Analysis: The Godfather

In the beginning of the opening sequence, the transition fades from a pitch black to the man and during that transition; it starts off as a voice-over until you see the man himself actually talking. The fact that it starts off as a medium close up can signify him as the main character and the audience can assume that he is talking to the audience, looking directly at the camera with confidence. As it stays on the medium close up, you can see the darkness around him which creates a sort of mysterious outlook.

During the very beginning before he shows, there's a pitch black screen playing non-diegetic sounds - music in the background; the music foreshadows the upcoming events. This stops when the man begins to speak though. In the image, the lighting has been set upon the top of his head so we can only see his cheek bones and above. The fact that below and around, and even his eyes are dark is a way to hide his identity but show his face. It makes you as a viewer wonder who the man is and what his motives are.

In the next screenshot you can see that the camera is tracking backwards which lights the characters face up more, showing more facial features although the setting is still dark. It

creates curiosity and it makes us ask what the reason is due to the darkness. It could relate to him being associated with something dangerous and as you can see, it's still a medium close up but the camera has just tracked backwards a bit so we can see the shoulders and above. It also makes it look as if he isn't talking to anyone but the camera.

As the camera continues to track backwards, it creates a dirty-single from when the next character moves the hand from the left to right. At this shot though we now know that the character is talking to another person. Now we know the man is talking to someone else, it makes us consider whether he is talking to a higher member of authority rather than himself being the main character.

Someone’s hand in the shot.

The camera continues to track backwards and we can then see clearly that part of the dirty-single was the hand and now the frame has turned into a sort of over-shoulder shot including the other characters head covering one third of the frame. We can relate this shot to the rule of thirds seeing that the first third of the picture is mainly the other guy listening to the man that we can see, and the rest of the frame is the man talking. His head is aligned on top of the first line and his body is kept within the middle of the box (shoulders to naval). The rule of thirds helps position the camera and helps create a more appealing look to the audience. It can also suggest domination of the character or a character that could be weaker and smaller than the other – it’s also a good tool to help foreshadow the events to come.

As the camera stays in the same motion of tracking backwards, it’s also beginning to show that the man that is talking is becoming smaller which could signify that he’s losing his confidence and that he has less authority to the man that he is talking to. To back up this suggestion, you can also tell that the man he is talking to is taking up more and more of the frame.

The fact that the man that was talking got up to whisper to the other guy is also an addition that the man he is talking to is the higher power. The darkness to the frame can tell us that what the man whispered into the other guy’s ear was something risky and dangerous to say out loud which could connote that they are both involved in something bad-related.

As the man goes back to his chair, for the first time through the opening sequence we see who he was talking to. This shot is a medium close up showing from the shoulders and above. The fact that the shots are so close could show the relationship between both of the characters and that they are both have the same sort of common goal.

This then becomes a long-shot and we can therefore see the setting in where the characters are set and the lighting which was reflected on the first character. The reason behind keeping the scenery and the characters hidden from the audience could be to great impact and suspense to allow us to take time to adjust to the idea of the darkness in the room.

Lamp-shade lit up the first characters face.

Another example of where the characters are positioned is being shown. Although the first character has taken some space up in the frame, the other character still has more than half way of the frame to show his face down and his desk. All of this all signifies his authority and that he is the man that people go to for approval or help.

At this moment the other character moves to the other side which breaks the 180 degree rule. This rule can be broken for the right reasons. They are also exchanging dialogue while the camera pans to form an over-shoulder shot.

As you can tell, the camera broke the 180 degree rule and panned to yet again show the domination that that man has over the other one. It enables the audience to be able to see the dominant characters facial expressions.

Another symbol – the man kissing the others hand. In this moment we now know that the dominant character is known as “The Godfather” which is the title of the movie itself. It promotes his authority to the audience seeing the man kiss his hand.

The camera begins to pan again when the Godfather puts his arm around the other guys shoulders which can define the relationship between both characters and the effect of panning helps transition into different shots. Such as this one:

Dominant Weaker

It isn’t exactly an over-shoulder shot but it keeps the characters “friendship” known to the audience.