Assignment 26.1

26.1 Media Assignment

Romeo + Juliet

·         The film was made in 1996

·         The film was set in “Verona”

·         The director was Baz Lurhmann

·         Romeo – Leonardo DiCaprio

Juliet – Claire Danes

·         The age certificate is PG13

·         The target audience would be film lovers, people who love the director / actors, people who like the transformation of Shakespearian writing onto the big screen, many more

·         I intend to analyse the hidden meaning, features and many other things about this movie, such as the codes & conventions
ii    I intend to apply a deep & thorough analysis of this film

Synopsis

This film was originally a play wrote by William Shakespeare. Baz Lurhmann decided to turn it into a modern day film, however he used all the same words that were in the play and changed only a few things (swords were changed to guns, and horses were changed to cars). The film is about a family feud that has been going on for all eternity, the son of Montague (Romeo) and the daughter of Capulet (Juliet) are namely “two star crossed lovers” and they meet at Capulet’s feast/party and they fall in love at first sight and ending up taking their lives to end up with eachother in eternal love.

Genre Analysis
The main two genre's of this film are Romantic & Comedy. The comedy aspect is shown in the opening scene when the Montague's and Capulets have a brawl which starts at the petrol station. It is comical because of the effects used, such as the fast motion when Tybalt is taking off his coat to proceed with the battle. Another scene where comedy is shown is when Lady Capulet & The Maid are shouting/screaming Juliet's name, the way the maid shouts her name is a comical stereotype because of the accent. The film is also an action-film this is because of the violence involved.  The film can also be seen as a historical film because it was originally Shakespeare's play. The romantic aspects are obvious because that is the main genre of the film. One of the early scenes with romance involved is the scene when Romeo+Juliet are both looking through the fish tank at eachother and they fall in love with eachother. These scenes I have described are an example of the types of genre and they are all effective because you can understand  all of the genre's.

Narrative analysis 
The main plot of the film is that Romeo+Juliet will be together and be able to love eachother in peace and they wish for the families to accept their love/happiness. However both families disagree entirely with the idea of their partnership. Both families are at war from an 'ancient grudge that breaks to new mutiny', I have explained the backstory within the synopsis. The most prominent flashback is when Romeo wakes up in a frightful state after having a flashback about killing Tybalt. This was effective as it was one of the only flashbacks shown. The protagonists are Romeo (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Juliet (Claire Danes), they are the 'star crossed lovers' that are from the families 'Montague & Capulet'. Both these families have been quarrelling for many years and it hasn't stopped. Because the families are at war it's even worse that these two lovers fall in love. Mercutio (Harold Perrineau) is romeo's best friend, however he is tragically killed by Tybalt on Verona Beach near the stage. Tybalt (John Leguziamo) is Juliet's cousin and the Kingsman to Capulet, he kills Mercutio and comes to an unfortunate end when Romeo kills him beside the statue of Christ. Capulet (Paul Sorvino) is Juliet's father, he wants her to marry Paris but says she is too young to marry.  Paris (Paul Rudd) is the billionaire play boy and his desire is to marry Juliet. Gloria Capulet (Diane Venora) is Juliet's mother and wants her to marry early. Juliet's nurse (Miriam Margolyes) wants her to seek happy nights to make happy days and she supports her relationship with Romeo. Lady Montague (Christina Pickles) is forever worried about her son because he falls in love and ends up being heartbroken. Benvolio (Dash Mihok) is Romeo's cousin and is Montague's Kingsman, he starts the civil war in the opening scene by saying 'put up you're swords'. Montague (Brian Dennehy) wants to keep the peace, same as Capulet but their Kingsman think otherwise. Friar Laurence (Pete Postlethwaite) is the local parish and he has the honour of wedding Romeo + Juliet.

All of these characters are important to the story and effect it in many different ways. The setting of the film is a hot town called Verona. Because of the setting it makes the film develop better because it is sunny throughout, until the last scene when Romeo returns from banishment. He returned to kill himself next to his wife because he had heard she died, however she only wanted to draw Romeo's attention so he would return. The final scene switches from a tropical summer to a tropical storm. Pathetic fallacy is used in this scene by using the weather to describe the emotions of Romeo. The lighting and mood of this scene is depressed, angry and upset. The audience sees the story as an eye in the sky, however we frequently see it through the protaganist's eyes, this is shown in scenes such as "Juliet's monologue after Romeo has been banished" and the most prominent scene of both views is "the fish tank scene", in this scene the camera switches from Romeo's P.O.V to Juliet's. The main themes in this film are love, hatred and family. The love aspect is shown in many different ways, the most obvious is the love between Romeo+Juliet. The second is love between brothers/friends, for example Mercutio, Romeo & Benvolio. The hatred is between the families because of this fued that has dragged on for hundreds of years and will not seem to come to a stop. Family and unity are also big themes, a sense of belonging is shown within the families because everyone has their "people".


Film Content Analysis
The language / dialect used is of a high standard of old english. This is because Baz Lurhman used all of the same words that William Shakespeare used, he did not change the script. One reason for doing this is to mix the old with the new, the old language with the new modern day themes. The language spoken sounds intellectual, one reason for this is because it is old English which sounds sophisticated. Capulet's accent sounds Italian when he throws an 'Old accustomed feast'. This is effective because it could show the cliché understanding of the term 'family', usually in films with big crime people they are affiliated with a family and they try to eliminate all other families to gain complete power of the place they are situated in. However in Romeo and Juliet the heads of these families do not try to eliminate each other because they want to keep the peace, contrastingly it is their Kingsmen who hate peace and they want to eliminate each other. A symbol that appears frequently is the 'cross' this shows that both of the families are very religious, but although they are religious they do not abide by a few of the rules based within their religion.


Music plays a very big part within this film, the film mixes the old with the new in many aspects of this film, and music is one of them. Before the' Old Accustomed Feast' Mercutio arrives on the beach to meet Romeo, Benvolio and the henchmen. In this scene you hear them singing a 90's house song, this is one example of modern music mixed with old speech. Another example of this is at the feast when the audience see a live performance by 'Des'ree' and she sings 'Kissing you'. This song is a repeated motif and is used in various other scenes, one example of this is before Romeo's banishment when he spends the night with Juliet. This song is used to represent love within the film. You can infer this because it is first heard when Romeo & Juliet first meet in the fish tank scene. In my opinion, the music makes the film better because it wouldn't make sense to have modern times with Shakespearian music.


This film uses numerous amounts of special effects. These are:

• Change of Weather
• Gun shots
• Green Screen
• Explosions
• Fire

I have only listed a few as these are the effects that are most frequent within the movie. A change of weather is used when Mercutio is killed, the weather switches from sunny and bright to dark, cloudy and gloomy. This is pathetic fallacy and makes the audience feel devastated for Romeo's loss, this adds an aspect of reality to the film because life can be taken at anytime. The gun shots are used throughout the film whenever there is a quarrel. The opening scene involves gun shots, fire and explosions. Other scenes are when Romeo slays Tyblat, Mercutio trying to get Romeo's attention and the final scene. All of these special effects are unique and effect this film in their own way. Within this film the camera is always moving, even in the intimate, private love scenes the camera moves. This is highly effective because it makes the film seem more realistic and life like. It further infers that we as the audience are the inside the camera. This makes the film seem more personal because we see it from many different perspectives.

Conclusion
In conclusion, I think that without everything I have wrote about the film wouldn't be as effective. This film effects people in different ways and without any of the things discussed above, the meaning of the film wouldn't be interoperated in you're individual way. In my opinion I adore this film and I think you should watch it and think of your own meaning for the film.


Sweeney Todd
This film was made in 2007 its a mix between a thriller and a musical
This film was made in the UK and set in Victorian London
Tim Burton directed and produced this film, spending 50million US Dollars to produce and making over 52million.
This film is rated 16+ because of the gruesome murders and horrific scenes
The target audience are fans of Johnny Depp and other actors involved and cinema goers, etc
I intend to make a thorough analysis of this film

Synopsis 
Benjamin Barker (Johnny Depp), a skilled barber, is falsely charged and sentenced to a life of hard labor in Australia by the corrupt Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman), who lusts after Barker's wife Lucy (Laura Michelle Kelly). Now under the assumed name "Sweeney Todd", Barker returns to London with sailor Anthony Hope (Jamie Campbell Bower). At his old Fleet Street lodgings above Mrs. Nellie Lovett's (Helena Bonham Carter) pie shop, he discovers that Lucy, having been raped by Turpin, has supposedly poisoned herself, and his teenage daughter Johanna (Jayne Wisener) is now Turpin's ward, and like her mother before her, is the object of his unwanted affections. Nellie has kept Todd's silver barber knives hidden in the Barkers' old room, which is supposedly haunted. Todd vows revenge, reopening his barber shop in the upstairs flat. He reopens the shop and invites people into the shop and brutally slits their throats before chucking them down the chute for them to be smelted and put into Mrs Lovett's pies. The final scene is when Todd realises he killed his ex wife Lucy, he then kills Mrs.Lovett by throwing her into the furnace and locking the door, their adopted son then kills Todd by slitting his throat.

Genre Analysis
This film's is a hybrid genre film. It's main genre is a mix between thriller & musical. There are songs implemented which makes it a musical. Most scenes are mysterious with dark and eerie lighting, this further adds to the thriller aspect. Secondly in thriller films there is always a villain who goes on a killing spree and then ends up turning out like his victims. This film follows that cliche, also usually in this genre of film the music will be slightly sinister, almost like a horror movie. The subgenre is a British-period film, this is because of the time it was set in. 

Narrative Analysis 
Sweeney Todd, previously known as Benjamin Barker was a barber from London who was happily married to Lucy Barker, however Judge Turpin hated his happiness with his wife and had him arrested and sent away for 15 years. Then Judge Turpin took advantage of Lucy Barker and raped her, she then supposedly poisoned herself but in reality she faked her death and turned into a beggar woman to get close to her husband once more. Tragically this doesn't happen because Todd accidentally kills her as he was manipulated by Mrs.Lovett into thinking she was going to cause problems to his business (she poses as a beggar woman). There are a few flashbacks shown throughout this film, one that is shown and is a repeated motif is when he was taken away from his wife and daughter. This is effective because it helps build up the story. Another example of a flashback is when Todd finds out he killed his wife, all of the memories with her flood through his mind at rapid pace, this happens again a few minutes later when the little boy Mrs.Lovett adopted kills Todd. These are effevtice because it plays on the emotional heart strings of the audience and makes the ending of the film different from the rest of it, this is because the whole film has been filled with killing, blood and gore, this is good because it makes the audience think and look differently upon Sweeney Todd. 

The setting is 19th century England/London, this is seen as the gritty, doom and gloom age of London where killings, hangings and slaughters were ordinary to people. This is shown throughout the whole film and is used effectively, this makes the film look realistic for when it was set. As in every other movie the audience sees the story through its own eyes, almost like a flying eye. We as the audience see part of the story through Todd's eyes & Mrs.Lovett's but for the rest we see it through our own as a bystander. The main theme throughout the duration of this film is revenge, this is the biggest motif for Todd because he thinks if he kills one person, its one less person to get in his way of killing Judge Turpin. Because Todd is driven on this feeling of revenge, he doesn't even notice killing his own wife because of her disguise. He only realise all too late when he goes down to the cellar to collect the little boy. The theme of revenge runs from the opening scene when Todd tells Anthony how he will kill Turpin, to the very final scene when the little boy kills Todd in revenge for his adoptive mother (Mrs.Lovett).

Film Content Analysis
The language used is very much similar to my previous analysis. The language spoken is old English because of the times it was set in, this makes the film more effective because it seems more realistic. The accents of everyone in the film is cockney English, this shows that London people in those days all sounded the same because nobody really travelled and if they did it was a rarity/royalty. A repeated symbol and object is Sweeney Todd's razor blades, this is effective because it is his main weapon that he does the killings with.

The film is a musical so music is used throughout to an enormous extent. The music used fits in well with the film because it sounds as if it were made in those times. This is good because if the music was more modern it would make the film seem a bit childish. In some scenes there are only instruments playing, but they are playing the melody's that were used for the songs. The main special effect that is used is the blood and the noises of breaking bones as the bodies shoot down the chute. All of these effects are used frequently and add to the gruesome, brutality of the murderous demon barber of fleet street.

Conclusion
To conclude I think that what I have discussed makes the film more unique than others set in the same time zone or with the same themes because of all these elements. A good site to check out is Wikipedia this is because it shows you different interpretations and gives you fact-files on the characters and their roles. In my opinion the film was very good but it could have been better if they didn't use so many cliche's, especially that the protagonist finally gets what he wants.