This animated family movie is an adaptation of William Shakespeare's tragedy play Romeo and Juliet.
As our Main Task involves creating the first five minutes and opening titles to a new film I have only watched and analysed the first portion of the film to keep my analysis relevant to what I will be doing.
This film is distributed by Walt Disney Studios
CHARACTERS:
Voice Actors:
James McAvoy = Gnomeo
Emily Blunt = Juliet
Ashley Jensen = Nanette
Matt Lucas = Benny
Jason Statham = Tybalt
Michael Caine = Lord Redbrick
Maggie Smith = Lady Bluebury
THE TITLE SEQUENCE:
Two titles of the film appear in the opening sequence, both coming through on an empty stage set and with a dissolve and zoom in effect placed on each. They are slow titles, coming into the shot slowly as the music in the background rises. The font used is fun and curled rather than rigidly straight and made up of straight lines, which shows us the nature and genre of the film as being a family comedy. 
The font, as shown in the title paragraph above is made up of curled and friendly letters rather than more rigid font made up of straight lines which shows us the genre and nature of the movie. This movie is a family comedy.
Blue and red are primary colours on opposite points of the colour spectrum and are usually synonymous of polar opposites when presented alongside each other as done in this title. The contrasting colours then represent the two warring families and is much more effective in representing the divide between them rather than if it used more similar colours. Blue in this instance represents the Montague family in the film, and of the family of the main hero. Blue is a colour usually synonymous with the male sex, which may be an indication to the gender roles presented in the film. Red is used to represent the Capulet family, and is a more feminine colour in comparison to blue, which may also lend itself to the gender roles as the Capulet family is also the family of the movie's heroine.
The green '&' sign may be synonymous of peace and togetherness due to the colour, and the use of '&' rather than 'and' may be representative of the modernisation of the story that takes place within the film and so a modern synonym was used.
The red gnome hat shown above the O, and symmetrically two blue petals below the U in the title are representative of main physical features of the main characters. The gnome hat is representative of Gnomeo, and the petal design is representative of the collar on Juliet's dress which has the same shape.
Music
As the title card of the movie presents itself we are greeted with a traditional trumpet based melody, that i surmise was placed due to the original source text's historical context. It is stereotypical and traditional for a play or grand event to be opened by squires and the sound of trumpets. But it very quickly transcends into a more modern, bass driven sound to reflect the modern relevance the play goes through.
The opening credits of the film keeps up this more upbeat and very happy toned soundtrack, to suit the happier tone of the film.
ADAPTATION:
This movie only stays true to the original source material in terms of the basic premise and plot, and in the opening sequence a character makes the audience aware that this is indeed the retelling of a worn out tale, therefore making the film slightly self aware.
The character in the opening prologue sequence is wearing an Elizabethan styled ruffled collar, which was placed in the movie to reflect the time in which the original prose was written in as a nod to the source text. The prologue is also set on a stage, which is also a tribute to the intended medium of the source text which was indeed a tragedy based stage play.
It betrays the adaptation in favour of comedy and family friendly movie points, as the character who is reading out the original Shakespearian prologue to Romeo and Juliet is called out from the stage and describes it as a 'a rather long, boring prologue.'
This prologue is also read from a rolled up scroll, which within our modern society is generally synonymous with many centuries ago and is used as a universal imagery to demonstrate the time period the original text was based and written in.
ROMANCE:
This adaptation of the heavily romantic play of Romeo and Juliet has been simplified and catered towards the target audience for this film, which is children. The film, although, does maintain and possess key romantic plot points to stay true to the original source text and to also make the film attractive to accompanying adults.
COMEDY:
The film is self aware in the fact that it is the retelling of a worn out story as described in the opening sequence, this is a nicely placed technique that allows the audience to better relax and relate to the opening credits, which involve a part reading of Shakespeare's original prologue. I believe that this is a good technique to set up the adaptational features of the film, and a similar technique is also seen in 2010's Easy A in which the protagonist takes elements from classic allegorical novel The Scarlet Letter. I think this technique is worth considering to be placed into our Main Task film.The character in question who is reading this is then snatched from the scene in a comical and almost Looney Toon-esque fashion, which would be appealing to the child audience it is catered toward. Part of the comedy within the opening scene also derives from the disproportioned and almost goofy character design of the announcer, which is made possible as this film is an animated feature film. Although we cannot use these particular comedic values, due to our film being live action and not intended for a family audience, I believe that they are still highly effective in setting up the innocent and childlike nature of the film whilst still maintaining enough sophistication and maturity to keep adults interested.
CONVENTIONS:
Gnomeo&Juliet is a film that stays rather faithfully to the conventions of both comedy and romantic comedy genres. Standard conventions shown in the comedy genre include its setting and lighting work. Generally in a comedy film the main action will take place in an open area, which is shown very clearly within the opening scenes of the movie as it establishes the set as an open aired and social garden. This is similar with lighting: Generally the lighting in a comedy film derives from natural sources, like the sunshine from the open setting in the film.
In romantic comedies it is generally observed that the two main characters have some form of difference whether that be race, class, or in the case of this film, two different family lines. Gnomeo&Juliet obeys the conventions of this genre. Another convention is the appearance of side characters and their roles, the supportive characters of romantic comedy films are usually established as 'side kicks' to the protagonist, such as how both Nanette and Benny are established as best friends to Juliet and Gnomeo respectively.Due to this being a more family friendly film, the only area in which this film challenges general conventions are how some romantic elements have been toned down to fit the family genre.
SHOT TYPES:
A long shot is used as an establishing marker to set the enclosed scene of the movie and better detail the feud between the two households, as is shown in the screencap to the side. The primary setting to the movie is the two conflicting gardens. I believe a long establishing shot would be useful for us to use within our Main Task film.The movie takes advantage of both up angle shots and down shots to show the pompous attitude and confidence that the different gnomes have. For example the shot to the left presents the lead of the Montague household, Lady Blueberry, as standing on a high up position, and the lead to the Capulet household, Lord Redbrick, as on the ground. This shot is used to present of Lady Blueberry thinks that she and upon extension her garden and household are superior to the other garden.
Within the interactions of most of the characters, level shots are used, and the camera work does not allow the friendly characters to be presented as more important than another. They are always level and equal with one another, as is shown in the screencaps.
MISE EN SCENE:
This is the arrangement of everything in a scene.
The high key lighting renders the scenes within the film as very bright and soft, with very few shadows in the frame. This style is used most commonly in comedies, family films and musicals.
Costume's in the movie are simple so to show the nature of the characters as inanimate objects, but are themed in order to betray distinct features, such as the 'side' of the feud each is on.
And thus concludes my analysis of Gnomeo and Juliet.
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