the consequences of his actions. He has done without thought a sin that is not necessary and that could be avoided. Once again Romeo’s rashness brings causes problems and brings sadness to people that he loves.

The audio although normally overpowered by the visual aspect played a key role in defining and empowering the movie. The music was fast and uplifting during celebration and on

later in the story it gets worse were He sates “That one short minute gives me in her sight/Do thou but close our hands with holy words/Then love-devouring death do what he dare/It is enough I may but call her mine.” at this point it is were Romeo is climbing into Juliet’s window. (II.vi.109-110). Soon the two are married and Romeo can hardly wait. He remarks that he is not worried about a thing after the two are married, even death. Here Shakespeare’s employs situational irony and foreshadowing to carry his theme. The play continues for a little less than three days, yet another example of how Shakespeare demonstrates his theme, by allowing the play to only continue for three days he gives his readers a feeling of quickness and shortness. This puts the reader, or audience member, in place where they can feel the inappropriateness of their rushed love.

The same applies to a dramatic scene where the music may be deep and frantic to convey to the audience the feeling of anticipation. A scene i would like to focus on is the scene in which Garry and his father have a final ‘showdown’, if you will, at the front of the house. The scene consists of the father imposing himself on Garry and proceeding to continually beat him down time after time only for Garry to rise up and face his father on each occasion. This scene evoked a feeling of pride and admiration from the audience as to Garry’s courage and determination to convey the message to his father that he is ready to stand on his own two feet and defy him. This is a very powerful scene within the movie which initiated powerful emotions within the audience. All of this was accomplished with the notable absence of music of any form. The omission of music in this scene created an atmosphere in which the dramatic affect was amplified due to the silence.

The same song serves as background music for most, if not all, of the encounters between Romeo and Juliet. The music sets this film apart from the 1968 version in a very positive way. Though it is less traditional as compared to the 1968 film, it still holds the appeal of being romantic because it is more appealing towards modern

Howard Shore really wove something magical into the score, which raises the film's impact on the viewer tremendously. He used music as a very intense and emotional language, which allows the viewers' hearts to pound with fear, to smile with joy or to barely suppress their tears in a mournful moment. Therefore you can say that the movie wouldn't be as half as emotional without this brilliant piece of audible

Knowing the statements in the Prologue colors an audience's view of later scenes by creating an arousing feeling towards the fate of Romeo and Juliet. The tone and use of fortunate words and phrases exemplifies what is to come between Romeo and Juliet. Both the Prologue and Act II, Scene 2 have joyful and romantic presences. In the Prologue the author says, "But passion lends them power, time means to meet". This demonstrates a cherishing fate to Romeo and Juliet because of the yearning devotion between the two lovers.

This clearly explains the significance of music and the role that has in motion pictures. Music has to match the emotions that the actors are showing and the environment they are in. If fail to do so, the movie could be a dreadful thing to watch.

The play of Romeo and Juliet is a story of forbidden love, secrets, fights, and friendships. When watching a film, a play, or a movie, music plays a crucial part in creating the feel of the scene. For example a slow romantic song would fit a scene were couples dance together. Choosing songs for the play “Romeo and Juliet” by Shakespeare, was interesting and the song choices I selected reflect my interpretation of each scene. At the beginning of the play the Capulet and Montague servants meet and begin to fight.

The music choice throughout the movie gives a certain feeling to each individual scene and can change the emotion almost instantly for the audience. After doing a little bit of searching I found that the composer for most of the music was Ruth Barrett, who was known as a spiritual director. This has importance because she is well educated in how to bring specific emotions to people, which can be experienced in her music. You can't get this same feeling by simply just reading the book, where often the only emotions are what you would commonly receive with a similar situation as to what you were reading. This limits the emotions down to much less than when compared to the amount in the movie, and there's always a chance that you're interpreting

     The music helped in elaborating this great film. As I mentioned in class different instruments helped create different moods for different scenes in the movie. We heard the cello and the violin to create sadness and remorse. The flute created eeriness and the trumpet created awareness. I thought these were instruments and tools that help make this film extraordinary.