Godfather Scene Analysis

The selected scene is from 37:51 to 39:53 in the film Godfather, Part 2; altogether, there are 15 shots in this duration. This scene is centered with the conversation between Michael Corleone and his step-brother Tom Hagen. This conversation is expected to be very “private”, only between Michael and Tom. Therefore, both lighting and camera shots have to create the sense of mystique. In order to do so, generally speaking, the lighting in this room is very dark. It has struck a responsive chord in the hearts of its audiences that secrets are always kept in the dark. As to the angles of shots, most of them are taken from 30 degrees either on Michael’s side or Tom’s side. In this way, the camera can keep both of them in the vision and give more …show more content…
Shot4 to shot7 and shot9 they are over-shoulder close-up shot, which means the “listener” is also in the vision. However, shot11 to shot 15 are slightly closer than the previously mentioned shots. In these shots, only one actor (usually the speaker) is in the vision. This slightly difference is not easy to be consciously noticed. However, when the camera tracked in, the images became bigger; they highlighted the most important part of this conversation. More than that, personally, I think shot10 is a very impressive transition shot. As said, shot9 is over-shoulder close-up shot which has two actors in vision, but shot11 is a close-up shot which only has one actor. If there is no transition between the two shots, it might be very strange to the audiences. Therefore, it added a shot which Michael passed over a bottle of liquor to Tom; made the whole scene very smooth. In conclusion, the selected scene is very representative to reflect the cinematography used in Godfather, Part 2. The coordination between lighting and camera use best created a scene which is filled with conspiracy and darkness. In addition, the dispose and selection of lighting match to the character of Corleone Family (warm but dangerous); make them logical in the