The Godfather: Production Design Theme Review
Analysis of Godfather
“Godfather” starts out with one very long take, about three minutes long that starts with a tight close-up of a pleading man and slowly pans out from a medium shot to a wide shot. It’s a really interesting choice by the director but it’s very effective because you find yourself listening to this pleading man’s story, and it draws you in and you don’t feel like it’s one continuous take. Then there is a cutaway and we see Vito Corleone, portrayed by Marlon Brando. Just from the low lighting – the very dim key light and the very dark fill light, you can tell that Corleone is supposed to be an intimidating man. Another thing that an over-the-shoulder shot establishes in the next frame is that Mr. Corleone is seated on the left, very powerful, and is surrounded by darkness and shadow, which lends an air of mystery to him.
The use of color was very prevalent in this film, a lot of black, white, and red. Red signifies danger and aggression – white and black in contrast make for an argumentative atmosphere. At alternating times, Vito wears things that tell the audience somewhat about what he is supposed to be representative of. Before he passes, when he is playing in the garden with his grandchild, he is wearing all-white and this signifies the ending of an era and the beginning of a new one. In the opening scenes and throughout most of the movie, he wears black and white together which could represent his conflicting feelings about his sons and the legacy of his family.
Shadow is another key element to making the “Godfather” such a cinematic feat. The more ominous a character is supposed to appear, the more frequently he is lit by dim key lights, with his eyes almost hidden. An important transition occurs when Sonny Corleone is killed, with Michael; in the beginning of the film, he is framed in natural day light and bright lights. As time goes on and he becomes the new Don of the family, he too is framed in lower, dimmer lighting much as Vito was. The abrupt scenes of violence, when they occurred not in shadows, to me signified characters who were not “true” to the Corleone family. Usually, except for Michael’s first murder, most of the murders that the Corleone family does is framed in heavy shadows. However, when the husband of a Corleone daughter is abusive to her, this occurs in natural light. Later it is revealed that the husband was not only an abuser but also a cheater and a backstabber.
The fact that the camera moved very frequently made one feel as though they were not just watching the film but actively participating in it. My favorite scene was the one where Michael Corleone had to kill a police chief and a crime lord because of how the camera was framed, it closed up on Michael frequently for tight close-ups so that you could really feel what was going on inside his head (this was helped by Al Pacino’s talented acting). And when he goes to grab the gun in the restroom, the camera is set up behind a stall in front of Michael and then while he is searching for the gun, it goes behind him. It was almost like we as the audience knew where the gun was going to be, but then also we “stood behind him” in the next shot as he scrounged for it. When the camera was stationary, it was usually fixed on Vito Corleone, and this was because he was an imposing figure, one that you needed to pay attention to.
Most of the extreme close-ups occurred with Michael and Vito, and to me these were the characters we were supposed to identify the most with – they seemed the most complex of the cast. In the diner scene as I mentioned, most of Michael’s shots were extreme close-ups so you could really get into his head, really feel as he was feeling. The sound in this sequence was also really cool – it frequently alternated from the talking of the men in the diner to the train passing by overhead outside, and when it did switch to the train sound, the tension would build until finally it erupted and both the men were murdered. Another example of when extreme close-ups were used were when a character was meant to be seen as sympathetic – most of the other people in the five families were filmed at waist height and up (one of the four T’s) but the Corleone family was frequently filmed with close-ups and extreme close-ups, except for the daughter. Even though she was abused and this is obviously a tragedy, she seemed the least sympathetic of the family.
This film was successful because it mixed so many different emotions and storylines together, but it did very cohesively. We were introduced to characters and their relevance, but it happened pretty quickly and mixed with just enough action and drama that it wasn’t boring, but neither did become too over-the-top, except for a couple scenes here and there. Another reason I think that it was successful was because instead of showing the Corleones as brute thugs, instead of showing them as like Terminators, just emotionless killing machines, we were able to relate to them. One of the key elements of “Godfather” was family and loyalty, how you would do anything to protect the ones you love. Of course, this was ironic because they were all murderers and goons. Another thing that made this film so good is that it defined a genre – think of how many movies have used elements or copied whole scenes of this one.
To me, the internal goal of the film is as I said, about loyalty and family. It’s pretty unique because most films with that message are very saccharine and cheesy, but this film is very dramatic and full of action and drama. The external goal of the film could be about keeping your work life and your home life separate – it seemed to me that even though the wives and husbands of the Corleone knew about the murders, it was almost like they didn’t because of the walls of secrecy and the dichotomy between the two vastly different lives. The theme of the “Godfather” is loyalty, family, and protection.