The 5-minute opening montage establishes the rivalry between the Montague and Capulet families in Verona through a news report, title cards, and scenes showing their separate properties and family trees. Character portraits and titles introduce the main characters as the pace increases. The montage ends with the movie's title appearing in the third minute. The fourth minute shows Montague and Capulet boys encountering each other at a gas station, spotting each other's crests on their guns. Their ensuing confrontation ends the opening with a shot-reverse-shot of them preparing for battle.
2. The first thing which appears on screen as it fades in is the 20th
Century Fox logo along with its theme song. The screen then goes
pitch black, and a small TV is shown in the distance. A panning of
this TV is shown, as the screen begins to slowly zoom into the
television. As the camera is zooming into the TV, there is no sound
but the voice of the woman explaining the main event which occurs
in the movie in what seems to be a news report. The room being
dark connotes to the audience that there may be something negative
or a dark reoccurring theme throughout the movie.
3. The second minute of the movie begins with the news report ending, and a
montage beginning. The montage starts with very loud doomful opera music,
implying that the movie may end with a tragedy. A title sequence then appears on
screen with the words "In fair Verona" telling the audience that the movie is set in
Verona. As the scene progresses we are then shown an establishing shot of a part
of Verona and of the two buildings of the two separate rivaled businesses of the
Montagues and Capulets, this adds on to the narrative of the story as it reveals to
us that the two families rivalry is beyond their personal issues and is also a
business quarrel. The montage then progresses to show the streets of Verona and
the conditions which they are in, it then moves onto the family tree of both the
Montagues and the Capulets, as this is being done, there is a voiceover of a man
explaining the backstory of the families rivarly.
4. As the opening progresses into the third minute, it begins with medium shots of
almost all the characters in the movie, along with a title sequence next to them
stating their name and who they are. As this happens, the pace of the editing of
the montage increases and ends with the title of the movie appearing halfway
through the third minute. The montage then ends, and the scene then fades into a
mid back shot of three men in a vehicle. There is non diegetic sound which follows
them, hip-hop music which fits in with the way which they are styled, connoting
that they may be rebellious. The third minute finishes with another title sequence
appearing and introducing the men as belonging to the Montague household.
5. Minute four of the opening of the movie shows the Montague boys pulling into a
petrol station. There is an extreme close up of the plates of the vehicle which the
boys are driving. The lighting in this sequence is bright as it is the day. There is
then a medium shot of one of the boys leaving the car, and the camera then turns
to a two shot of the other men in the vehicle as they speak. The scene then moves
into an extreme close up of the floor as a different vehicle parks into the petrol
station and a man gets out of it. He is introduced by another title sequence as
being one of the Capulet boys. The camera follows the his movements as he steps
onto a cigarette bun, he is shown leaving and as he does so, three other women
come on display and the camera tracks their feet. The scene ends with the men
from both different families spotting each other at opposite sides of the petrol
station.
6. The final minute of the introduction opens with an extreme close up of each of the
three men's faces, and then another close up of their guns, which contain the
crests of their respective families. The scene then quickly changes pace as the shot
moves from an extreme close up of the man from the Capulet family into a
medium shot of him as he startles the men from the Montagues, shown in a rapid
medium shot. The diegetic sound of the screeching noise of the wheels of the car as
the Capulet men approach the Montagues after they carry out a sign of disrespect
connotes to the audience that we are going to be shown a scene most likely
involving violence and trouble. The loud and abrasive music which accompanies
the noise of the vehicle also adds onto that impression. The opening of the movie
ends with a shot-reverse-shot of the men rowing and preparing for battle.
