Baz Luhrman's Romeo and Juliet

I found the movie "Romeo and Juliet" directed by Baz Luhrman very interesting in the way he used lights to show different meaning. His use of color and the tone set great detail and when noticed make you think deeper into whats going on. His successful use of these lights help the movie not only look good but encourage the audience to think more.

For example in the opening title when the characters are introduced, Juliet's father Capulet is in a very dark blue coloring and this shows a very royal dark feel to his character. And when the character Mercutio was introduced he had very warm orange and yellow lights and it shows his personality that he is a fiery person and very energetic and might play an important role. And when Romeo is found sad on the beach the soft lighrs show his emotion. These lights on the character match them and tell the audience what kind of person he or she is.

Another example is how light is used to show when an important event is happening or is going to happen. For example when Tybalt finds Romeo and is going to fight him the light  and color turns red and orange and yellow and this shows danger and extreme action. And when Mercutio died the color started turning grey and dark and sad and helps you feel sympathetic to the characters. And when Tybalt is shot the color turns the dark blue like when Capulet was introduced and I think that shows the meaning of someone of high royalty has died or just death.

Lastly color is used to show difference between Montagues and the Capulets. I saw this in the gas station scene when you could see the two car colors, the Montague car was orange and the Capulets was blue. I thought this shows the personality of both sides. Montague seems like the fun heart warming type by the color they are portrait by. I also thought Capulets were the more dark, royal, and mean kind of group by the darker and blue colors and lights used to portrait them and the characters like Tybalt.

In conclusion light played a big role in the movie of how people pay attention to the characters, mood, theme, and whats going on and helps viewers stay with the story and feel sympathetic to the characters.