ROMEO AND JULIET

Year 10 English – Ms van Gerven

Due Date: Draft: September 16 Final Copy: September 21

Task: Respond to one of the following questions and write a 700-800 word essay using the TEEL method. You will need to carefully plan and draft your work. Your final copy will be word processed, double spaced and submitted via daymap.

Questions:

How is mise-en-scene used to explore one or more of the themes in the film?

How does Baz Lurhmann use film techniques to explore the idea of the power of love?

Focusing on 3 key scenes, how does Baz Lurhmann use film techniques to elicit an emotional response from the audience?

Themes/Ideas

The power of love Death Fate The individual versus society Revenge and rivalry Duality/ambiguity

Film techniques

Camera angles and shots Editing, special effects (slow

motion, movement) Mise-en-scene (the setting or

surroundings of an event) Colour/filters Sound/music Characterisation/costume Symbolism/motifs

Achievement Standard Excellent Good Satisfactory Partial Minimal

Demonstrate appropriate use of textual conventions

Demonstrate how film techniques can create innovative texts

Create texts that respond to themes, interpreting and integrating ideas from other sources

Edit for effect, selecting vocabulary and grammar that contribute to the precision and persuasiveness of texts and using accurate spelling and punctuation

Final Grade A B C D E

FILM TECHNIQUESTerm Example

Shot: A single piece of film uninterrupted by cuts

All films are made up of shots of varying lengths.

Scene: A number of shots edited together in the same setting. When the setting or time changes, it’s a new scene.

Establishing Shot: Often a long shot or a series of shots that sets the scene. It is used to show the setting and to show

transitions between locations.What is in the frame? Why is it being

shown?

Long Shot (Full Shot): A shot from some distance. If filming a person, the full body

is shown. Often used to portray loneliness or helplessness. Shows where

the character is in the setting.

Medium Shot: The most common shot. Shows a person from the waist up. Offers more detail than a long shot, less detail

than a close up.Often used to show body language or used when two people are having a

conversation.

Close Up: Image takes up 80% of the frame. The close up is used to show detail

and emotion in a characters face.

Extreme Close Up: The image being shot is part of something larger, such as an

eye or a hand. Used to show an extreme amount of detail on a particular person

or object.

High Angle: The camera is above the subject looking down. This makes the

subject look smaller than normal. Used to show weakness, a lack of power and

being trapped.

Low Angle: The camera is below the subject. This makes the subject look larger than normal. Used to portray

strength, power or a threat.

Point of View: This device gives the audience the illusion that they are the

character in the scene and not just looking at it from an exterior view.Being

in the subjective view means the audience is not able to "know" or see "everything" that's happening in the

scene

Over the Shoulder: This shot helps to establish the position of each person, and get the feel of looking at one person from

the other's point of view.Occurs during a conversation, alternating the view between the different speakers.

Camera Movements

Pan: The camera stays still and moves side to side

Tilt: The camera stays still and moves up and down

Zoom: The camera stays still, while the lens moves to make an object seem to move closer or further away from the camera.

Zooming in provides greater detail of the object, while zooming out provides a wider view of the setting around the object

Dolly/Tracking Shot: The camera is on a track that allows it to move with the action. The term also refers to any camera mounted on a vehicle.

Editing

Cut: The ending of a shot. Short, and sudden. The most common editing technique. The pace and frequency of cuts is important: Fast, frequent cuts suggests urgency, while slow, infrequent cuts

build suspense.

Fade in or out: The image appears or disappears gradually. It brightens to full strength over a full second, or darkens to fade out. The fade is often used as a division/change between scenes. The

fade is a slower and more dramatic way to connect scenes than a regular cut.

Dissolve: One image fades in while another fades out so that for a few seconds the two images at together on the screen. The dissolve is usually used to connect two scenes that would otherwise be

separated by time or distance.

Shot-Reverse-Shot: A common editing technique that shows a shot of one subject, then another, then back to the first. Often used for conversations and reaction shots.

Sound/LightingTerm Example

High Key Lighting: The scene is flooded with light, creating a bright and open

looking scene that shows a lot of detail

Low Key Lighting: The scene is flooded with shadows and darkness, creating

suspense or suspicion

Diegetic Sound: Sound that could logically be heard by the characters in

the film

Talking, nature sounds, music coming from a source (CD player, radio etc)

Used to make the film seem realistic

Non-diegetic Sound: Sound that cannot be heard by the characters and is

designed for audience reaction only

Any music without an identifiable source in the film. Usually called the ‘score’ or ‘soundtrack’

Used to let the audience know what emotion they should be feeling in a scene

VIEWING QUESTIONS

Shakespeare begins Romeo and Juliet with a synopsis of the events that will take place in the play.What film techniques are used to draw the audience into the world of the film?

What does the opening sequence tell us about the world in which the action takes place?

Focus on the rapidly cut sequence in which we are given glimpses of what is going to follow.What do we see with relentless repetition?

Compare the film techniques used in the fight between Mercutio and Tybalt with those used at the beginning of the film in the fight between the Montague and Capulet boys.How is the seriousness of this scene reinforced by camera movement, position and angle?

Romeo and Juliet meet at the masked ball. Why are all the shots in close-up? Why has the director chosen an aquarium for their eyes to meet across? What is the effect of the water and the fish floating past? How does this sequence contrast with what is going on around them?

How are the Capulet parents dressed for the ball? How does this emphasise or extend aspects of their personalities? How are Paris and Tybalt dressed?

Juliet opposes her father’s plan for her to marry Paris.How does the camera intensify this emotional scene? Does the camera linger on one person or go backwards and forwards between the two? What position does the camera take to make Juliet’s father appear violent and threatening? What effect do the close-ups have on us, the audience? Do we share anyone’s point of view in this scene? If so, how does the camera do this?

On the beach where the two gangs meet.How is the scene lit? What are the predominant colours? What do you see in the background? Is it day or night? How did the director’s choices contribute to the meaning of this particular scene?

Father Laurence and Romeo discuss Romeo’s love for Juliet During their conversation Father Laurence imagines this ‘new love’ uniting the warring Montague and Capulet families. How does Lurhmann use editing in this and to convey what?

Focus on the scene of Romeo and Juliet’s death.What are the main features of Luhrmann’s interpretation of this scene? What is the overall mood created? Describe the mise en scene (the staging) of this scene. How does it connect with the rest of the film?

Luhrmann uses the motif of water to explore Romeo and Juliet’s growing romance. How does the water motif add to the audience’s understanding of Romeo and Juliet’s love? Explain by focusing on a key scene.

The two lovers first glimpse each other through a fishbowl, an image that links up with the idea of water as both a refuge and a symbol of the impossibility of finding a place away from the glare of the outside world. What are some of the other ways that Luhrmann reminds us of the impossibility of Romeo and Juliet ever being able to escape?

In the scene in the crypt, the shimmering candles cast a watery glow. It is as if the lovers are underwater. What is being communicated in this image?

What is the effect of the contrast between this magical image and the sight of the lovers’ bodies being loaded into separate ambulances?

What conclusion is the audience of the film asked to draw at the end of the film? Have lessons been learnt and order restored?

Analysis

Technique Examples/characters involved Impact on the audience/themes

Camera shots & angles High and low

angles Close-ups and

extreme close ups

POV shots

Long shot of Mercutio dead on the beach – highlighting

Extreme close up and low angles when Romeo shoots Tybalt –avenging his death – followed with slow motion – diegetic sound – gun dropping – high angle of Jesus statue

Colour & lighting Use of highkey

lighting Use of lowkey

lighting and shadows

Use of colour

Tybalt and mercution fighting on the beach

Tybalt car crash crash – lowkey lighting

Sound & music Non-diegetic

sound Diegetic sound Acousmatic

sound

Kissing you – when romeo and juliet meet – non diegetic

Kissing You again after Tybalts death.

Young Hearts Run Free – before the masked ball

Motifs Religious

imagery Water

Both heads under water – Juliet in the bath – romeo at the party after ecstacy – the aquarium – in the pool

Juliet looking to Virgin Mary after Romeo kills Tybalt

Mise-en-scene & shot composition

Framing Objects within a

shot Decor

Bedroom scene – religious imagery

Characterisation Costume

Capulets all dressed in black – Montagues wearing colour and renaissance influenced clothing

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