Romeo + Juliet Opening Sequence Analysis

The first characters we are introduced to in the opening sequence to Baz Lurrmann's Romeo and Juliet are the Montague boys, who are driving a bright yellow convertible and are wearing very colourful Hawaiian shirts. The  colours that characters wear symbolize many thing and  in this case all the colours are bright so give the viewers the feeling the Montague boys are very fun, exotic characters. The colours are also very 'comic book' like, which gives the audience an insight that this scene may be full of high action like a comic book.

The next thing we see is the Capulets driving into the  petrol station. We already see a difference from these boys to the Montague boys, as they are wearing dark clothes, which are also smarter and slicker looking then the Montague's outfit. This may symbolise that the Capulets care more about representing themselves and also to fit in with their Latin ethnicity.
Mise-en-scene; The first shot we see of the first shown character from the Capulet family is a low shot of the characters shoes. This shot gives us a air of mystery and make us (the audience) want to know more about the character as we want to be able to see the face that matches up with the feet. This shot also makes whoever the character is, seem powerful and important because with the shot just being forced on his shoes it seems as if we are bowing to his feet. The text on this shot 'The Capulet Boys' is on the left on the screen, which is the more dominate side of the scene, whereas in the shot where we are introduced to The Montague boys the text is on the right of the shot, which could foreshadow that the Capulet boys could be more dominant characters in this scene.

 
 

 
The scene is set at day time and the location is a petrol station. Throughout the scene we get different shots of text.  'Phoenix' is one of these words that pop up, which relate to fires as phoenixes are mythical birds that rise from the ashes of a fire. Another shot of text is one of a sign saying 'Add more fuel to your fire'. With all these references and the setting being a gas station, we are on edge during the scene because we feel uncomfortable that there may be an incident with fire.

 

 
More on colours- The sign symbols on both the Capulets and Montague are quite alike, which could show they share something in common with each other, however the colours are very different as they are red and blue which are opposites on the colour spectrum so suggesting that the Montagues and Capulet could be very different. The other colours are golds and silvers, which shows their wealth and riches.


Extra on Mise-en-scene

Setting- Day time,

 Location- Streets of a City (New York), but different to a everyday street as we see smoke and fire in the background, suggest this isn't a normal day.

Lighting- All though its day time, the natural light is quite misty and dark implying something is wrong.

Costumes- All the Characters are wearing different coloured outfits showing they all have different characteristics.

Character Placement- The characters are all in close range of each other, which shows they are together/ on the same side

Props- The props we see belong to the characters as their weapons (Hawk-eye and bow), these props are more like part of the characters star image as we recognise the characters communally with them.