Music is a very important aspect of the film, it could change the mood of a person. For example if a director changed the music of a scary movie to a Barney song it would probably make the scene funny. Both Lurhman and Zifferelli did about the same thing; they included crazy or intense music to show the chaos and intensity of a scene. In the Lurhman film it starts out with high intense music, we can tell it is going to be a very dramatic and chaotic movie he focuses on the fighting of the original play. When we first see Romeo the music is soft and calm just like when he first sees Juliet. But in the beginning of the Zifferelli film he starts out with calm music he focuses on the love of the original play.
Camera movements are included many times in the Lurhman production. In the 1996 version its way of showing all of the madness going on is not only by music but by camera movements too. When the camera moves rapidly it symbolizes chaos. Different scenes that have a lot of camera movements at Juliet's house which represents the chaos surrounding her, there is also a lot at the party. The main commotion comes from the fights scenes in which obviously there is going on. In the Zifferelli production there is not much camera movement but there are many camera angles.
In the Zifferelli film they used more camera angles than they did movements. In the first fight scene the camera is looking up at the Prince to show that he is Superior. Also in the same fight scene the camera is looking down at them. Zifferelli focuses on hands through out the movie; when Juliet wakes up from her deep sleep and at the party when Romeo and Juliet are talking to each other about pilgrims. Lurhman also does some camera angles as well; when Romeo and Juliet die the camera is looking down at them, when Mercutio dies the camera focuses on his body for 30 sec. it is just trying to express that it is going to have a big impact on the rest of the story. Both of the directors did close-ups on the faces of the characters; this shows that the audience should pay attention to what they are saying. It is also showing the intensity in their face.
Symbolism was an in important role in the 1996 version. Symbolism was everywhere; it includes things like water, fire, and religious figures. Water was the most important because every thing important that happened was around water. The movie started and ended with water. Fire is the same as water, but different. They both have the same message; “You have to have just the right amount of it in order for it to not cause harm.” They are different in the aspect that one is water and the other is fire. Religious figures are also very important; they take the role of fate. Fate also plays a large role because many believe that fate is to blame for their death. Our film included many religious figures and stars to emphasize the fact that they are star-crossed lovers and that fate has taken over their lives.
Actually, these are only some of the many essentials in a movie or film, other factors such as how the actors played their role, the setting, etc. were also important in a movie. But the important thing is on how the creator presented the film or movie and how its audience enjoyed and appreciated it.
