Romeo and Juliet: Mise-en-scene

Mise-en-Scene in the opening scenes of Romeo and Juliet (1996)

Mise-en- Scene is the arrangement of everything that appears in the framing – actors, lighting, setting, sounds, props, costume – is called mise-en-scène, a French term that means “placing on stage.” 

The opening scene of Romeo and Juliet, the Montagues are driving along a highway, in an urban part of the USA, there are buildings and busy roads, and you can instantly tell its set with the daytime on a sunny day, as one of the boys is wearing sunglasses. The lighting is natural, so it doesn't emphasis anything in particular as there is lots of information to focus on. The Montagues car is yellow so your attention is drawn to it. The costumes of the Montagues is casual and colourful, in Hawaiian shirts, their costumes portray their behaviour in a kind of way as immature compared to the rival gang. The diagetic sound mainly comes from the car engines and the boys shouting, the non diagetic sound is a song about boys, a more fun upbeat song, once again implying their behaviour is youthful.

As they arrive at the petrol station which is a mutual ground for both gangs, its surrounded by greenery and the scene is colourful, as the Montagues turn up to the station the camera is focused on the number plate with ‘mon’ on the front implying what gang they are from. The car brakes sound is emphasised, with a continuing of funky music. Once again as the leader of the Montagues walks away- the camera pans away following him, until you reach the rival gangs car. Emphasising the number plate once more, it tells you it’s a different gang. The engine of the Capulets car is emphasised, and you focus on the ground, not revealing what they look like yet. The first obvious reaction is that they look slicker, the colours are darker perhaps mirroring their Latin ethnicity. Compared to the Montagues clothing which is very loud, they clearly want to be heard and seen. The sound of heels of the shoes are emphasised, and the music starts to change, it gives off a western style with the heeled boots and music, The music changes the mood of the scene also and the genre of the piece seems to move to Spaghetti Western. The music once again switches to a more upbeat, transferring the focus onto the Montagues.

This is the first time you properly see the Capulets, their clothing is black leather, metal heeled boots, more tailored clothing, portraying their maturity, the Montagues are more subtle about there appearance, their presence is still just as strong, just not as obvious. The costumes of the background characters are very normal, everyday clothing, the Capulets are much groomed, with gel hair, shaved beards. The outfit contrast between the 2 gangs is very different; you can clearly tell who is in what gang. The non-diagetic music shifts between each gang so it tells the audience who to focus on.  Both gangs show religious significance by Jesus on their clothing and a cross shaved on one of the Capulets hair. This is when the language from the original Romeo and Juliet (William Shakespeare) comes in properly. More emphasis on the car engine as it pulls away, also on the screeching of the breaks, at the intense scene of them arguing, there is only diagetic sound from the background and the speech. Then a fade drumming sound comes in, the diagetic and non-diagetic sounds are mixed well to create a feeling of suspense. A screaking of a sign which says ‘add more fuel to your fire’ gives of a hint of what could happen, guns? Petrol? Does this mean fire? The surrounding are very colourful, so the Capulets stand out by sight. Whereas the Montagues stand out by the noise they make. When Tybalt Capulet shows, a wind and an eerie whistle starts giving you the western style battle, all you need is the tumble weed. The fight scene and camera shots are very comical. The music builds up and has a religious style by the choir, but also a upbeat feel to it. Then it stops so we can hear is noise from the traffic. The fire takes hold and we see copies of the local newspaper telling stories of Montagues and Capulets. The camera angles focus on the fire, with slow motion and quick camera angles.