Having commanding writing skills is something that is of importance for students within the English Department.

This term, 10STR has focused upon essay writing and how to write with control and intent.

Here is Imogen Page Danso's piece that analysed the opening scene of Baz Luhrmann's 'Romeo and Juliet':

Baz Luhrman, the director of Romeo and Juliet, applied a variety of cinematography techniques including sound effects, flash forward and montage to set the scene of the dramatic and extreme city of Verona and its citizens. As the opening sequence begins, there is a slow zoom in on a news reporter reciting the prologue of the play. This stays true to the original script of the play by William Shakespeare, recounting the story but not giving too much away. As she is finishing the prologue, a fast-forward sound effect is used, starting off the rest of the fast paced introduction. Almost immediately, loud operatic music and heavy rhythmic drums start playing, along with a fast montage; a sudden visual assault compared to what the calm opening the director had just shown the viewers. The words in ‘In Fair Verona’ are flashed onto the screen, as well as some zoomed in shots of a statue, but more importantly, a scene where they show two buildings labelled ‘Montague’ and ‘Capulet’ on either side of it. 

Before introducing us to the characters at all, Baz Luhrmann was able to showcase the divide between the two families. The montage shows multiple shots of police cars, fights, fires, helicopters, and news reports containing text from the prologue in a fast, overwhelming fashion. These shots, paired with the opera singing, drums and numerous helicopter sound effects, were what Baz Luhrmann used to give the viewers an idea of just how violent and dangerous Verona beach really is. As the music reaches a crescendo, the montage slows down and we hear Friar Lawrence begin the prologue again, except this time we see a couple of the characters. Both the Montague and the Capulet parents are shown using multiple news articles and reports. They include headlines such as ‘Montague vs. Capulet’ and ‘Ancient Grudge’, making it easy for the audience to understand the rivalry and hatred that the families have for each other. 

As Friar Lawrence finishes the prologue with ‘A pair of star cross’d lovers take their life’, the music gets louder and the drums become more rhythmic, almost heartbeat-like; the music brings an overall intense and urgent tone for the viewers to pick up on. This is where the introduction of a few more characters begins, however Romeo and Juliet are not included in these introductions. The fact that we don’t see the protagonists in this part of the montage builds anticipation for their introduction later in the movie. The rest of the montage is a lot more fast-paced and the music gets louder and speeds up. 

Baz Luhrmann utilises flash forward in this particular part of the montage, showing short clips of future moments in the film in between text from the prologue and shots of Verona beach to bring the montage to a climax. The music reaches a crescendo once again and the title of the film is flashed onto the screen, marking the beginning of the actual movie. The way that the director used all of these film techniques was extremely important and beneficial to the rest of the movie. The opening scene sets the stage for the rest of the film, and he was able to give his audience a good idea of the setting and the characters’ personalities while also building suspense for the rest of the movie. This opening scene was extremely well done and Baz Luhrmann was successful in the way he communicated it to the audience.