The Godfather (1972) is said to be one of the greatest films ever made. When this movie was released in 1972, it was nominated for Ten Academy Awards and it won three: Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay. The film was adapted from the book with the same name written by award winning author of mafia fiction, Mario Puzo. This film takes place in a span of ten years following the life of Don Corleone, the head of the Corleone Crime Family. It was a film that changed the history of cinema, introducing a very talented filmmaker and several acting legends in the telling of a story of a Sicilian Crime Family. The most memorable scene in the film is the opening scene of the movie which is also my choice of scene to elaborate on mise-en-scene. …show more content…
This creates a contrast with the darker and lighter parts of the scene, and creates the subject of the scene to be hidden in the shadows. This lighting technique is perfect for a gangster film such as the Godfather. Francis Ford Coppola’s has made apt use of lighting in this scene. In this scene, almost all the frames are low lit, especially the scenes where Don Corleone’s eyes are darkened. The Godfather series has always counted on Gordan Willis for its cinematography. He deliberately darkens Marlon Brando’s eyes (Vito Corleone) while lighting up the rest of his face. He does this by lighting his face from above which creates high contrasting shadows over his eyes which make us view him as an enigmatic man. This helps us to discern the personality of the Don, gives us an insight into his sinister and manipulative ways. The use of contrast and the play with light and darkness is fascinating. It has a great psychological effect on the audience. The Don Corleone’s office is submerged in darkness and the characters in the scene come in and out of the light, thereby directing the focus onto them. A very large part of the film is shot in low key lighting, to emphasize on the theme of the film which is essentially, the life story of the Mob in
For example, in Edward Scissorhands when Peg goes into Edwards Mansion there is low lighting. This effect is making the mansion have a ominous effect to the audience watching the movie. Unlike using the high key lighting which would have made the scene of the
Notably in Edward scissor Hands low key lighting is used. An example of this is when peg first walks into Edward’s mansion low key lighting is used to portray an eerie feeling. The audience is given an uneasy feeling with this lighting. This is similar to when Tim Burton uses low key lighting in the corpse bride. When Tim Burton first shows Emily, low key lighting is used to make Emily look horrifying and intimidating.
The Godfather is a mob film focuses on the Corleone Family, with its head Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) trying to find a suitable heir
Puzo’s writing impacted the mobsters themselves showing the strength of the work. Puzo’s iconic lines such as “I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse” and “sleeps with the fishes” have become common phrases used in actual mobster vernacular, which prior to the Godfather films did not exist. The term “godfather” was also created by Puzo and as stated by Megan Gambino is still used by the FBI and the mob to describe the head of the crime family forty years later (Gambino Web). Audiences were drawn to the early gangster films and were reintroduced to the gangster through the emergence of modern gangster films such as The Godfather, released in 1972. The American gangster appealed to the public because of the “double satisfaction” felt through
Italian Americana 9, no. 2 (1991): 271–78. http://www.jstor.org/stable/29776100. This source is an article that gives a synopsis of the 1990 film, Goodfellas. The article summarizes a lot of the timeline and plot of the movie before beginning to analyze Goodfellas against the other films the director, Martin Scorsese, had previously produced.
The lighting in Donnie Darko movie is a key component of composition which creates our sense of illuminating for people and things. This movie uses two sources of lighting; natural light, such as daylight, when the scene is in an outdoor area for example, walking from school, at home, waiting at bus stop, or playing outside of the school on sunny days. Another source of light is artificial spotlight which is used in the movie indoors to cut and shape the light at the dining table, in the classroom or in the psychotherapist's house. Also, distinct shadows are used as an essentially smooth surface that reflects hard light in the Halloween party to feature deep shadows and scary areas in function of the plot. Three-points of lighting create ominous shadows in the horror genre for all the actors at Donnie and Elizabeth's Halloween party with lighting from below the cast to create monstrous objects in real life.
the audience watches a family as they attempt to navigate the streets of Gotham City which are cast in stark, gloomy shadows. This use of low-key lighting helps to create the image of a city that is cold and dangerous. In Beetlejuice, We see an Establishing shot of the huge white
These different lighting techniques are applied in the movie to help set the tone and mood for the film scene. The
This “view” on the world is quite common in film noir, as the style was created around WWII. By creating a depressing mood, the shadows and lighting also allow the audience to sympathize with the main characters - as it does not paint any character as primarily good or evil. Without the use of the chiaroscuro effect, both films would fail to produce the elemental nature of the characters surroundings. The character’s emotions are not only exemplified by the low key lighting, but also by the camera’s angle and proximity to the
When lighting an exterior scene with a wide shot, not much could be done to balance levels. But when the director goes for a close-up or a medium shot, he uses diffusion or bouncing light to hide the hard quality of light from the sun. Diffusion and bounced light is in the movies since the late 1910’s and early 1920’s. Keeping the exposure of the actor’s face allows the audience to believe what is going on. The limitation of power on the non-studio shots makes lighting fixtures difficult to power.
The film Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring makes use of low key and high key lighting. The low key lighting is seen when Gollum is first introduced in an ominous dark blue lighting that creates suspense and suggests an air of mystery. Further on the unnatural chiaroscuro is created when the Nazgul on his horse stands on a cliff with a lit up background surrounded by a dark forest. This makes the Nazgul seem more mysterious and threatening to the audience.
The use of background light was an important focus in this picture, there was less attention to lighting the actors faces but in almost every frame there is well placed background light often combined with a moving light source. Repetition was also evident within the visual composition of the frame, the actors were rarely positioned within the center of the frame but always to the left or the right with a light source covering them from behind. Ridley Scott perfectly matches colorful high key light with low key lights creating impeccable contrast, this lighting used could be described as a modern Citizen Kane style. Although this is overall a very dark and low light film, the motif of shadows and darkness allows the beauty of light to truly be
Lighting is used rather traditionally for the majority of the movie and helps to distinguish the “good” from the “bad”. For instance, the original Maria is shown in soft-key, angelic lighting that casts a halo around her to emphasize her purity and beauty. The fake Maria, on the other hand, is shot in harsh lighting that creates a dark, unsettling vignette around her. This lighting style creates a contrast between protagonists and antagonists and is used frequently in Hollywood cinema.
Shakespeare’s protagonist, Macbeth, is both very similar and very different from Francis Coppola’s interpretation of Michael Corleone. Both protagonists come to power by killing, they both distance themselves from their wives out, but they deal with their power in different ways. In The Godfather, Coppola uses a combination of zoom, pan and close-up shots with strategic lighting to portray how Michael Corleone comes to the decision to assassinate those who wronged his family. In the scene, the dark lighting, as in most of the family business scenes, shows how serious the conversation is.
As a result, The Godfather ends up becoming a successful blockbuster, but it’s also artistic, and reflective of our society. The Godfather caters to both casual and critical audiences. Coppola uses graphic violence to draw in casual viewers, but he draws in critical viewers by having the film become a social critique of society. Auteur films are meant to give us a view of the world. In addition, the film draws parallels between the mafia and the police, by essentially stating that our society is corrupt.