I will go through my essay scene by scene as I think this is the most effective and more efficient way of comparing the two different versions of the story and thus answering the task question.
I will start by giving an introduction of both stories. First of all, the Zefferelli version. His version of the Shakespear play is set around the time that the play was written by Shakespear around 1599a.d. Secondly, Baz Luhrman' s version made in the 1990's and set in the 1990's.
The key scenes I will be studying are:.
The Opening Act 1 Scene 1.
The Ball Act 1 Scene 5.
The Balcony Act 2 Scene 2.
The Fight Act 3 Scene 1.
Ending Act 5 Scene 3.
The Opening - Act 1 Scene 1.
The opening scene in the Luhrman version is set in a typical U.S gas station. It is a busy and open area, much like the market setting portrayed in the original script, which is also busy. This is very clever of Luhrman because he is trying to modernise the original setting without losing the feeling of an open and busy area. A market square in modern America would be very strange. In the Zefferelli version, the director has tried to replicate the setting and atmosphere of the original, using a typical market square from the time that the play was written, this might seem to the audience as a more 'realistic' version of the play as the film is trying to be more identical to the original play. At the start of the scene in the Luhrman version we see the first of our families, the Montagues. They seem like typical American youngsters having fun in their car with the music turned up. They pull into a gas station and all seems well until the second family arrives, the Capulets. They seem more suave, they are smart looking Latinos, and they seem serious compared to the fun loving colourful Montagues. This is a good way of showing the differences between the two families.