Very Gangster Like Car example essay topic

In this essay I plan to explain all the presentational devices used in Baz Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet. Film makers use presentational device to give the audience ideas about the characters' background and personalities. Presentational devices include many things which include framing, location, camera angles and movement, lighting, colour, music, sound effects, costume and make up and editing. The main body of this essay will concentrate on presentational devices in the opening scene of Romeo and Juliette to reveal the qualities of the rival Capulet and Montague gangs.

This film is set in Verona beach in New York USA which has roughly the same name as Fair Verona which is the setting in Shakespeare's version. When the first scene opens, we see a yellow open top car which shows life and loudness. Inside the car there are three boys, not men, this is emphasised when the music turns to 'the boys the boys' which gives us a clear idea of these people. Their clothing is very casual, they are wearing Hawaiian shirts. Their noise is very loud however not aggressive, they are obviously out for a play around. They are shouting out statements which are biased towards the Montagues.

We know for sure that these are Montagues because their number plate on their car is 'MON 05' The music in the background is very upbeat which again shows that these 'boys' are childish. At the petrol station there is a sign above which says ' add fuel to your fire' which happens later in the scene. As they get to the Petrol station and one of them, which happens to be Romeo's cousin and seems to be the leader of this 3 person 'gang' goes into the petrol station. A very flash car with body kits pulls up the main things you see is the number plate 'CAP 05' but first I will concentrate on the Montague expressions. When Romeo's cousin enters the station, a group of nuns come out of the station, which shows that evil is going in and good is coming out and shows that there isn't peace between the rival gangs. When the Capulet's get out of the car the Montagues inside their car start panicking.

When the Capulets start taunting the Montagues, the Montagues start sweating and their voice becomes very high pitched which shows how scared they are because there is a huge contrast between the two gangs because the Montagues are boys, but the Capulets seem more like men. The situation starts to get heated when Romeo's cousin comes out of the station and pulls his gun on the Capulets. There is then a very long silence in which the Montagues are hiding, and one of them is being hit by a lady with her hand bag continuously which makes them a figure of fun because he looks stupid and this shows that they aren't in control of the situation. The Capulets start shooting while the Montagues are panicking again.

They are very unorganized. They eventually drive away without Romeo's cousin who runs away in a clumsy way. When the Capulets drive into the station, their car is blue with blacked out windows with body kits on the car. It is a very gangster like car and very serious. The first one comes out and all you see in the frame is 2 feet, the person wearing cowboy boots, the frame is made like this to make the Capulet very mysterious. When it gets to his head, he looks very high up and is wearing a suit.

This shows that he is a man and a very respectable gangster and looks very serious. The are also very addicted to their weapons as they reveal them slowly by slowly pulling back their waistcoats which they probably think is very sexual. They take pride in what they wear and are very respectable and sophisticated. One of them makes fun out of the Montagues by hissing at them with a plate saying 'SIN' on the front of his teeth. They speak in a very military voice and smokes cigars.

When he lights them it shows tension because of the silence. When the situation gets heated, they seem very calm and cool and the audience believe that they are in control of the situation. When the Capulets shoot their guns, they make it very erratic and makes it seem like a James Bond movie with all the Slow mo dives. This is very exciting but it also shows that they are in control, however much they seem to be overdoing the shooting. Juliette's cousin, 'The Prince of Cats' looks very much like a gangster because he is shooting with a cigar in his mouth and looks like a bit of a show off. When they are shooting, they shoot down oil cans which emphasises the cowboy genre along with the music during the shootout and a shootout is a typical cowboy thing.

When the Montagues drive off, the Prince of Cats looks very religious because he go down on his knees and makes his body look like a cross. Then he kisses his gun and shoots one of the Montagues and takes his Cigar out of his mouth and drops it on the floor which is covered in fuel and sets the station alight which is ironic because the sign above the station says 'add fuel to your fire' and then the last thing you see is a poster burning saying 'Montague verses Capulet, 2nd Brawl. I have learnt that presentational devices make the film, not the Characters and Plot because without them, we would have no idea in what is happening. At the Beginning of the scene we see the Montagues, the idea of seeing them first is that we feel sympathetic for them when the Capulet's ruin their fun because most people side with the first people we see in the film. If there was no sound, we would have no idea about the moods or personalities of the Characters.

All the presentational devices are used for different ideas and are used deliberately. When you actually study a film, you see a completely different side of it and see it in much more detail, you see how difficult it really is to find the best way for the audience to understand what is going on. When you watch a different film casually, you see how easy it is to forget about the ideas and techniques used for the audience's understanding and they don't even need to think about those ideas because the film makers have made it easier for them to understand.